The Race for Conclusions.
Fort Hood shootings are a lesson in all of our prejudices.
November 12, 2009.
Almost as soon as the Fort Hood shootings occurred, a familiar chant from the media was heard — how can we prevent this from happening? There is something in the human psyche that demands answers, and control of our destiny. Yet, we all know that not much of our world is controllable. Things happen that we will never understand, despite all the scientists and pundits making a career of explaining all is wrong in the world.
The race for conclusions only leads to prejudice and hatred. We will try to ascribe motives to the Fort Hood shooter, without knowing if those motives are simply reflections of our personal biases. The pundits will claim that the shooter was of a certain religious persuasion or held certain beliefs, and that's why we should persecute them.
They are wrong.
While there may be a longing in the back rooms of opinion makers, and a drummed up cries for change, we should all take a step back, and realize while such events are tragic, and suggest that new policies be created to deal with the stress brought on by the war machine, we shouldn't be rushing for change. Only when we know the answers, should we look towards institutional change that doesn't persecute individuals, but instead makes our country a better place to live.
