Individual jihad comes to UC Merced

It's been happening for some time now. An individual Muslim with no known organizational links goes on a rampage, often with a gun, which inflicts the most casualties. But the "stabbing jihad" is now fashionable among the homicidal/suicidal Islamic fanatics, probably because knives are a lot easier to get than guns.

The authorities express puzzlement about the motives of the fanatic. Sometimes the bafflement is genuine, but it's often bogus, even when the attacker makes his motives explicit. The media usually plays along with the charade (Stephen Coughlin explains how this works).

The Chronicle's story on the Merced attack is typical ("Tragedy unites UC Merced," November 8, Nanette Asimov. I can't find this story at SF Gate or on the E-edition. My citations are to the hard-copy edition of the Sunday Chronicle.)

Students and officials reacted as if the incident was essentially a public relations problem for the Merced campus: 

A student: "It could have happened anywhere...the students here are fine about their school, so we should also be fine about it," and another: "This is bringing us closer...It can happen anywhere." 

And another:

He said that even though some commenters on social media have blamed the attacker's actions on his Muslim faith, prejudice would not win out..."Not one of the 6,000 students here is showing any sign of hatred. Some even view the (attacker) as a victim of some social issue."

It's not necessary to "hate" Islam after one of these attacks, since the attacker is responsible (A Merced source claims that the attacker was known to the authorities as an extremist). 

On the other hand, why ignore what the attacker himself made explicit? From the Associated Press in the Examiner:

[Sheriff]Warnke said Mohammad’s plan was written in English and referenced the Muslim god Allah several times. But Warnke said the student was motivated by personal animosities and the attacks had nothing to do with religion or terrorism.

Sounds like religion to me. We don't need to wage some kind of pogrom against Muslims, but we do need to face reality.

Once again I post Christopher Hitchens' warning about what we face for the foreseeable future:

We had better get used to being the civilians who are under a relentless and planned assault from the pledged supporters of a wicked theocratic ideology. These people will kill themselves to attack hotels, weddings, buses, subways, cinemas, and trains. They consider Jews, Christians, Hindus, women, homosexuals, and dissident Muslims (to give only the main instances) to be divinely mandated slaughter victims. Our civil aviation is only the most psychologically frightening symbol of a plethora of potential targets. The future murderers will generally not be from refugee camps or slums (though they are being indoctrinated every day in our prisons); they will frequently be from educated backgrounds, and they will often not be from overseas at all. They are already in our suburbs and even in our military. We can expect to take casualties. The battle will go on for the rest of our lives. Those who plan our destruction know what they want, and they are prepared to kill and die for it. Those who don't get the point prefer to whine about "endless war"...

Thanks to Jihad Watch

Later: An update from Jihad Watch.