Note that they didn't say "They were Catholics, not Muslims." I'm not a linguist, so I can't give you the proper terminology, but I do know enough about language to know that definitions can have exclusive and inclusive meanings. It seems to me that the statement is worded (and I know you paraphrased it, so I am just going by that) such that the criminals are placed into another grouping--but that doesn't mean the grouping excludes Muslims. That is, if some Euroweenie started shooting his mouth off about "Stupid Yankees" when describing some non-Northern folks from this country....I know many folks who might reply, "they weren't Yankees--they were Americans." Does that mean that Northerners are not Americans? No. It means that the grouping previously provided was false--and is replaced by one that is true.
How often was Mr. Armanious described as an 'Egyptian Christian'? Is there outcry at that? If this is not self-imposed isolationism, where are the people speaking up? Personally, I think that the finger-pointing at non-violent Muslims, and the further fracturing of our country by these groupings, are badly damaging. If Muslims were purely self-isolationists, they'd stand out like the other groups not assimilating, but when they are segregated by others, it's hard to pin it on them.
[...]I hear so few speak up as individuals[...]
How many cases will have to pop up where we hear people "crying 'Muslim'" before we hear anti-Muslim individuals speaking out against such knee-jerking?
I find the gloating about the possible unexpected turn in the case disturbng. Four innocent people, two of them children, are still dead; and the fear and terror of their last hours still haunts me no matter who did the deed.
Yes, this is horrifying. I wonder...if the news had been presented without the method of death, or the religion of the victims, etc... would we have seen posts saying, "See what drugs do? These guys got caught large amounts of drugs last time, and they owe a lot of money, and look how nasty they are when they kill!" like has been said about many drug killings--which are now being described as near sanitary affairs in the implication that this couldn't have possibly been anything but "those eevul Muzzies"...
I think jan in Colorado hit it right when she said there are lots of facts out there that are withheld by police for them to do their jobs. People jumped all over law enforcement, seeming more interested in hearing anti-Muslim information released than caring if they caught the true perps. It's still very possible that there's more to this case, but the point is that knee-jerk accusations that were made are not mere "speculation" that is was Muslims who committed the crime--or that all Muslims would support it.
"I think jan in Colorado hit it right when she said there are lots of facts out there that are withheld by police for them to do their jobs. People jumped all over law enforcement, seeming more interested in hearing anti-Muslim information released than caring if they caught the true perps. It's still very possible that there's more to this case, but the point is that knee-jerk accusations that were made are not mere "speculation" that is was Muslims who committed the crime--or that all Muslims would support it."
Good points by you and Jan...