Totally Unshocking Crime Headlines, Vol. 13

"Evangelist arrested in child porn case"

I don't really have anything else to add to this. Perhaps he could call Ted Haggard or Joe Barron for advice?

When Hate, Politics, and Guns Collide

I was greatly disturbed by news of the church shooting in Knoxville over the weekend, in part because I have several close friends and relatives who live (or have lived) in Knoxville, so I have a great affection for the area. But publication today of news reports identifying shooter Jim David Adkisson's alleged motives disturbed me even more. From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

[Knoxville Police Chief Sterling] Owen said it appeared Adkisson targeted the [Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church] because the "church had received some publicity regarding its liberal stance." The TVUUC regularly announces in the Knoxville News Sentinel its meetings for gays and their support groups...

Police found a four-page, handwritten note in Adkisson's 2004 Ford Escape that was parked at the church. The letter written in ink on lined notebook paper was not addressed to anyone, but explained Adkisson's reason for targeting the church, Owen said.

Owen said Adkisson wrote that he was angered by "his lack of being able to obtain a job," a reduction in his food stamp allotment, and "the liberal movement." Owen explained the liberal movement, as defined by Adkisson, included liberal philosophies and issues pertaining to gays...

[Knoxville PD Investigator Steve] Still seized three books from Adkisson's home, including "The O'Reilly Factor," by television commentator Bill O'Reilly; "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," by radio personality Michael Savage; and "Let Freedom Ring," by political pundit Sean Hannity.

Before anyone accuses me of taking a knee-jerk, "blame the right" approach to this story, I want to acknowledge the obvious: it is probably safe to assume that the suspect is mentally ill or otherwise suffers serious mental and/or emotional health problems. To be fair, his lethal anger might just as easily have been directed toward another movement or person he perceived as being unjust. In other words, mental disturbance likely is far more relevant to the etiology of this tragedy than Adkisson's political views...but can we go so far as to say that his political views are irrelevant? I'm not sure we can.

First, whether it is framed as such by the media, this shooting is a hate crime. (Indeed, the FBI is involved in the investigation for precisely this reason.) As suggested in the News Sentinel article, the shooter targeted a Unitarian Universalist church in part because of its liberal theology, which includes openness to gay and lesbian members. (Not to be ignored is the fact that Adkisson's ex-wife -- whom he once threatened at gunpoint -- used to belong to this church, in all likelihood adding an additional layer of hate/revenge to his motivation.) Indeed, a longtime acquaintance described Adkisson as hating "black, gays, and anyone different from him".

Second, though they undoubtedly will repudiate the shooting and tsk-tsk over the loss of human life, arch-conservative personalities like Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Sean Hannity have engaged in plenty of hate speech on their television and radio programs, often devaluing and demeaning the lives of people who do not think, act, look, love, or worship like they do. Does this mean that they are directly responsible for the church shooting? No. (And, clearly, as evidenced by Jesse Jackon's recent caught-on-camera comments, the right has no monopoly on violent hate speech.) Nonetheless, I wonder about the cumulative impact of repeated exposure to these pundits' messages of racism, xenopobia, homophobia, misogyny, and other forms of intolerance -- particularly among people who are mentally unstable, have access to firearms, and are willing to kill. For this handful of dangerous people -- though they constitute only a tiny percentage of the total population that avidly consumes (and thereby implictly endorses) these messages -- isn't lethal violence inevitable?

Interestingly, I searched the news archives on the Fox News website for stories about the shooting so I could peruse the reader comments, but it appears as though Fox has not covered it at all, at least not online and not as of the publication of this post. Though an archive search turned up nothing, a Google search reveals that Fox News did indeed cover this story here and here. I also was not able to find any coverage of this event on the personal websites of Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, or Sean Hannity (to which I will not link; Google 'em if you're so inclined).

Shakesville has more commentary on this story here and here. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy -- as well to the millions of Americans from all walks of life working to combat the very type of bigotry Adkisson apparently embodied.

Creationism vs. Evolution: Expelled

OK, this isn't really a post on crime. Luckily, so few of my posts are actually about crime that I'm guessing you wouldn't expect me to post on topic anyway.

I was reading the other day about Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled. As I have gathered from the trailer, the movie features Ben Stein interviewing scientists people about how creationism might actually be scientifically proven (or, alternatively, how evolution theory might be scientifically DIS-proven).

Being a scientist (of the social variety) but also a religious person, I find this kind of thing interesting. The advertisements for the film describe it as "the film THEY don't want you to see". At the start of the trailer, Ben is writing "DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY" repeatedly on a chalkboard.

Isn't is ironic, then, that (at least according to one blogger), law enforcement agencies have been instructed to keep specific people OUT of the theaters to see this film? (Ooh!! There's my criminal justice link to this story--the POLICE were called.)

(And if you don't know who Richard Dawkins is: here ya go.)