A double fatal stabbing took place in Portland, Oregon two days ago. As the BBC reported, “Two men have died in the US trying to stop a man abusing two women of Muslim appearance, Oregon police say … The abusive man turned on the two men and fatally stabbed them in the city of Portland, police said … Police have identified the suspect as Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35. He has been charged with offences including aggravated murder, attempted murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon”. What did the Mail make of this killing?
Jeremy Christian
“White supremacist 'kills two Good Samaritans by slitting their throats as they try to defend woman in a hijab after he started yelling anti-Muslim slurs” was their first headline, followed soon after by “Second Portland train stabbing victim was Army veteran father-of-four, 53, who was heading home when he was 'killed by white supremacist for trying to protect Muslim woman in a hijab’”. And where did this happen?
“The attack happened on a MAX train in Portland, Oregon, around 4.30pm Friday … Christian was arrested after he ran off the train at the Hollywood transit station”. MAX stands for Metro Area eXpress, and it’s not what we would call a train service. It’s more like the Manchester Metrolink - a medium distance light rail operation. So the “stations” and trains are pretty much open to anyone; there are no barriers, for instance.
All of which means the attacker did not have to pass any kind of security check before boarding a service. That attacker had posted this on Facebook: “All Zionist Jews, All Christians who do not follow Christ's teaching of Love, Charity, and Forgiveness And All Jihadi Muslims are going to Madagascar or the Ovens/FEMA Camps”. Nice guy, eh?
Two MAX cars in downtown Portland
The Mail concedes “The suspected murderer Jeremy Christian is known for hate-speech, and is a self-identified white supremacist who was pictured on April 29 referring to himself as the 'Lizard King' and giving Nazi salutes at a free speech rally with an American Revolutionary War flag tied around his shoulders like a cape”.
Now have a pause and a think about that. Had Jeremy Christian been a follower of The Prophet, and abused two overtly Christian or Jewish women before fatally stabbing two blokes who interceded, he would have been immediately labelled a Terrorist. No matter that he was acting alone - so was the Westminster attacker.
But the Westminster attacker was labelled a terrorist. Far-right pundits lined up to promote their Muslim-bashing narrative, telling us that there had to be controls on such people. Hell, if we’re talking train stabbings, the bloke involved in the Grafing Bahnhof incident wasn’t a Muslim, but that was the way media outlets like the Express framed the story. There was a fatal stabbing, so he became a Muslim and the incident a terrorist one.
Well, now there has been another terrorist incident in the north-western USA. Two men have died and another has been injured. But as there are no Muslims involved, it is not terrorism. Would the press be practising double standards? Perish the thought!
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