This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The San Bernardino Massacre: Perceptions, Propaganda, And Blowback
Submitted by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,
The reaction to the San Bernardino shooting in which 14 people were killed and several more wounded is a textbook case of confirmation bias. The first reactions came from the liberal wing of the Twittersphere, heavily represented by “mainstream” journalists, who immediately took the incident to be a classic “mass shooting” of the Sandy Hook-Columbine variety, and it didn’t take long for the finger-wagging to begin. At once pro-gun control and anti-religious, the meme went out into cyberspace: “thoughts and prayers” aren’t enough, we need to crack down on gun ownership in this country. The front page of the New York Daily News expressed the left-liberal party line: “GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS: As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes.”
As it turned out, however, the guns used by Syed Farook and Tashveen Malik, the two perpetrators, were bought legally – and their weaponry consisted of a lot more than mere guns. The editors of the Daily News didn’t wait for the facts because they didn’t care about the facts. They just wanted to make a point – one which turned out to be not only wrong but also completely beside the point.
In the same city, in the offices of a very similar – if ideologically opposite – tabloid, the editors of the New York Post were jumping the gun in an entirely different direction. As the ethnicity and religious affiliation of the attackers came out, they ran with a simple two-word headline: “MUSLIM KILLERS,” with a modifying qualifier: “Terror eyed as couple slaughters 14 in Calif.” As more information came out, however, the editors pulled back, and the final edition was quite different: “MURDER MISSION,” read the headline, with a neutral supplementary: “Shooters slaughter 14 in Calif.” These two editions were published hours after the incident, and only a few hours apart – a testament to the dangers of jumping to conclusions.
This reversal is explained by the subsequent release of yet more information about the perpetrators: Syed Farook worked at the San Bernardino Department of Public Health, which had rented a room at the facility where the massacre took place. The event was a holiday party, which Farook attended, but left early after a reported altercation of some kind. He returned with Malik, his wife, armed to the teeth, and the slaughter commenced.
These facts would appear to point in a different direction entirely from the scenario painted by the Post’s initial edition, and so the imagery conjured by the new headline went from that of the rampaging “Muslim Killers” to the “Murder Mission” of what appeared to be a case of workplace violence.
That’s what I thought around midnight last night, when I tweeted my tentative opinion that the workplace violence scenario seemed to be the most likely. My main reason was the nature of the target: why, I asked, would terrorists choose the Christmas party of the San Bernardino Public Health Department as the latest object of their wrath? In addition, reports of a dispute at the event involving Farook seemed to indicate that scenario: he got angry, came back, and started shooting. There were also reports of “turmoil” inside the department where he worked; several people had left amid rumors of disputes with management, and the fact that Farooq and his accomplice were targeting a very specific group of people – and not, say, a military facility, or even a soft target like a mall – seemed to corroborate this conclusion.
However, as more facts came out, this explanation began to make less sense. To begin with, a bomb – actually, three bombs taped together – had been left behind at the scene of the shooting. The bomb was linked to a device found in Farook’s rental car – rented three days prior – that was very similar to the jury-rigged remote-controlled IEDs recommended by al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine, which detailed how to make an explosive device with readily available materials. We don’t yet know why the bomb failed to go off,.
Although reports that the couple came into the venue wearing body armor and Go-Pro body cameras turned out to be false, they were wearing “tactical” clothing, i.e. vests that enabled them to carry large amounts of ammunition. And indeed they were carrying huge amounts, enough to let them reload on the scene, and continue firing up to seventy-five rounds for over 30 seconds. This accounts for the large number of casualties.
Furthermore, the discovery of twelve “pipe-bomb type” devices, hundreds of tools for making more, and “thousands” of rounds of ammunition in the Redlands home rented by Farooq and his wife eliminates the workplace violence scenario. This was, in effect, a bomb-making factory, and neighbors indicate that a number of people were involved: packages were received throughout the day, and activity was observed into the night. One of these neighbors claims they were ready to contact law enforcement but hesitated to do so for fear of being accused of “racial profiling.” Both Farooq and his bride were of Pakistani extraction.
Two factors indicating that this was indeed a terrorist cell carrying out a pre-planned operation, and not a disgruntled employee intent on revenge against his co-workers, are plain enough: 1) The couple dropped off their child at a relative’s house the day before the attack, claiming to have a doctor’s appointment, and 2) The tactics utilized in the shooting of the victims and the gunfight with the police — which included throwing a fake pipe bomb out of their car as the cops pursued them – are evidence of some kind of military training. Such training could have occurred during Farooq’s trips to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
And we are beginning to hear evidence of international contacts with “more than one” terrorist suspect under surveillance by law enforcement. All that’s missing – as of this writing – is a claim of responsibility by some overseas terrorist outfit.
Yet questions remain: again, the target – a holiday party in a small city – hardly seems like the sort ISIS or al-Qaeda would zero in on. Clearly the couple were planning on a much larger operation, but this plan was changed by something that triggered Farooq to act sooner. And we still don’t have the whole picture: there could conceivably be some new information that could alter our whole perception of what motivated Farooq and Malik.
Which brings me to my point: our perception of the facts is shaped – and altered – by our preconceptions. In short, people believe what they want to believe – and the facts be damned. In this case, major media organizations didn’t wait for the facts to come in before they pronounced judgment. They simply rushed into print with what were little more than editorials, bereft of any responsibility to their readers or the truth.
This is why those who proclaim that bias is inherent in all journalism, and that there’s no such thing as objective reporting, are dangerously wrong. Yes, we’re all human; yes, everyone has opinions. But some people wait for the facts to come in before giving vent to those opinions, while others don’t bother with such niceties.
The reality, as I see it, and given what we know now, is this: San Bernardino was an act of terrorism that may or may not have been directed from overseas. The implications of that are very grave for those of us who oppose our crazed foreign policy of perpetual war, and the relentless assault on our civil liberties on the home front.
The pressure to “destroy them over there before they strike us over here” is going to increase a hundred-fold. The advocates of universal surveillance are going to be empowered as never before. That these tactics haven’t worked in the past – and, indeed, have backfired badly – won’t deter the usual suspects from insisting that war and repression are the answers to the problem of terrorism.
Our answer to the War Party must be that their strategy has failed: the terrorists couldn’t recruit anyone if we weren’t over there bombing what remains of their cities and seeking to impose our will on a populace that will never accept our domination, no matter how many soldiers we send and bombing sorties we launch.
As for the authoritarians who want to use incidents like the San Bernardino attack as a pretext to abolish the Constitution and institute a regime of total surveillance and outright repression: where was their vaunted surveillance system in this case? We didn’t detect this plot – and perhaps that’s because watching everyone, and collecting everyone’s information, blinds us to the real villains hiding in our midst. Then again, perhaps ferreting out villains isn’t the real purpose of government spying.
After the 9/11 attacks, the nation was swept by a wave of war hysteria, and concern for basic civil liberties went right out the window: we will doubtless experience a similar phenomenon in the days and months to come. Yet we are confident that when the history of our era is written, the advocates of peace and liberty will be vindicated, while the War Party will be discredited and disdained by future generations. We must live in the future, in a sense, in order to fight for the future – if there is to be one, that is.
»
- 45 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Dunno MC, it's as if TPTB were trying to please everyone in the context of the various applicable concurrent narratives but it comes across as a clusterfuck masquerading as an out of context problem and reeks of desperation.
Ms Remus was almost apoplectic this AM while reading the news during breakfast about the journalists trampling about the alleged evil doers apartment. She couldn't believe the irresponsibility of that. I had to chuckle as she almost choked on her coffee whilst squawking WTF!
I don't have a ME cultural perspective for you MC. Bigotry reigns supreme, haters are going to hate and I have stayed away from the ZH echo chamber.
They had some 'guided' idiots making bombs under survelance. They sent their team in. 3 professionals hit men. In and out. Called the patsies told them to Meet them. Patsies went leaving food on table. When they got there. Their car was turned into Bonnie and Clyde's car.
The 3 pros the. Had a beer and watched the coverage
MsCreant: Always a pleasure reading your posts. As both you and I either know or assume about MSM "reporting", this either never happened the way it was "reported" by MSM or the criminal .gov made the whole thing happen to scare everyone and keep them focused on NASCAR instead of Russia/Turkey issues, lest they start truly waking up to this crap.
You are being sweet and saying you don't buy it. I'll give you this, I don't know shit, just like everyone else. Based on the author doing the "either/or" thing regarding going postal vs. Jihad, it seemed reasonable to propose that it is both. But everyone getting on me about just swallowing the story is within their rights.
MsCreant, I don't buy anything anyone says unless I see it with my own lying eyes. Not sure what you meant about everyone getting on you? I must have missed a few of your posts??
Attention ZH morons:
1. This man was a Muslim fanatic
2. He shot up a Christmas Party
3. Stop being so blind !!
This is a textbook case of Radical Islamic violence !!!
Attention traitorous scumbag: Go troll somewhere else.
Has the official narrative brought up the fact that one of the victims was a self pronounced zionist? It came up briefly on local news and as I figured the official press/government narrative went from a disgruntled worker murdering co-workers to full blown turrr'ism. The story was that the suspect shooter had a previous argument with a co worker about the state of Israel which angered him. The zionist was apparently the go-between to try calm the argument down (according to the radio host reporting the story.)
I find it so odd to believe that so many on ZH are taking the official narrative to heart. There are so many holes in the story, and as soon as the FBI showed up on the press conference I knew the story would go bizarro. Everyone local is focused on the victims, and rightfully so, but I'm starting to see random individuals beginning to question the official narrative and, in the process, get slammed by everyone else eating up the official story. Once again very little critical thinking going on.
If they are so jealous of our freedoms they have to be angry, vengeful and prepared to fight, so why is Barry letting 100,000 more angry jealous fighters in?
Sounds counter logical.
Islam does not need an excuse to recruit and spread terror
Bombing them might recruit more, if the bombing is unsuccesful.
Islam has always taught to conquer the world thru violant Jihad from the get go
Stop making excuses for these people
They only understand a heavy hand
Or you could stick your head in the sand and say
"IT IS ALL FAKE A ,FALSE FLAG"
and other stupid comments here on ZH
From the votes it doesn't look like you swaying too many people. Better change your tactics
Some scary thoughts:
This was not a suicide mission - they expected to get away with it and were well stocked for another attack.
The only reason they were caught is that they returned to a house under surveillance while driving a car matching the description of the getaway vehicle. Ditch the car and say "what shooting?".
The neighbor reported up to six males at the house at odd hours - one down, but five more potential attackers still out there.
The FBI and NSA had no hint this would happen, meaning that they cannot prevent this from happening again.
Although he went to the Middle East - his background has little that would help identify or profile future attackers.
Five to go? WOW, of the 12 million illegals here, how many do you think are muslim hell bent on lopping your head off?
1%, 2%, 3%? How about maybe 10%? do the math on any of those numbers, and it will send chills down your spine.
I agree there are many other potentials out there. What makes this gang of five more scary is their known association with these two - implying radicalism, ability to obtain weapons and materials, weapons training, bomb making skills, and a desire for revenge!
7 million Muslims in the U.S.. If one tenth of one percent of them are radicalized that would be 7,000. Stay vigilant and equiped to defend your community.
The FBI and CIA probably did know. What they are unlikely to explain everything under oath is why nothing was done.
As it is, Farook's handlers are assuredly safely out of reach of American justice by now, enjoying the best cocktails and post-Soviet hookers Doha has to offer.
Correct, there is no way they could not have known. What we have here could be
1. corrupt and compromised govt agents using events for their handlers political agendas
2. actual radical islam being nurtured by #1 (above) to further macro and micro policy in the USA
3. some other possibilities - further comment welcome
They'd still be able to recruit jihadists if we weren't over there bombing. Religion is like malicious code for the mind.
Where is the video from the people inside the building? No one turned on their cell phone camera? Or snapped any stills afterward?
Where are the witnesses from inside the building? How many shooters did THEY see?
Where is the forensic analysis of the shell casings? Do they show a third rifle being used?
Where is a list of the victims? Do they match up with employees (or phone numbers) on the city/county web site?
Where is the video from the people inside the building?
Im waiting !
The videos may not match up for two short perps against three 6' plus shooters - so we are back to the lack of videos of the 9-11 - boarding / security area / other cameras in the airports
the mere fact that they havent been released / dont exist when kids immediately take IPhones out as cop aproaches smells a lot
Valid questions.
The building is fairly new construction so I'd imagine (or hope) that the surveillance would be high quality and informative. How much do you want to bet if we do get surveillance it's going to be 3 seconds of low res grainy images. Now that the shooters have been dispatched, what's the harm in providing evidence of them physicallly being there? Probably some national security issue that we aren't allowed to see.
Imagine if one of the victims who is not in on the game lives. Ambulances are always right there are ready to take them to some pre determined hospital no doubt. If there are real victims then there should be something fishy with the ambulance operations and personnel possibly (weird schedual changes, new hires, employees nobody knows). If an innocent victim ever lives and can identify the operation then something would have to be done about them.
It seems like there would be a whole bunch of leads that anyone could take on these cases, everybody must be to afraid to start pulling strings. The most we hear is that there was a drill.... every.... damn... time.
Its Kali there would be selfies? Half the people shot were prolly on their phones at the time?
The results of an utterly corrupt government. The people will not long stand for these mother fuckers leaching off them.
Muslim killers turned out to be a fair description of the gruesome twosome of San Bernardino.
Someone told the publishers of the Daily News to change their tune or there would be consequences. A tax audit comes to mind.
Americans being played, again.
I'm starting to think Americans like being fooled, over and over and over again.
From Scott Creighton
What About Those Three Tall Athletic White Guys the Witness Saw Shooting People? (H/T dougross) – CBS News did an interview with a witness, Sally Abdelmageed, via the phone right after the attack. What she described was:
“three men, dressed in all black, military attire with vests on holding assault rifles and one of them opened up the door to building three… and he… opens up the door to building three and … he… starts to spray, shoot all over into the room… I couldn’t see a face, he had a black hat on (mask) and uh, from my view all I could see was a black hat (mask) and long sleeve shirt… black cargo pants with zippers on the sides, big puffy pockets, he had a huge assault rifle and extra ammo… I just saw three dressed exactly the same…. their skin tone looked white. They looked like they were athletic build. They appeared to be tall” Sally Abdelmageed
If you go to the CBS “News” website to view the interview, you may be out of luck. The video doesn’t appear to be working anymore. What a shock.
However, I found it on Youtube. You might want to download a copy of it since it seems destined for the memory hole.
Here:
Witness describes the San Bernardino shooting
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/witness-describes-the-san-bernardino-shoot...
Why Did They Pass a Law That Makes Staged Hoaxes and Crisis-Acted Movies Legal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-ktfaxPb0
http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-g...
"Last year, two USA Today journalists were ensnared in a propaganda campaign after reporting about millions of dollars in back taxes owed by the Pentagon’s top propaganda contractor in Afghanistan. Eventually, one of the co-owners of the firm confessed to creating phony websites and Twitter accounts to smear the journalists anonymously.
Additionally, just this month, the Washington Post exposed a counter-propaganda program by the Pentagon that recommended posting comments on a U.S. website run by a Somali expat with readers opposing al-Shabab. "Today, the military is more focused on manipulating news and commentary on the Internet, especially social media, by posting material and images without necessarily claiming ownership," reported the Post.
Oh, we are living the Big Lie. The frauds and con artists leading the world know no sense of morality. They are weak cowards who count on the human condition and propaganda to advance their evil agenda (genocide by proxy).
And our tax dollars are paying for this!
prop·a·gan·da ?präp???and?/ noun noun: propaganda; noun: Propaganda 1. derogatory information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.\"he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda" GoogleSo, if the target had been a Vichy gov't office...
One thing that seems to be missing from most if not all of these cases is follow up interviews with people related to case. Shouldn't jounalists be interviewing employees that were not present at the party and the woman who was left with the child? Not just one co-worker but all of them? There are always statements made immediately afterwards that support the official story then things just drop off and one asshole will tour the country to cry about the victims and rally for gun control. It always seems that there are too few people around who have an opinion and in the US everybody has an opinion.
This woman was a breastfeeding mother as I understand it so what amount of supplies did she leave the childcare provider with? This could indicate premeditation, no? Why did they leave food sitting in there home as if they were interrupted? Did the desire to commit Alan's Snackbar just strike like lightening? Did she act like she was saying goodbye to her infant forever when she dropped it off? Are other employees corroborating that there was strife and problems at the office? Things like this should be dug up after the fact you would think. Are these type of interviews not a scoop anymore?
I am sure that this is all possible but it's hard imagining a woman with two rock hard milk jugs (extra mass and density, they don't squish) tossing her infant to someone else so that she can strap on a vest and a shit ton of ammo and pull something of this magnitude off. These people never seem to make too many mistakes either. Being that our .gov is a proven pathological liar and there is a drill taking place for nearly every incident this story is BS until proven otherwise.
The most important thing to remember is just how weak and ineffectual the State is with its propaganda. It doesn't matter how many times they pull these bullshit false flag stunts this time around, it just isn't going to get them the result they want. They will never get rid of the true Americans who don't believe in authority; there are just too many people who don't buy into the bullshit. Trends are against them this time around.
They will start a war abroad, and they will thereby start a revolution in America. The traitorous swine will regret their stupidity, but they have no one to blame but themselves. Most idiotic oligarchy in recent history.
I say again, all this is covering up 9/11. If politics ever return to normal, 9/11 will be investigated as the crime it is, and many of our leaders will hang for treason. That fear is driving this.
9/11 was a large step in a long-running coup, the point where the deep state and Israeli-neocons merged.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/911-is-the-weak-spot/
9/11 was a False Flag operation by the Israeli-Neocons in the US Government
Oh look, Georgie Porgie gave you a down arrow. Or was that Dickless Chaney? Who here still believes 911 was pulled off without the assistance of the US Military, the US Government and politicians, the NYC Police force and Mayor Guilani? Only the guilty.
Fhony Facebook posts provided by Rita Katz.
https://www.facebook.com/naomi.wolf.author/posts/10153753746249476
My gut feeling is that large amount of people have had it with King Obama and his gang of thieves.Hardly anyone who is a true American believes his lies anymore.His 7 years of crap is coming home to roost.American Karma is coming.
They were such a nice couple:
http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2015/12/they-were-such-nice-couple.html
The Trouble With Taqiyya
Islam is in the crosshairs, and western blowback across the broad sweep of everything Muslim is a hair’s breadth from ignition. There are already protestations from the Muslim community, and many from without are calling for restraint as they shame those who would paint all of Islam with the same (suspicious) brush.
Sadly, Islam is unique in the way it intersects and conflicts with western values and the U.S. constitution. Aside from the inescapable conclusion that Islam is both a religious and political system, it is functionally opposed to everything American, from freedom of speech, to women’s rights to freedom of religion. Matters of law, justice, punishment privacy, dress and social behavior are worlds apart. Further, as noted previously, Islam is explicitly seditious. It unashamedly announces its intentions to take over the world by force of arms.
The calls for Americans to resist the natural tendency to stereotype will arise from the best of intentions…to avoid the base instincts of prejudice and hatred, and misguided national policies of the past. Will we heed these calls?
Enter the trouble with Taqiyya. Unlike those from other cultures who immigrated to America across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Islam professes policies that undermine the foundations of the United States at every level. But Taqiyya presents a whole new problem. Taqiyya is the principle embedded in Islam that formalizes lying as both strategy and tactic to gain an enemy’s trust to expose their vulnerabilities, gain time and establish an advantage in the war for supremacy.
Like none before, Islam professes for all the world to hear that is cannot be trusted as it expands its reach. Islam has created the “Catch 22” for the ages: What do you do with a system bent on conquest that explicitly rejects honesty as a foundational principle?
Taqiyya is the real world equivalent of the liar’s paradox. Islam in effect states, “I always lie.” If you ask that Islam reject Taqiyya, can you trust the answer?
With Taqiyya, Islam has sewn the wind. The whirlwind is upon us...
WAY TOO LENGTHY AND NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED !!!
The problems are simple and the solution is equally simple.
The problems are pseudo-religious primitive cult drones, and coercive collectivist anti-individual-liberty socialist parasites.
The policy solution should be to simply eradicate them all.
"My main reason was the nature of the target: why, I asked, would terrorists choose the Christmas party of the San Bernardino Public Health Department as the latest object of their wrath?"
Don't you know? Christmas is highly offensive to muslems. Probably somebody wished him "Merry Christmas". The left might consider that even work related harressment..... Everywhere they try to appease muslems by changing christmas and take away any references to christianity. Cause we don't want to upset the muslems now do we? That is dhimmitude. I don't consider myself a christian. For me christmas is the celebration of light like our pre-christian ancestors celebrated it. But I don't go around killing people because christians celebrate the birth of Christ.
the author of this article is a moron if he even for a minute thought this was anything other than terrorism.
The author is the editor of antiwar.com
What is your claim to fame?
meanwhile, the New York State Terrorism Task Force is investigating Joe Biggs from Infowars who has been trying visit Islamberg in upstate New York. Apparently, within hours of trying to get into the Township of Islamberg in upstate New York, the entire Infowars news crew received calls from NYSTTF telling them they (the US Federal Government) knew who they were, where the had been and where they were going.
So why can the US Federal Government track Infowars News Crews but not Radical Islamic Killers?
http://www.infowars.com/infowars-investigates-islamberg/
http://www.infowars.com/drone-investigates-islamic-camps/
What we need is Common Sense Bomb Control.
the terrorists couldn’t recruit anyone if we weren’t over there bombing
Islam is a Religion of Peace.
1400 years of history bears that out. OTOH maybe they are still annoyed by President Jefferson's attack on their business model. Maybe they are still annoyed that the Califate didn't do well at the Gates of Vienna. Perhaps Charles Martel is still a thorn in their side. Maybe they didn't like Charelton Heston in "El Cid".
Maybe this president could get serious about prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammad,
architect of 9/11, after 12 YEARS IN CAPTIVITY.
Obama and the Justice Department are a f'n joke.
The author writes a compelling article. He asserts that they wouldn't be over here if we weren't over there bombing their cities... Perhaps that may have been a reasonable choice, back 20 years ago, but the water is under the bridge. The Caliphate has begun. There will be no rest until they either have total world domination, or they are driven back like during the Crusades.
Yes, obama created ISIS to get after Assad. Yes, he concocted the notion to knock off Gaddafi and Mubarak in order to leave a complete vacuum for radical islam. Yes, obama pulled out all intelligence out of Iraq and left it for ISIS control. Yes, Jimmy Carter ousted the Shah of Iran which left it open for Ayatollah Khomeini to rush in and start up radical islam. And yes, we've been meddling in the Middle East over oil since before the Petro-dollar ever was concocted.
It's too late. This shit has been done, so now what? I'm afraid it's either the end of times, or it is time for the second coming of the Crusades. Liberal multiculturalist's like obama and in the EU are the Neville Chamberlain's of our day. Time for another Winston Churchill and George Patton....
Why not just nuke everybody?