Posted on 08/29/2006 1:39:38 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
You’re probably quite sick of hearing about Mel Gibson, so I promise this column isn’t primarily about him or his drunken rant. Instead, I’m wondering why we’ve been treated to a seemingly infinite number of media stories about Gibson’s arrest and so few about Naveed Afzal Haq.
Haq shot up the Jewish Federation in Seattle on July 28. He hid near a security door until he saw a likely victim. Kelsie Burkum, 14, was there to visit her aunt, Cheryl Stumbo.
According to the charges filed, Haq stuck a semiautomatic pistol in Burkum’s back, telling her to open the door and to be “careful.” As they came through the door, he told her, “I'm only doing this for a statement.” He kept the gun in her back until they reached the desk of receptionist Layla Bush on the second floor. She gave him the slip while he was demanding that Bush, a Christian who is said to have loved working for the charity because of her love of helping communities, allow him to speak with a manager.
Just after that he opened fire, blowing out Carol Goldman’s knee with his first round before shooting all those nearby. Bush, Cheryl Stumbo and Christine Wexroad fell, each shot in their abdomen. At some point he also shot Bush in the left shoulder, though police believe he was probably aiming for her head.
Haq also shot Pam Waechter in the chest. She scrambled for the stairs, and Haq chased her, leaning over the railing and shooting her in the back of the head. As Dayna Klein came out of her office to investigate the noise, Haq fired at her abdomen. Klein was 17 weeks pregnant and instinctively placed her forearm in front of her belly. The bullet cut through crucial nerves, but was deflected by an arm bone and ended up in her thigh.
Despite hearing Haq say he would kill anyone who called the police, Klein crawled to her desk and dialed 911. When he returned to her office, she convinced him to talk to the dispatcher. It was then that Haq told the world why he shot six innocent and defenseless women in cold blood:
"I am a Muslim American who is angry with Israel," he proclaimed. He also expressed opposition to the American invasion of Iraq, and then went on to say, "I want these Jews to get out … I'm tired of getting pushed around, and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."
So there you have it. Here is a man killing unarmed Jews, for reasons that fit perfectly with the agendas of Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Here is an American who decided at the age of thirty to throw his life away doing the work of Hezbollah on our soil.
True, Haq’s horrified parents—in a letter of condolence and apology to Jewish groups-- mention a history of mood swings and other mental problems that eventually interfered with his work life. In fact, he was even up on charges recently for exposing himself at a shopping mall. So, some might say that the story has gained little coverage because he’s a “lone nut,” a crazy man who just happens to spout Islamist rhetoric, rather than a real terrorist.
For the problem with that assessment, consider this: When Andrea Yates killed her children and Jeffrey Dahmer killed young men, the press was rife with speculation on whether they were sane at the time of their crimes. We’ve seen none of that in the case of Naveed Haq. It’s not a willingness to declare him insane that is strange, what is strange is that there was no declaration, no debate, only a whisper barely indistinguishable from silence. Indeed, this was a “one day story” in the national media.
Instead, the void was filled with the sound of the Mel-O-Drama. We heard what Mel said drunk, but not what Haq said while sober and shooting. What Gibson said may have been little more than gibberish inspired by liquor, but Haq’s twisted vendetta can be heard across the world each Friday as venom dripping from the lips of radical imams who’ve never had a drink in their lives. Even if Gibson’s rant was heartfelt, who has he killed? Whose child has he aimed a bullet at? The worst Gibson could be is a sad bigot; the worst Haq could be has already been seen as he turned a charity into a charnel house.
The media has asked what will happen to Gibson. I ask whether Dayna Klein will use her left arm again. I ask whether Layla Bush, with a bullet in her spine, part of her liver and pancreas gone, one kidney left functioning and her spleen removed, will ever fully recover. I ask what Pam Waechter’s two adult children will tell their own kids if they ask how Grandma died.
In Los Angeles the world’s Jews were insulted by a drunk. In Seattle, six women, five of them Jews, were shot down like dogs by a man speaking the language of terror. I ask why the media thinks one is so much more important than the other.
I would also like to note that Bush is pretty much out of the woods, though she came within a hair of dying and a bullet is still near the spine, lodged among nerves that control her right leg. Rehab is expected to take months. She's 23 and her doctors say she came within a centimeter of a fatal hit. But Mel's career damage is so much more important...
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"Instead, I’m wondering why we’ve been treated to a seemingly infinite number of media stories about Gibson’s arrest and so few about Naveed Afzal Haq. "
This one is easy, Naveed Afzal Haq didn't make an enduring film glorifying our Lord Jesus, and his message.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Can you let the lady know we are praying for her. Since she'g going to be in rehab would she like some cards and letters do you think?
Denial? Living in the past? I dunno.
And some would say because he is a "lone nut", a crazy man who...spouts Islamists rhetoric, he happens to be profoundly qualified as a terrorist.
What he did was terrorism pure and simple. The USA should face this fact before it is too late.
Good Op-Ed. Thanks!
Ping!
There are murder trials going on this very minute. None make particular news.
Yet the Simpson and Blake trial made very big news. And Britney Spears may or may not be the dumbest mother on earth but she makes news too. As does Russell Crowe phone throws and Michaels Jackson's sleepovers.
Gibson makes continuing news because he is a famous celebrity. And as a celebrity he committed the most damaging act a celebrity can perform- proving his critics right.
Don't blame human nature. Billions of dollars have been made due to the public's hunger for celebrity gossip.
They get the rewards, they must suffer the consequences.
Thank you Mr. Silverback for bringing this to our attention *at least mine*. Still have Chill Bumps.
What the saracen did to the women is not news because it simply illustrates cultural differences. That is what Mohammedans do. It is all part of their religion and culture and to highlight it would be culturally insensitive.
Mr. S, you already know the answer. They hate Mel for his work with the "Passion" movie so he has to PAY!!!!!! Also, the glorification of celebrities makes his faux pas so much worse.
Secondly, again, as you know, Muslims are to be treated special, so Mr. Jihad can shoot up a few Jews - no prob.
Bingo!
I see your bump and raise it.
I'm not in contact with Bush, but I'd bet that if you send something in care of the Jewish Federation, they'd forward it:
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
2031 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
There's also a memorial fund for Pam Waechter that you can contribute to at that address.
Thank you!
You're welcome.
Yeah, but...
There once was a trial. I may get a fact or two slightly off in here, buit the story is true. A woman had failed to secure her vicious Rottweiler on numerous occasions, and never dealt with the problem despite many complaints from the neighbors. Some days while she was at work the thing would just roam the neighborhooduntil she came home. One day it chased two brothers. They oldest one stayed on the ground so he could make sure his little brother made it up a tree. The dog mauled him to death while his little brother watched helplessly. We'll call the dead boy Johnny Smith.
After establishing beyond reasonable doubt that the woman was a bad actor who knew the dangers and didn't care, the prosecutor could have gone into closing arguments, reviewed a few facts, and won his case. Instead, he finished his closing argument by pulling out a $5 padlock he had bought at a discount store. He held it up, clicked it closed, and said "A five dollar lock, and Johnny Smith is still alive."
Sure, I know why Mel was roasted over a slow fire while the media ignored an act of terrorism...but consider this column my $5 Wal-Mart padlock.
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