RSS FeedNot All Muslims are Terrorists, But All Terrorists are Not Muslim Either
It’s a common refrain in the media, that the threat of terrorism comes from Islamic extremism.
Not true, according to a new study revealed by researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Anti-Terror Lessons of Muslim-Americans, which suggests that only 6% of terrorist attacks on the U.S. are from Muslims.
CNN describes the inclusion criteria used for the study:
To be included on the list, an offender had to have been wanted, arrested, convicted or killed in connection with terrorism-related activities since 9/11 — and have lived in the United States, regardless of immigration status, for more than a year prior to arrest.
The study also notes that strong partnerships and support of Muslim institutions are necessary to prevent the radicalization of Muslims. To date, we’ve often have initiatives that accomplish the opposite. Muslim terrorists also had very little to do with Islam,
This research confirmed what has been observed in other studies of Muslim terrorists: most of those who engage in religiously inspired terrorism have little formal training in Islam and, in fact, are poorly educated about Islam. Muslim- Americans with a strong, traditional religious training are far less likely to radicalize than those whose knowledge of Islam is incomplete.
The implications of the findings also suggest there is disproportionate attention by the media and security officials on threats that are comparatively negligible, which may actually accentuate this specific risk over time.
Placed in context with data over the past 30 years, we get a very different picture (graph sent to us by a reader):
Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil by Group, From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI Database
Online Legal Reporting Trumps CNN
The video is hard to turn away from. A sobbing 16-year-old sits in her bedroom and, staring into a camera, says she has been raped.
This is how CNN covers a story of a 16-year old that posted a video on YouTube after the state attorney in Orange County, Florida dropper her case of being raped. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1iIPiE38g[/youtube] They then go on to warn of the dangers of divulging too much personal information online, and tout the benefits of a counselling service that would probably be more effective. The problem is that the CNN reporter probably did not even bother to read case transcript, available free from the Orange County Clerk of Courts. Instead, the real story broke on The Smoking Gun, which related how the young girl changed her story of a consensual relationship after the case was dismissed, and had cited personal grievances and a break-up as the reason for the complaint. The case sheet itself leads with,
Due to the consensual nature of the sex encounter… I’m using prosecutorial discretion and am not filing the case…
Commentators on the case have wondered if the accused now has a case against her for libel and slander. Others have wondered how a small website could conduct a more thorough investigation than a multi-million dollar international news agency. The power and importance of small media web outlets are only beginning to be felt.
