Forty-five people were murdered in the United States yesterday (16,591 homicides for the year 2009 [1]). And another forty-five will be murdered tomorrow. And another forty-five every day of the year and next year and next year.
What happened in Norway was terrible. A Christian extremist named Anders Breivik killed 91 people.* It was clearly a massacre. Here in the United States, we have a massacre the size of Norway’s every other day, but we don’t call it a “massacre” because the killings aren’t as geographically clustered–but then again, many of them are clustered in the inner cities of America. And if we don’t call it a “massacre,” we don’t feel as compelled to do something to stop the killings. Something simple like calling off the “war on drugs.” [2]
For anyone who objects that I’ve called the Norwegian killer a “Christian,” I’m willing to make a deal. Next time a Muslim inflicts violence in America, will you agree that you won’t describe him as a Muslim when you describe his conduct? That would avoid a double-standard. [3] Deal?
Print this post [4]
[5]