No political fighting, please. This is just an honest survey to see what your opinion is of the massacre at Fort Hood. Please refrain from angrily attacking the views and opinions of others who may not agree with you (yes, that includes me!), and just concentrate on expressing your own views on the topic instead.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

As a follow up, whatever selection you made should guide what you want to be done moving forward to prevent this from happening again.

For example, if you selected choice number one, and other than myself I'd be shocked if anyone else here will, you would want to spend your resources rooting out other Islamic extremists in the military.

If you selected option number two, you would likely spend your resources cracking down on Islamophobia in the military and America's foreign policies in general.

If you selected choice number 3, you would likely recommend spending your resources reevaluating how to better protect military psychologists against the stresses of the job.

If you selected choice 4, you would see this as a random act of insanity that couldn't have been prevented, and would be reluctant to use resources for anything other than mourning the senselessness of the tragedy.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

I voted. but I'll keep my opinion to myself (ETC, I think you know how I voted) as it is only my uneducated opinion and is not based on any deep-seeded facts. I know at least 13 soldiers were gunned down by a man screaming something about Allah in the middle of Texas. I don't think any other facts are needed to form my opinion. 2 cents!

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

In my honest opinion monsters aren't born they are created. Having to deal with discrimination is an ugly thing. When you're the population being targeted you're more aware of the bigotry. Having a US general say Islam is the biggest threat to America sends a dangerous message.

No one should be judged by the worst of their kind. Yet it occurs everyday in America.

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All the things we wanted each other to be we'll never be.

Choice 2 most closely resembled my feelings based on the facts presented to date.

The Islamic religion is so severely misunderstood in this country, and the persecution of those that have that faith is appalling. Religious freedom in this country is a very cherished thing....unless you're a Muslim it seems.

I feel that the man has lived with constant bashing of his faith and beliefs for his entire life, and the negativeness only intensified after 9/11. I'm sure he received more of the hate than a non-enlisted practitioner would have. I feel for the man in that regard.

I strongly disagree with his choice to take the lives of his fellow soldiers. He should be punished for his crimes to the fullest extent of the law.

That being said, I hope that the military, and our country as a whole, will someday realize that Islam is not a faith predicated on 'murdering the infidels' or 'jihads' or the 'destruction of western civilization'.

Right, but people, especially a psychiatrist, should understand that when a country is at war with another country or religion in this case, you shouldn't be ashamed of who you are or where you come from, but you should certainly understand where the bigotry comes from and not blame US but blame the assholes that are giving Islam and Muslimism (is that a word?) a bad name by being the supreme assholes they are (like the ones on 9/11 for instance).

Case in point...I'm 75% German. During WWII, there was a definite mistrust and skepticism around people with names like Sauerbeir and Gutacker and Weitz. Were my grandparents ashamed to be German? No! But they didn't run with German flags and announcing it to everyone, either. They weren't offended by any predjudices, either. They understood and knew it would be over eventually. They kept the German language down to only during dinnertime when they said the family grace in German.

It sucks to be living in a country that is at war with the place you came from or people that are distoring yoru religion, but you have to learn to deal with it and put the blame for any inconvenience you're suffering from where it belongs and hope that it ends soon.

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

Terrorists are assholes hiding behind a religion and giving it a bad name. I'm my opinion, this guy was a terrorist. Also, in my opinion, it is not like a soldier to be all stupid to a fellow soldier, especially a ranking one, just because he's Muslim. I suspect this guy was demonstrating shitty behaviour and whining about everyone that looked at him wrong. He probably took little jabs that were meant to be harmless and ran with them. In other words, he was probably a prick and that probably had more to do with people picking on him than his being Muslim or Islamic. JMO...I didn't know the guy, I just know he killed a bunch of people while screaming something about Allah in Texas (as stated above - sorry for the repeat). I have no sympathy for him.

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

ETC has asked that this thread not be a discussion of opinions, and I plan to respect his wishes.

But its SO HARD, Squanto!!!

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

(when's the last time a girl said THAT to ya?)

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

Thanks, Squanto. To clarify, though, I do want to have opinions expressed, just not attacking others for their opinions. I want to somehow be able to have a forum of diverse ideas that will be conducive to understanding one another instead of demonizing.

NYYFan, I would like to get a variety of ideas and opinions, so if you want to disagree with someone I would recommend PM-ing them. I know Squanto strongly disagrees with you, and you with him, and that's fine, but please express your views and opinions carefully and with respect to those who disagree.

Considering the hot intensity of emotions this topic generates I'm more hopeful than optimistic that mutual respect will last long, but it's worth a try.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

I voted for #1 based on the fact that it was revealed he attempted to initiate contact with Al Qaeda.

In my mind that shows both intent and premeditation.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood ... id=9030873

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Crosscheck, just to play devil's advocate, what would you say to someone on the left if they were to respond to your comment by suggesting he was driven to terrorism by Islamophobia and the bigoted policies of the United States. That Islam had nothing to do with it.

Not saying I think this way, mind you, but how would you answer that?

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

Then I'd say, as I did in the other thread, that his motivations really don't matter to me.

Life isn't fair. Lots of groups are picked on, marginalized and treated as suspect. That's always been the case.

He took it on himself to go on a shooting spree.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.

Well, Squanto suggests he should be prosecuted for his actions, too, so how would you two differ? It seems the topic of what to do with HIM is pretty straight forward: either execution or life in prison depending on your beliefs regarding capital punishment.

I think the bigger question is my follow up on what actions we should subsequently take moving forward - as outlined in my 2nd comment.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

Well I don't think the actions of the US have been particularly Islamophobic in any way.
We're engaged in a couple of wars being fought by predominantly people of one religion, but that religion isn't our target (as should be obvious to anyone that enjoys the freedom of religion granted by our constitution).

Now, Islamophobia in the military may exist, but I can't speak to that.
I can totally see it going on culturally however...My grandfather wasn't very fond of Japanese people either.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

So, would it be fair to say that moving forward you would advocate allotting resources to rooting out other potential Islamic extremists in the military?

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

I would advocate allotting resources to rooting out any potential extremists in the military.

If you're a member of the armed forces, you're automatically considered armed, dangerous and with access to all sorts of secrets and nasty weapons...we don't need any crazies around that shit, Muslim or not.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

So, I think it's safe to say you would be more likely to spend your resources cracking down on what you see as Islamophobia in both the military and America's foreign policies, right?

Things like military sensitivity training towards Muslims, ending our military aggression in Islamic countries, adding education programs in schools teaching children how Islam is misunderstood, that Muslims in America are victims of persecution and bigotry, and that Islam is a religion of peace not terrorism.

Is this fairly accurate?

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.