Time magazine appears to be throwing caution to the political correctness wind by placing a picture on the cover of its soon to to be released November 23 issue with the word "Terrorist" written across the face of alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
Straddling the fence slightly, the magazine chose to put a question mark after the word.
Even so, given media's discomfort portraying Hasan as anything more than an overwrought, over-worked soldier petrified of heading to Afghanistan, Time's "The Fort Hood Killer: Terrified ... or Terrorist?" was so uncharacteristicly un-PC you could almost call it a Mac.
Just count the references to Islamic extremism in the first paragraph alone:
What a surprise it must have been when Major Nidal Malik Hasan woke up from his coma to find himself not in paradise but in Brooke Army Medical Center, deep in the heart of Texas, under security so tight that there were armed guards patrolling both the intensive-care unit and checkpoints at the nearest freeway off-ramp. This was not the finalé he had scripted when he gave away all his earthly goods — his desk lamp and air mattress, his frozen broccoli and spinach, his copies of the Koran. He had told his imam he was planning to visit his parents before deploying to Afghanistan. He did not mention that his parents had been dead for nearly 10 years.
For eight years, Americans have waged a Global War on Terrorism even as they argued about what that meant. The massacre at Fort Hood was, depending on whom you believed, yet another horrific workplace shooting by a nutcase who suddenly snapped, or it was an intimate act of war, a plot that can't be foiled because it is hatched inside a fanatic's head and leaves no trail until it is left in blood. In their first response, officials betrayed an eagerness to assume it was the first; the more we learn, the more we have cause to fear it was the second, a new battlefield where our old weapons don't work very well and our values make us vulnerable: freedom, privacy, tolerance and the stubborn American certainty that people born and raised here will not reject the gifts we share.
- "A Whole New War" - "No one thought the battle between the West and radical Islam was going to be fought like a traditional war, but to the extent that we could, we did"
- "The Making of a Radical" - "[I]f this is the new face of terrorism in America, we need better facial-recognition software"
- "Preacher and Provocateur" - "Hasan's path began to twist about the time he attended the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va., one of the largest mosques on the East Coast and home to a charismatic Islamic cleric named Anwar al-Awlaki...In April 2001, two 9/11 hijackers worshipped at al-Awlaki's Virginia mosque; the next month, Hasan held his mother's funeral there.
How was it possible that even as his performance was poor, his personnel file was being reviewed and his communications with a radical cleric were being analyzed, Hasan was promoted from captain to major last May and dispatched in July to Fort Hood, the largest active Army base in the U.S.? One explanation is a desperate need for mental-health professionals. With its 50,000 soldiers and 150,000 family members and civilian personnel, Fort Hood has the highest toll of military suicides; posttraumatic-stress-disorder cases quadrupled from 2005 to 2007.
But others are convinced that his religion protected him from stronger action by the Army. "He'd have to murder the general's wife and daughter on the parade ground at high noon in order to get a serious reprimand," says Ralph Peters, an outspoken retired Army lieutenant colonel who now writes military books and a newspaper column. While stressing "there shouldn't be witch hunts" against Muslims in uniform, Peters insists that "this guy got a pass because he was a Muslim, despite the Army's claim that everybody's green and we're all the same." A top Pentagon official admits there may be some truth to the charge. "We're wondering why some of these strange encounters didn't trigger something more formal," he says. "I think people were overly sensitive about Muslims in the military, and that led to a reluctance to say, 'This guy is nuts.' The Army is going to have to review their procedures to make sure someone can raise issues like this."
Shocking, or an indication that the good folks at Time were just as appalled and frightened by what happened last Thursday as most average Americans?
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
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Wow - That Was Unexpected!
November 13, 2009 - 10:17 ET by DaMamaWho would have thought that Time Magazine, worshippers of Obama, would actually print something like this?
It's sad that even our armed forces are trapped by political correctness. I've heard interviews from soldiers at Ft. Hood say that they suspected Hasan but were afraid to report anything for fear of being labeled "racist" or having that put on their permanent record.
Political correctness killed those 13 people just as much as Hasan's bullets. It's time to flush PC down the toilet and stop being afraid of the truth!
one year ago
November 13, 2009 - 10:25 ET by SouthJersey1953If this had happened a year ago, no one would ask that question. The fact that the question even needs to be asked says a lot about our spineless "leader"
You can fix a lot of things, but, you can't fix STUPID! - Joe Murray
I like my theory
November 13, 2009 - 10:28 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonI like my theory better.
The piece of garbage was a terrorist sleeper cell that got tired of not getting to kill people that he woke up before they had planned on his attack, thereby negating to effect hundreds of sleeper cell across the nation all acting at the same time.
But that would be a conspiracy theory, and only libarullls have them nutty ideas.
http://gjresult.com
I like your theory...the
November 13, 2009 - 12:45 ET by jkwtradingI like your theory...the MSM just has to figure out if the terrorist was smart enough to know he was asleep. I am alluding to MSM people thinking only they and whom they associate with are the "smart" ones..
the "theory" of the msm being smarrt though gets a real whacking every day Maddow and Matthews talk.
Front row seats
November 13, 2009 - 10:33 ET by Jerry MackSaw Nancy Gibbs on BOR last night. She can forget about those front row seats at any of the Vain Ones' press conferences.
One of two things.
November 13, 2009 - 11:02 ET by txco1-Hasan is a terrorist
OR
2. The people that are suppose to recognize and help people with mental problems can't even identify someone with psychological problems working under their noses.
Probably a little of both..so much for the psyco-voodoo profession!
The psychotic community
November 13, 2009 - 11:08 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonThe psychotic community cannot grasp the concept of deliberate, intentional suicide that requires mass 'colateral' murders, so they give it medical names.
They cannot think in real world situations.
Suicide is an abnormal behavior that is treatable with medicines.
Homicidal behavior is a mental problem that can be treated with medicines.
Radical muslim terrorism they do not, and cannot understand.
http://gjresult.com
Time Magazine Cover Asks If Ft. Hood Shooter Is A 'Terrorist?'
November 13, 2009 - 11:19 ET by PeterStoneIs "Time" a news magazine?
The value of discrimination
November 13, 2009 - 11:49 ET by KC MulvilleWe can have a debate over definitions of terrorism, but we have a more immediate problem. If this is terrorism, then the most efficient defense is something we don't like to do: discrimination.
I certainly agree that being Muslim is not evidence of a crime. But if it's a prime element of a profile, and using a profile is the only way to prevent terrorism, then it's unreasonable to reject profiling as a way of protecting ourselves.
If we treat Hasan as a terrorist, then we have to consider profiling and discrimination, to some degree, as a legitimate response.
The Other Hero
November 13, 2009 - 11:55 ET by slickwillie2001A more accurate picture of what happened at Ford Hood is developing, and it appears that Sgt. Munley's partner, Sgt. Todd, played a much greater role in stopping the terrorist than in earlier accounts:
The Other Hero at Ft. Hood: http://www.floppingaces.net
image manipulation and propaganda
November 13, 2009 - 12:50 ET by Mike76I find it odd that they are covering his eyes. I've read they take great care deciding what images to use, in order to convey, or even "imprint" a certain image in people's minds that conform to the agenda they want to push.
I'm assuming most have seen pictures of Obama with a halo-like effect around his head, which was not exactly subtle.
here's what he looks like without his eyes uncovered:
http://tinyurl.com/y...
To me, he looks more middle eastern, or possibly an hispanic of some sort, than with his eyes not covered.
And to me, he certainly looks much more middle eastern here:
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2009/11/maliknadalhasanEPA_450x300.jpg
Now, look at the picture on the cover of Time:
http://tinyurl.com/y...
With his eyes covered, he looks more like a typical white guy, perhaps Italian, but with the words "terrorist?" across his eyes.
If that's true, then what kind of message would "Time" be trying to convey?
I spotted an bias in the left wing media sometime ago, which I believe could be described as biased against white people, biased in favor of non-white people,
I'm guessing that Time is trying to shift some of the blame, in people's minds, to a "white guy," from the "middle eastern guy"
The msm reminds me
November 13, 2009 - 12:38 ET by jkwtradingThe msm reminds me constantly of the joke of the liberal terrorist fighter and the conservative terrorist fighter..
the liberal ponders his background, upbringing , and any other sensitive issue, the conservative shoots him 6 times and his little kid remarks, nice grouping dad.
as they ponder everyone else has moved past does walking like a duck, look like a duck, quack like a duck..we've all made our decision.
this one Hasan is a real duck and its name is Terrorist.
You have to ask?
November 13, 2009 - 12:58 ET by mattmYou have to ask?
desparate
November 13, 2009 - 13:22 ET by sevenTime needs to sell magazines. If they want to start reporting on terror, I find them a little late.
rolling around
November 13, 2009 - 14:23 ET by WesenI'm comforted to know that Hussan can't get up to do his duty.
Funny, Time can't get up to do theirs either. This issue should be kept boxed in the attic. One day it will sell for big money.
No gun control whining from
November 13, 2009 - 20:12 ET by RR GOPNo gun control whining from the MSM yet? What's the world coming to????
Wonder if they've figured out a terrorist can kill far more people with improvised fertilizer nitrate explosives and hijacked jetliners yet?
Maybe guns are OK if they're used by the "underdogs" the Leftists feel sorry for?
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.