A few thoughts about the Nashville bombing and how folks are reacting to it. On the one hand, yes, were the bomber Arab and/or Muslim, the "sad loner" narrative would have been eclipsed by talk of possible religious/ideological motives and the label "terrorist." That said...
2/ the fact that we'd affix that label to others doesn't make it proper to call this bomber a terrorist. The answer is to STOP affixing that label in cases where it clearly does not fit. Allow that everyone can have motives for awful shit that aren't linked to their identities...
3/ So in the case of Muslims, they can just be loners, w/mental illness & personal grudges or who want to commit suicide for the same reason others do: reasons that are personal not ideological. And white guys can do evil shit and not have it be about white nationalism or Trump..
4/ Pointing out the double standard in terms of how media talk about white violence vs violence by POC is valid and important. Correcting it by applying simplistic thinking to both types of actions is not. We need to note the way white criminals, bombers, etc are humanized...
5/ in media coverage, and note the way we DON'T do that as readily for Black and brown folks, of course. But we don't need to then insist on equally dehumanizing EVERYONE, but rather on humanizing all....
6/ Everyone who kills, whether for political or personal reasons has a story which we need to probably know if we are to figure out what drove them to that place, and how might we minimize the likelihood of others getting there and doing the same?...
7/ I want the media to explore the deep story of this bomber, just like I want them to explore Mohammed Atta, the Columbine killers, or the men on death row I met 20 years ago here in TN. Not bc we owe them sympathy per se, but bc WE can benefit from certain insights about them..
8/ In the case of this bomber it seems his actions don't fit into a nice tidy political formula. Maybe he was paranoid about 5G they say, but that isn't a clearly definable political ideology that links to a broader worldview. I know left and right folks who believe that shit...
9/ As such, to claim this as an act of terrorism is not accurate using any definition of the term that makes sense. It was a grandiose act of self-immolation, designed to cause as little harm to human life as possible other than his. The horror of it doesn't make it terrorism...
10/ And trying to shoehorn it into that box, just bc we know the other side would, or because they DO, isn't helpful. It's not as inherently bad as the idiots claiming this was a false flag or Chinese attack to help cover up election theft, but it's about as helpful in the end.
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