Random Is Not the Operable Word
Michelle and Jesse have compiled a seemingly nonrandom gallery of dark complexioned Muslim individuals who were determined by authorities to have been lone gunmen (except, of course, in the case of the beltway snipers).
Here in Indiana we were recently struck by a case of an interstate sniper who took the life of one motorist and injured several others. Turns out that he’s white and has a Hebrew name. Compound these with the fact that after having admitted to the crime, he is maintaining his innocence. Makes you wonder why he didn’t make the list. Must be because it’s a “random” sampling.
“[Zachariah Blanton] said he in fact did do the shootings, however, only with the intention of relieving pressure,” John Kelly, an Indiana State Police crime scene technician, testified at a hearing Tuesday.
The teen apparently had been arguing with relatives over gutting a deer during a hunting trip about 20 miles south of Seymour, Jackson County Prosecutor Stephen Pierson said.
Perhaps “random” is just the new cover-your-racist-ass adjective for getting around chronic confirmation bias.
Update: (8/1, early evening) Neiwert has a great takedown of the post alluded to above. Great read.
The implication of your posting is there is a “chronic confirmation bias” to select only dark complexioned Muslim individuals to fit the lone gunmen hypothesis.
Well, let’s examine the article. There are 8 people mentioned. There are 5 photos.
NO - Naveed Afzal Haq - he looks like a bald Italian in his arrest photo (definitely not dark complexioned)
MAYBE - Dr. Wameeth Fadhli - business man (dark complexioned possibly)
YES - Michael Julius Ford (he’s black)
YES - John Mohammed and Lee Malvo (both black)
YES - Hesham Hadayet
NO - Abu Kamal (certainly does not fit the criteria - he almost looks Jewish!)
? - Rashid Baz - no photo, should not be included
Summary:
1 is thrown out (no photo)
1 is questionable
2 do not meet the criteria.
3 are black
Perhaps “random” is just what it is supposed to be: random.
Comment by JBenson2 — July 30, 2006 @ 10:06 pm
Sorry, JBenson, you haven’t convinced me.
The NOs you have latched onto were not present in Malkin’s post at the time I wrote this one. (The Haq photo I was going by is the one labeled as a high school yearbook photo in a previous MM post.)
Perhaps Michelle updated the gallery in response to what I wrote here. Perhaps not. I’m still contending that “random” is not the operable word; “racist,” “Islamophobic” maybe, but not “random.”
Comment by Ryan — July 30, 2006 @ 10:28 pm
Interesting. Yes, I saw the High School photo but figured we should try to stay with current photos. I agree that one of the words is appropriate: “islamophobic” - a fear or aversion of Islam.
It is my belief that this word already applies to many Americans, and that explains Michelle’s pulling power. I think islamophobia will continue to grow with every beheading and suicide bombing.
.
Comment by JBenson2 — July 30, 2006 @ 10:41 pm
…do you libs…ever listen…to yourselves?..if you did..you’d be…pretty quiet..as well…you should be…
Comment by liberals 4 a 100 Alex — July 31, 2006 @ 12:23 am
…hehe…snicker? snort…snark…heh…
Comment by Ryan — July 31, 2006 @ 12:43 am
you go, michelle! that list of incidents spans 12 years but it only took you, surely, minutes to assemble it and oh-so elegantly show the world what a bigoted, racist harpie you truly are. congats, jesse’s girl. baby, you earned it!
Comment by marco — July 31, 2006 @ 12:53 am
Let’s see…murders per day in the US as compiled by our ever unjustifiable justice department: >16,000 for 2004 see: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/guncrimetab.htm
So let’s break it down a bit…or let’s not. The number of pissed off dark skinned people that murder is far exceeded by the number of light skinned people doing the same thing in 2004.
MichJesse’s statistics do not stand up when held against the light of day. It’s just too fucking easy for MJM to bend and shape statistics in any way possible to back up a racist blog entry or a “hey…hey, hey, hey…hey” verbal hack slap. Tell me what you want to say and I’ll dream up some screwy statistics to back it up. Let’s see…midgets hate the US because everything is set up for tall people. I’ve got the numbers right here!!!
Comment by jimmy — July 31, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
DAMN MIDGETS!!!! Inform Das Malkin Fuhrer. These people must be stopped before they bomb the Yellow Brick Road.
Comment by marco — July 31, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
I guess she forgot about this guy. And this one. And I’m pretty sure Colin Ferguson wasn’t Muslim.
Comment by Phil — July 31, 2006 @ 6:15 pm
And what about all the boys who decide to shoot up their schools? I don’t recall any of them being Muslim.
Comment by skippy — August 1, 2006 @ 8:53 am
And what about that ex-marine that killed Kennedy (allegedly) and the other ex-marine in the UTexas tower, nope, not muslims. Ex-marines. As we are a mixed race society, so shall we be a mixed race of killers. Mostly, not muslim.
Comment by jimmy — August 1, 2006 @ 10:50 am
Hey guys, the CCB syndrome has raised its ugly head again. It looks like the terrorist YMM issue is gaining ground and you’re not going to stop it. Michelle had more evidence of YMM in the August 11 Vent. Profiling is long overdue.
Comment by JBenson2 — August 11, 2006 @ 3:03 pm