San Bernardino: Shock, unbelief and grief
December 4 2015 By Abiodun Giwa
End of the road for the Farooks after the car from which they engaged the police in gun fire was smoked out
\ 14 people died and 17 injured from a violence at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California. The picture on the television screen on Wednesday evening showed police encounter with the assassins, the pursuit and the gun fires reminded the world of star-studded movies. But we all knew this was not a movie, but a real life experience. People went to a party joyful with expectations to return home. One returned home in anger ahead of others, he later returned with his wife and made 14 others at the party ended up dead.
The assailants have been identified as Syed Raheel Farook and Tashfeen Malik. They were couples and they had both been killed. Authorities said explosives were found in a bag, but investigation is continuing to determine whether he couple is connected with known international terrorist organizations. The couple has a six months old baby, the husband is United States born, but the wife lived in Saudi Arabia but she was originally from Pakistan.
San Bernardino's event was in the news on Thursday morning and all the newspapers across the country had it as the front page headline. The New York Times headlined it 'Shooting Rampage Sows Terror in California'. The New York Post headlined it ;Shooters slaughter 14 in California. The New York Daily News headlined it ;God isn't fixing this'. The Records captioned it 'On a Mission of Blood; The Star Ledger put it ;A Barrage of gun fire leaves 14 Dead in Calif. and another one said '14 Slain in Assault Party."
The New York Times' was the closest to what actually happened in San Bernardino. Although the newspapers' reports must have been acts of formality, because all that needed to be known were already on the television for almost 12 hours before the papers' arrival. Notwithstanding, the New York Times caption goes into the heart of the argument whether or not the killings are acts of terror. It raises the issue about when can an act of violence be described or termed as an act of terror. Incredibly, some are using the opportunity to relive their argument about gun violence. Some are saying this is not an issue about gun violence, but a clear act of terrorism.
Reports say Farook was at a party in his place of work. He left in anger and returned with his wife, They are armed with AK47 and other short guns and dressed in tactical gears they had destroyed their cell phone and computer, part of an attempt conceal evidence. before they embarked on their own destructive journey. With this description, what else do one need to know that the event in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism? The revelation about the discovery of a mass of guns and pipe bombs in Farooks' home have added a new dimension that all that the public is waiting to hear is about which version of the terror organizations may have aided the Farooks' onslaught with many questions and few or no answers. Why did they do it? Aged 28 and 27 respectively and infant baby of six months. What type of disagreement could have propelled them into an undertaking that was moral equivalent of self destruction?
The event in California has been on the television for more than 12 hours. A week earlier, a man went into the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, and the television viewers were hooked onto the screen for about six hours. At the last count, he killed three people and injured nine. during the same period, a recorded camera of a police man, who shot Laquan MacDonald, a 17 years old guy 16 times, was released. The same day or so that the man who killed three people in Colorado appeared in a court room, another police officer appeared in a court room in Baltimore over the death of Fred Gray, another young man said to have died by police mishandling of his case.
People say it is understandable that police officers life also matter and that officers are expected to go out to work and return home to their families. But when violence has reached a level, where officers are no longer certain of returning home and that to ensure they return home, they have to be on defensive all the time to ensure they don't lose their lives, the society requires to work and correct the anomalies.
Just last week during the Thanksgiving events, a man in an advertisement on the television said that the television is getting bigger, the price is falling and that it is time for him to get his own set. This advertisement is a reminder of a dystopian book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, where he writes that a time will come, when all that people will have time for is to watch the television and he gives a picture of a couple in a room with four walls as television screen. First, today people don't seem to need going to the movie theater to watch movie any more. Violence on the streets and international terrorism is giving enough for everyone to watch their reports on the screen.
And when you watch people on the television arguing about gun control or whether these killings are acts of terrorism or something else, you get the import that people are scared of discussing certain issues or ask hard questions about them just Bradbury projected in his book about lack of deep reflection by people and lack of adequate questions. on issues that matter and that it will be troublesome to ask too many questions. Does violence has to be committed by a particular tribe or particular people in a particular religion or has political undertone before an act of violence could be termed terrorism?
People who know the definition of terrorism know that the event in Colorado is terrorism. The event in San Bernardino in California is terrorism. They also sat that any act by anyone shooting another person to death is terrorism. It is left to the authorities to qualify an act of violence based on their investigation and the need to prosecute cases in a court of law.
The assailants have been identified as Syed Raheel Farook and Tashfeen Malik. They were couples and they had both been killed. Authorities said explosives were found in a bag, but investigation is continuing to determine whether he couple is connected with known international terrorist organizations. The couple has a six months old baby, the husband is United States born, but the wife lived in Saudi Arabia but she was originally from Pakistan.
San Bernardino's event was in the news on Thursday morning and all the newspapers across the country had it as the front page headline. The New York Times headlined it 'Shooting Rampage Sows Terror in California'. The New York Post headlined it ;Shooters slaughter 14 in California. The New York Daily News headlined it ;God isn't fixing this'. The Records captioned it 'On a Mission of Blood; The Star Ledger put it ;A Barrage of gun fire leaves 14 Dead in Calif. and another one said '14 Slain in Assault Party."
The New York Times' was the closest to what actually happened in San Bernardino. Although the newspapers' reports must have been acts of formality, because all that needed to be known were already on the television for almost 12 hours before the papers' arrival. Notwithstanding, the New York Times caption goes into the heart of the argument whether or not the killings are acts of terror. It raises the issue about when can an act of violence be described or termed as an act of terror. Incredibly, some are using the opportunity to relive their argument about gun violence. Some are saying this is not an issue about gun violence, but a clear act of terrorism.
Reports say Farook was at a party in his place of work. He left in anger and returned with his wife, They are armed with AK47 and other short guns and dressed in tactical gears they had destroyed their cell phone and computer, part of an attempt conceal evidence. before they embarked on their own destructive journey. With this description, what else do one need to know that the event in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism? The revelation about the discovery of a mass of guns and pipe bombs in Farooks' home have added a new dimension that all that the public is waiting to hear is about which version of the terror organizations may have aided the Farooks' onslaught with many questions and few or no answers. Why did they do it? Aged 28 and 27 respectively and infant baby of six months. What type of disagreement could have propelled them into an undertaking that was moral equivalent of self destruction?
The event in California has been on the television for more than 12 hours. A week earlier, a man went into the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, and the television viewers were hooked onto the screen for about six hours. At the last count, he killed three people and injured nine. during the same period, a recorded camera of a police man, who shot Laquan MacDonald, a 17 years old guy 16 times, was released. The same day or so that the man who killed three people in Colorado appeared in a court room, another police officer appeared in a court room in Baltimore over the death of Fred Gray, another young man said to have died by police mishandling of his case.
People say it is understandable that police officers life also matter and that officers are expected to go out to work and return home to their families. But when violence has reached a level, where officers are no longer certain of returning home and that to ensure they return home, they have to be on defensive all the time to ensure they don't lose their lives, the society requires to work and correct the anomalies.
Just last week during the Thanksgiving events, a man in an advertisement on the television said that the television is getting bigger, the price is falling and that it is time for him to get his own set. This advertisement is a reminder of a dystopian book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, where he writes that a time will come, when all that people will have time for is to watch the television and he gives a picture of a couple in a room with four walls as television screen. First, today people don't seem to need going to the movie theater to watch movie any more. Violence on the streets and international terrorism is giving enough for everyone to watch their reports on the screen.
And when you watch people on the television arguing about gun control or whether these killings are acts of terrorism or something else, you get the import that people are scared of discussing certain issues or ask hard questions about them just Bradbury projected in his book about lack of deep reflection by people and lack of adequate questions. on issues that matter and that it will be troublesome to ask too many questions. Does violence has to be committed by a particular tribe or particular people in a particular religion or has political undertone before an act of violence could be termed terrorism?
People who know the definition of terrorism know that the event in Colorado is terrorism. The event in San Bernardino in California is terrorism. They also sat that any act by anyone shooting another person to death is terrorism. It is left to the authorities to qualify an act of violence based on their investigation and the need to prosecute cases in a court of law.
