President Obama isn’t ruling out terrorism in the San Bernardino shootings, as the president spoke somberly and candidly about the recent tragedy. As reported by Fox 17, President Obama said that the U.S. needs to make it harder — not impossible — for terrorists to get their hands on guns and harm people. However, the president’s comments about the San Bernardino shootings are being usurped by a New York Post headline that reads “Muslim Killers,” which can still be seen on the publication’s main page — along with articles titled “Muslim newlyweds slaughter co-workers who threw them a baby shower.” According to the president’s latest briefing, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, had additional weapons at home discovered by police.
Meanwhile, the title of the New York Post headline, called “Muslim Killers,” is gaining a variety of reactions across social media.
“We need to take basic steps to make it harder, not impossible, but make it harder for individuals to get weapons.”
On social media, the “Muslim Killers” has set off a firestorm of comments, with some calling the New York Post headline accurate, while others feel it is a racist headline. According to Twitter, the Muslim Killers tag has been “trending for 3 hours now,” since approximately 8:52 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 3.
The backlash over the “Muslim Killers” headline comes from certain individuals who wonder why the publication focused on the religion of the killers, claiming other shooters’ religions aren’t the focus. However, extremists in other beliefs and systems of faith, such as Christianity, have been highlighted in past killings.
Why is Muslim killers trending? Wtf. Did you guys focus on the religion of white mass shooters? NAH. AGAIN YALL
#terrorismhasnoreligion
All angles of any international terrorism links are being examined in the San Bernardino shooting situation. It is an unusual shooting due to many factors, including the fact that it included a 27-year-old woman who joined Farook as a shooter. Workplace violence situations, say experts, usually involve a heat-of-the-moment type of anger — and the San Bernardino shooter was well-prepared and could have been radicalized. While not connected to ISIS via any concrete evidence, the San Bernardino shooters are being compared to terrorists due to the tactics they used in the tragic situation, such as the advanced weaponry — and the manner in which they scrambled and fled after a certain period of time.
According to Fox News, Farook’s coworkers called him a polite man who worked mostly out in the field in his line of work as a health inspector. Colleagues said that Syed didn’t show any signs of being radicalized upon his return from a month-long stay in Saudi Arabia.
Ironically, President Obama had commented on Wednesday about ISIS not being able to carry out a Paris-style attack, reports CNN. The president’s comments came prior to Farook and his wife being identified as the shooting suspects in the San Bernardino shooting.
“ISIL will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about our lives.”
The #SanBernadinoShooting hashtag has gathered more than 108,000 tweets on Twitter, with various news reports and personal opinions about the “Muslim Killers” headline, President Obama’s reaction, and other topics. Whether the shooters constitute Islamic extremism and were part of a larger terrorist group are issues that are still being uncovered.
President Barack Obama ordered flags at government buildings be lowered after the San Bernardino shootings.
[Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo]