I don't know if they're going to end up classifying this shooting of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina a hate crime or not either, but regardless of the findings in this case, the critics of Fox "news" are correct when it comes to the network and the spreading of Islamophobia.
Of course, that didn't sit to well with Bill O'Reilly, who lashed out at the father of two of the women who were murdered, calling him and others "vile" and "revolting" on during this Friday's Talking Points Memo: Three Muslims Murdered in North Carolina, Was It a Hate Crime?:
The FBI is now looking into possible hate crime violations, but that investigation has just begun.
Hicks is a malcontent, a trouble-maker by all accounts.
He is an atheist who has attacked all religions on the net, and has also advocated for gay marriage.
Almost immediately after the shooting, the verbal accusations began:
DR. MOHAMMAD ABU-SALHA, FATHER OF THE N.C. FEMALE VICTIMS: “With the media bombarding every American every day with news about what they call Islamic terrorism, none of which is Islamic at all, they are really preparing people for such tragedies and triggering them and provoking them.”
((EDIT))
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: “Whatever the motivations for this horrendous slaughter, it takes place in a context where subtle, persistent anti-Muslim bias is a part of American life and this feels like a wake-up call.”
((EDIT))
SHAFI KHAN, FRIEND OF VICTIMS: “And I want to take a minute and ask people like Fox News and Bobby Jindal to stop dehumanization of Muslims. It’s really, really starting to take a toll.”
That's just vile.But it's standard issue these days.
Talking Points grieves for the three murdered young people. They are innocents destroyed by a disturbed individual.
Just as all the human beings being destroyed by the jihadists around the world are innocents murdered for absolutely no reason.
It is simply revolting that any person would throw around accusations against people who had nothing to do with the murder.
Here's more from Steve M.:
So, according to O'Reilly, it's "revolting" for "any person" to blame Islamophobes in the media. Even the grieving father of two murder victims.
What we know about Craig Stephen Hicks suggests that he got his Islamophobia more from Richard Dawkins than from Fox. But the two strains of Islamophobia feed off each other in America. If Dr. Abu-Salha spoke in his grief without carefully distinguishing one from the other, that's no reason to attack him.
But it's just another day at the office for O'Reilly.
So was his constant ranting against Dr. George Tiller that eventually led to him being gunned down, but Bill-O didn't want to take responsibility for that either.
