The face of terrorism has changed dramatically in just five years. Bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy Zawahari take credit for a grand Muslim “awakening” post 9/11...More often, Bin Laden and the terrorist propaganda serve as an excuse and inspiration for deranged people who fetishize about, and sometimes commit, mass violence...Al Qaeda’s marketing has been so pervasive that it has served as an excuse for violence by angry young men who were not practicing Muslims. In January 2002, 15-year-old Charles Bishop crashed a small plane into an office building in Tampa, Florida. He had no connection to al Qaeda but nonetheless his lengthy suicide note praised Bin Laden, 9/11, and threatened a nuclear explosion at the Super Bowl....The Virginia Tech tragedy, carefully documented by its perpetrator, and Bishop’s suicide flight, may be al Qaeda’s newest, though unintended, product. This latest iteration of terror will likely be characterized by individuals and groups recruited via the advertising of al Qaeda. They may completely ignore the pseudo-religious veil and adopt only its mythology of personal grandeur and pathology of violence....McJihad at Virginia Tech, R.P. Eddy, National Review Online, 4/24/2007
R.P. Eddy's article in National Review, troubling and perceptive, is one to keep. And one wonders. Under the ancient "freedom of speech does not mean freedom to shout fire in a crowded theater" dictum of the Supreme Court Court, when are efforts going to made to shout down American-based Internet sites that advocate violence and the violent overthrow of the United States government?
Luther
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