I don't find insulting what the S. Korea government had to say. It's rather realistic. What did the US did with the Japanese civilians during WWII by putting them in concentration camps? Weren't some Muslims attacked in America after 9/11? Why did the news media had to say "South Korean origin" right away? Let's not be naive here... the nationality of this man was of importance (for some reason) perhaps to prove that he was not a muslim.

I respectfully disagree. If it were a white guy from Minnesota they would have said a caucasian student from Minnesota.

I agree that the South Korean official's comments were insulting. Actually, they added insult to injury.

If it were a white guy from Minnesota they would have said a caucasian student from Minnesota.

I'm willing to bet the house that the "caucasion" part would have been left out in that media report. It is a well documented sociological observation that individual or communal crimes committed by non-Americans in the U.S. have given way to unfair discrimination and, at times, violence by Americans to the respective group to which those non-Americans belong. Saintintraining mentions the anti-Japanese sentiment in American during WWII and the concentration camps. Also, the backlash against Muslims is also widely documented since 9/11. We are fools if we truly think that the South Korean government was out-of-line. Our country's history of racial backlash is evidence enough to warrant concern over this matter.

Anon,

I haven't heard of any backlashes just yet?

Besides, when 9/11 occurred, there was only one death related incident.

When Pope Benedict XVI 'quoted' a derogatory truth about Islam, two priests and a nun lost her life. From a 'quote'

So if you are ready to begin 'bashing' America for her 'prejudice', put some context behind it.

Right Tito, my thoughts exactly, the "backlash" in America in the wake of the major attacks of 9-11 is a drop in the bucket compared to the "backlashes" that come in the wake of the Pope quoting a Byzantine Emperor or a Dannish paper printing some cartoons.

As one studying to be a priest, I can't say I'm very shocked or offended to hear the anti-Catholic lines in that play. I've heard worse in the past from people whose opinions actually matter.

But as a former English Lit. academic, every one of my artistic sensibilities are offended by this nonsense... Dreadful stuff!

How ironic it is that there are many quick to judge America, but not one of them mentioned the fact that 32 people were murdered in cold blood by this anti-Catholic bigot.

wingnuts don't care about dead people. They just want to find an excuse to target a group of people.

The wingnut bloggers were actually calling this dude a Muslim before anyone knew who he was. Forget the dead, to these right wing nuts is all about group punishment and a police state where authority, checkpoints and zero privacy is the law of the land.

I think its safe to say they need not mention his race, you can tell just by looking at him. I am sure the media mentioned his origin so that wingnuts can direct their hatred at the right group instead of the wrong group.

That first death in the backlash after 9-11 wasn't even a muslim guy. That was left out of one of the posts. Consider the media just helping you wingnuts out, so that at least you can collectively blame the right people and target them with your hate speech.

This post had nothing to do with race, not in the least, if there are people who truly believe in their hearts that their fellow Americans are barbaic fools who will grieve by attacking the innocent merely becuase they share the same herritage of the attacker, I have nothing but pitty for people who hold such a depressing opinion of their countrymen.

As for people suspecting the killer was Muslim at first, I'm sorry, it is sad, but this is the world we live in, when we have people getting shot at malls and gas stations by people fighting personal Jihads and evil terrorists constantly preaching how much pain and suffering they will bring to America, it is hard to prevent such thoughts from comming to mind.

Any bad hype and restrictive laws related to all this will come out of the liberal media and the liberal congress so unless anon is a kind of anaarchist, maybe he can use his great intellect to sway people on his side of the fence.

Tito, I am surprised you have so many "trolls" on this blog, ever consider doing away with anonomouys comments? Rarely are thy constructive.

Dear trolls,

If all you can imply are that American's are racists when this posting had nothing to do with racism then you all should go back to the Daily Kos or your heterodoxical Catholic blog and vent your hate and anger there.

It is a FACT that Muslims have been targeting Americans all across America. From the mall shootings in Utah, to the DC sniper, to the North Carolina student mowing down students on the UNC campus, to 9/11, to the shooting death of El Al ticket counter agent in LA, and many, many more.

If you trolls want to live in the 'Duke 88' world where you are all reactionaries to innuendo and lies then maybe you need to check into your souls and see why you hate yourselves and America so much for you to be spewing this much heated vitriol towards average, everyday Americans.

Tito, GREAT entry. Just found it, and will trackback to this from my own entry about the tragedy.

One of the references I linked to was an article about the perp-- it was entitled "Virginia Tech killer was South Korean." I thought THAT was insulting-- what does his ehthnicity have to do with anything? Had he been black, would the article title have read "Virginia Tech killer was African-American"? I doubt it.

Karen,

Thanks for the comments. The credit goes to Fidei Defensor my guest blogger on my blog. He will be blogging as long as he wishes to blog. He certainly adds a lot from a current events and historical perspective to my blog.

The South Korean government comment was a bit silly, but hardly merits this overblown reaction, not to mention the silly "oh yeah, look at the how some Muslims react to being insulted!" game of "my offense is bigger than your offense!" gamesmanship. One gets the sense of people desperately trying to establish their victim credentials.

People, and government, say silly things all the time. This one ranks pretty low on the scale of offensiveness or importance.

John,

You may have misread the general theme of the article. It is about the anti-Catholicism inherant in American society.

That might have been your point, but I don't think it invalidates my comment. And honestly, if that was the point you were making, it's not terribly clear, unless you are somehow suggesting that an unpublished piece by a disturbed person nobody had ever heard of until he committed mass murder is a good example of overall American culture.