Almost immediately after the media reported the death of a suspect in the Austin, Texas bombings, social media users and news outlets alike prepared narratives. Once the suspect was identified as Mark Conditt and his photo was released, social justice warriors were free to rampage through my timelines. Strange posts filtered through that begged the question: Why aren’t white people ever labeled as terrorists?
There’s a large number of hardcore liberals who claim that only black and brown individuals are labeled “terrorists.” One argument states that white people are born innocent until proven guilty, whereas people of color remain the only terrorists in America.
For those of us not living in a perpetual state of victimhood, it’s hard to search for blame beyond the suspect. The tragic chain of events that occurred in Austin devastated the city and caused panic on a large scale. The everyday task of checking mail had residents on alert. Rather than waiting for details to be released, social justice warriors would rather make their own narrative.
February 15, 2018: “Yesterday’s school shooting in Florida provided yet another example that the real terrorist threat to this country comes from white domestic terrorists and not Muslim men from the Middle East.” (Credit: Overpass Light Brigade)
Of course, the notion that white people are exempt from terrorism charges is ridiculous. Terrorists use violence as a means to an end. It’s written in the United States code that terrorism is carried out with the intent “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.”
Defining violent acts that lack a clear motive as terrorism has negative implications. By that logic, we’d have to label every criminal act of violence as terrorism. That would certainly raise the number of terrorists in America. I’m really starting to wonder if angry social media users are aware that terrorism is an actual criminal charge. It’s not simply an adjective meant for brown and black people.
In any case, let’s go where these social justice warriors want poor, unsuspecting white folk to venture so we can talk about racism for the next few weeks. Currently, there is a worldwide terrorism problem that affects third-world countries as well as developed nations. The motivating factor behind many terrorist acts is jihad waged by radicalized Muslims. Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t recall a single act of terror recently that wasn’t carried out in the name of radical Islam and their cause. That isn’t to say there aren’t domestic terrorists in the United States. The Ku Klux Klan is one such group that comes to mind who aren’t Muslims.
Nevertheless, reports that authorities haven’t been able to find a motive behind the actions of the Austin bombings won’t stop the culture of playing victim. Mark Conditt is dead and families of victims are grieving and social justice warriors need a label attached to the suspect. Ironically, these are the same people who reject “thoughts and prayers” from conservatives as being just words. “Terrorist” is just a word also, so why does it hold a massive amount of power over outraged liberals?
