FBI

Lots of competing political narratives in this hostage standoff in Texasg

1/16/22
from The Gray Area:
1/16/22; updated below: 1/17/22:
Yes, sadly, even in a hostage standoff, political narratives dominate the coverage of the situation. Some are unfortunately to be expected, like President Biden inserting comments into a situation that requires absolutely nothing from the President of the United States while local, state and FBI are handling the matter. Yet other narratives are included in public statements and/or copy embedded in the media's coverage. You can see competing narratives in the two articles to the left (CNN) and right (Fox) on this site. Below are some of the obvious. FBI: Mr. DeSarno said Saturday that Mr. Akram “was singularly focused on one issue, and it wasn’t specifically related to the Jewish community.  This brings up a lot of FBI corruption and inconsistency issues. They are trying here to get your focus away from terrorism, away from anti-semitism (which is attempting only to be tied to Republicans) and to protect Muslims (Islamaphobia). Even though the perp was identified as a British citizen who traveled to U.S. in recent days and went straight to Texas, bypassed a larger Catholic Church almost across the street, to get to CBI. Then tried to get a notoriously anti-Semitic terrorist released from the prison down the road.  Just a coincidence that he targeted a house of worship used by this one particular religious minority. Further complicating this narrative are past descriptions by the FBI of similar events: -FOX: Recall, the FBI claimed the Ft. Hood terrorist attack was “workplace violence,” and that a mass assassination attack on GOPers was a “suicide by cop” incident. Again, taking the focus away from radical Islamic terrorism at home or Democrat supporters.  Radical Islamic terrorism is a term that is not allowed to be used. -FOX: This is the same FBI field office that executed the arrest of Stewart Rhodes last week. DOJ used no obfuscation in describing Rhodes and 11 others as seditionists. This is consistent with preferred narratives targeting conservative, Republican or other right-wing 'extremists'.  No hesitation in using the worst sounding language to describe actions in which the preferred narrative can be used to indict the preferred target group. Terrorism. -WSJ: Ms. Siddiqui is serving an 86-year sentence in a Fort Worth federal prison for the attempted killing of FBI agents and soldiers at an Afghan police compound in 2008. -CNN reports: “She does not want any violence perpetrated against any human being, especially in her name,” Marwa Elbially told CNN by phone. “It obviously has nothing to do with Dr. Siddiqui or her family.” Really. A person the hostage taker asked to be freed and was convicted of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan. She also reportedly tell attorneys to do DNA tests on jurors to eliminate any with Jewish blood! And we need to highlight her as 'Doctor', to attempt to soften the perception of her crimes. Why? Because she is part of a preferred group, Muslims.  Islamic terrorism or violence needs to minimized in a preferred group. -Biden: “I wanted to make sure that we got the word out [to] synagogues and other places of worship that we’re not going to tolerate this.” Inconsistent with FBI statement, but consistent with common sense evaluation of the situation. But ,why be inconsistent?  Just incompetent communication, maybe.  More likely when combined with the next statement about extremism, it is designed to remind us that right-wing extremism is the most important thing in our country right now. -Biden: "but let me be clear to anyone who intends to spread hate - we will stand against anti-Semitism and against the rise of extremism in this country. Anti-Semitism. -WaPo. The Texas synagogue hostage situation reminds us that we must prioritize combating antisemitism. Described as "white supremacy/nationalism”, even though there was no 'white' involved in Colleyville. Must get the narrative message out again, even if unrelated and false. Islamaphobia. Law Enforcement. -Biden: "Tonight the men and women of law enforcement made us all proud." So you need to be reminded of the narrative that law enforcement is racist, bad and needs to be defunded or otherwise downgraded.  But, since that can't be said when something good happens, thanks to law enforcement is used, making a positive sounding statement worded as a reminder that this is somehow unusual. Gun Control. -CNN: Mr. Akram used a handgun in the standoff, and they are working to figure out how and where he purchased itAn important data point in the investigation, but of no importance as to why this happened. It is only necessary to remind us of the need for gun control. We will certainly find out more about this event as the investigations continues. We will have to strain out the political narratives to absorb only the facts about what the perp's motivations were and why this happened. -Biden Blames Homeless for Arming Texas Synagogue Suspect, Then Pivots in Shameless Fashion. There is really nothing to be said about this statement other than, sad. Divided America. -And, WaPo, in the midst of a touching article about interfaith cooperation, a time to highlight not division but united peoples, they chose to highlight the hate & division narrative instead: ..the reality that religious tensions and anger are growing in an increasingly balkanized America. Why? The reason, of course, is that you cannot have people accept radical change (socialism, CRT & tyranny), if things are going well in America. The divisive narrative needs to continue. UPDATE 1/17/22: President Biden and the FBI have corrected their narratives of the 16th. Biden now saying it was 'an act of terror'. The FBI now saying this: 'a 'terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted'... More From The Wall Street Journal:


365 Days Page
Comment ( 0 )