Sunday, July 19, 2015

Did Southern Politicians Cause Chattanooga Killings?

Did the extreme amount of attention southern politicians gave to the Charleston killer cause the recent Chattanooga killings?  Was the Chattanooga killer hoping for the same amount of attention the Charleston killer received?   The timing  of the Chattanooga killings could be a coincidence but such killings are not  that common and  two of them have occurred in southern states within a month of each other.   They occurred in the same time period as the  trial of the Colorado theater killer with its national publicity.  I didn't catch the man's name, but a recent newscast included a comment by the relative of a theater victim about how publicity may encourage such incidents.

I'm not suggesting the Chattanooga killer suddenly decided to commit murder because of the Charleston killings.   It is likely he had been thinking about doing something like that.  I am asking if the response to the Charleston killing pushed a man who was thinking about killing over the edge to become a killer.

The Chattanooga killer may have had different attitudes including different criteria for his victims, but racism appears to be a major factor.   His actions appear to have been directed against the American "race" in general rather than against different color groups within the American race.  That's right white folks, racist killings can be directed against whites as well as blacks.  He apparently selected his victims based on the uniform they wore rather than the color of their skin.   Although he was raised as an American, he appears to  have developed a strong identification with his Middle Eastern roots.

The death of the Chattanooga killer will make it harder to determine what he expected to accomplish, but perhaps he left something behind that would indicate if he expected to be able to terrify the entire southern populace the way the Charleston had terrified southern blacks.

One thing many normal people may not understand is that some people would rather be a pariah than a nobody 

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