Tonight I stood on guard outside a local mosque for 90 minutes. These are my friends and neighbors. I disagree with Islam as I do with any other religion but I will fight until my last breath for anyone’s right to worship peacefully.— Dean Murphy (@DeanModified) March 16, 2019
This was retweeted by Jeff Lowder at the Secular Outpost, so he evidently thinks there's something admirable about the gesture of his fellow atheist, Dean Murphy. Maybe this is intended to polish the public image of atheists.
i) Is there any statistical reason to think western mosques in general are danger zones? Are attacks on western mosques prevalent?
ii) In what sense was he guarding the mosque? Was he packing heat? If he was unarmed, how would an unarmed guard be any match for a well-armed sniper? So isn't this a vacuous feel-good gesture? It doesn't actually protect any Muslims in the mosque. It's just a theatrical stunt.
iii) Since Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day, does Murphy and his fellow infidels plan to guard western mosques 5 times a day, 7 days a week, for the foreseeable future?
iv) Mosques are sometimes used as cover for jihadists to plan terrorist attacks. It's not just about worship.
v) If devout Muslim immigrants come to power in the west, they will persecute atheists like Murphy. He's a patsy for his sworn enemies.
1. CNN has a list of the deadliest mass shootings in US history. It was originally published in 2013, but it's up to date through the end of 2018. By my count, CNN lists 37 mass shootings in total. However, I don't see a single mass shooting against Muslims in the United States on CNN's list.
ReplyDelete2. The Washington Post has a fuller list of mass shootings: "162 shootings in which four or more people were killed by a lone shooter (two shooters in a few cases). It does not include shootings tied to gang disputes or robberies that went awry, and it does not include domestic shootings that took place exclusively in private homes." It was last updated on Feb 16, 2019. I see mass shootings against Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, and several other groups as well as indiscriminate shootings against no particular group. Again, maybe I missed it, but I don't see any mass shooting singling out Muslims.
3. Wikipedia has a list of "Islamophobic" incidents in the United States. The list includes Muslims who were murdered, though not all by guns (e.g. a couple by stabbings, a couple by vehicles). According to the list at this date and time, there are a total of ten separate incidents in which Muslims have been murdered. In three of the ten cases, two Muslims were murdered. In the other seven cases, one Muslim was murdered.
4. By contrast, I do see Muslims have targeted and murdered Americans in at least three different instances: the Orlando mass shootings (2016, 49 murdered), the San Bernardino mass shootings (2015, 14 murdered), and the Fort Hood mass shootings (2009, 13 + 1 unborn child murdered). In fact, the Orlando mass shooting was the #2 deadliest mass shooting in American history. The #1 position is the Las Vegas mass shooting (2017, 58 murdered), but the perpetrator didn't target Muslims inasmuch as he shot into crowds and killed lots of different people.
5. According to the same Wikipedia list of Islamophobic incidents, here are the mass shooting incidents (4 or more) in developed Western nations that seem to have specifically targeted and murdered Muslims. I did not include anything older than 1970 (roughly 50 years).
Christchurch, New Zealand (2019, 50 murdered).
Hebron, Israel (1994, 29 murdered). Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.
Moscow, Russia (2006, 13 murdered).
Various cities, Germany (2000-2007, 10 murdered). Bosphorus serial murders by neo-Nazis against Turks and Kurds in Germany.
Munich, Germany (2016, 9 murdered).
Quebec City, Canada (2017, 6 murdered).
Solingen, Germany (1993, 5 murdered).
Marseille, France (1973, 4 murdered).
* Oslo, Norway (2011, 77 murdered). This is trickier. Anders Breivik did not target or kill Muslims as far as I can tell. Instead, he primarily targeted the Labour Party of Norway. However, people associate this with Islamophobia because Breivik targeted teh Labour Party of Norway due to what he believes to be their support of Muslim immigrants.
6. If we expand the incidents to all Western nations (say) c. 2000 to the present, then Muslims have murdered even more Westerners (e.g. the Nov 2015 Paris attacks in which Muslims murdered 130 people).
7. I haven't looked at attempted murders of any group or people including Muslims.
TL;DR
Delete-Maybe I missed it, but I don't see a single mass shooting committed against Muslims in the United States.
-It appears the majority of mass shootings committed against Muslims in developed Western nations have taken place in progressive nations (i.e. New Zealand, Germany, Canada, France).
-Israel and Russia have to be considered in the context of their ongoing tensions, conflicts, and at times outright war with Palestine and Chechnya. I'm also of two minds about whether Russia should be considered a Western nation.
-By contrast, Muslims have murdered many Westerners. If I'm not mistaken, it looks like the 2015 Paris attacks that murdered 130 people is the single worst mass shooting against Westerners in a Western nation; it was committed by Muslims. The 2016 Orlando shootings murdered 49 Americans and is the second worst mass shooting in the US history; it was likewise committed by a Muslim.
-I didn't look at attempted but failed murders.
Cucked Atheist.
ReplyDeleteOh good grief. I'm cringing from head to toe. Sorry, not buying it, son. Pure attention-seeking. Feel-good narcissism at its very best. Social media has spawned about 20 million Batmans in the West. It's astonishing.
ReplyDeleteBest pitch your tent up outside your 'local mosque' indefinitely, hero. Or is 90 minutes all you have in the tank?