Thank goodness for the Blogosphere. Otherwise, there would be a massive cover-up of Joel Hinrichs' big exit from this planet. OU President, David Boren, has released a letter on the OU Web site warning people to avoid rushing to judgement.
We believe that we should not rush to judge others or jump to conclusions about others on the basis of color, race, gender, economic status, or freely exercised religious beliefs. To rush to judge other or make assumptions about them on that basis is nothing short of prejudice.
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I have been assured that law enforcement officials including federal officers have found no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our OU community. They have kept me informed of the steps being taken in their investigation. You can be assured that if I receive any information to the contrary, I will immediately inform you to take steps to protect our community.
In fact, national law enforcement statistics compiled confirm that we have a low per capita crime rate. OU has long been dedicated to the safety of our students.
How far-fetched is it to assume that a suicide bombing is related to radical Islam? Did I just make up that correlation? President Boren is virtually standing in front of the police tape chanting "Go about your business; there is nothing to see here" when there is plenty to see and analyze. It's not like people blowing themselves up either on purpose or accidentally happens every day on a college campus (although the news in the past couple of days indicates that may change). Self-induced explosion is more akin to the Gaza strip than a state college in the US. So excuse us, President Boren, for thinking it might be terrorism.
Another outrageous thing from the letter is the comment about the low crime rate in the OU community. This assumption that the discourse related to this bombing has anything to do with crime rate is mind-boggling twisted. Those of us watching this situation are already aware there is no direct correlation between crime rate and terrorism. Crime rate and the safety of other students is not what this is about. President Boren is either uninformed on how terrorism works or he is pretending to not know. Either way, it's almost insulting to read, especially considering that Mohammed Atta lived right there in Norman, Oklahoma.
I keep thinking back to my Cold War Air Force days. I had a high-level security clearance. When I signed the paperwork, I had to reveal any connections I had to any communist country. This included relatives, friends, and business acquaintances. I was restricted form traveling without permission to certain countries, including East Germany, the Soviet Union, and China. When people from those countries entered the US, they were questioned by Customs and some were even monitored by the FBI. So why did we never hear about racial profiling and prejudice back then? I mean white men with blonde hair came from Russia; I'm sure they felt slighted in some way. This was not a rush to judgement against Russia. It was national security.
This whole racial profiling/prejudice talk is actually pretty racist itself. It assumes things like no Arab has ever committed terrorism and certainly no Muslim has set off a bomb in recent history; why, you'd have to be crazy to think so. The reality is we all know this is a white American male. However, he did have ties with Islam. We don't know how strong those ties were, but I bet they are more than just passing (see 10 Reasons Why a Hinrichs Terrorist Link Seems Like the Most Plausible Possible Explanation).
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