I was really hoping that the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing wouldn’t turn out to be Muslims. I was hoping they’d be right wing nut jobs, like Timothy McVeigh, because then self-appointed patriots would feel no need to exact retribution.
If they had been representatives of some misguided Christian group like the Westboro Baptist Church (which plans, naturally, to picket the funerals of the victims), no houses of worship would be threatened.
America being the kind of place it is, however, some will tar an entire group of loyal Americans with the actions of two individuals who have about as much to do with mainstream Islam as the aforementioned Westboro group has to do with the Vatican.
Intelligent, sensible people will not try to make a connection that does not exist, but there will be others—those who seek simple solutions to complex issues—who will be bent on catharsis.
I am sad for our country when I ponder what may happen during the next few days and weeks to some of our undeserving fellow citizens. I would like nothing better than to be pleasantly shocked out of my cynicism.
20 April 2013
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