Hasan was, from what I’ve read, a nutjob sociopath, but even nutjob sociopath coworkers shouldn’t be treated inhumanely. They should, however, lose their jobs if they can’t do them according to workplace rules. The same goes for those who will be investigated into their conduct in the months leading up to this killing spree. Provided, of course, there was misbehavior. If it was a case where abusive behavior was continuing for a long time, there may or may not be paper trails and witnesses to that, and some people who should have fired Hasan and others will lose their positions of authority. That’s just how things are, how things should be, and how things will be for as long as we give a crap about treating people equally. Supervisors should control their subordinates when they’re out of line, and if they don’t they don’t get to keep their jobs. That’s true where I work, in the military, and in most other places where workplace rules dictate that people don’t treat each other like crap.

Equality and political correctness aren’t necessarily at odds

Why is political correctness even a consideration? Who the meep cares whether something is at odds with it?

(Jon, apparently.)

Maybe it’s not a good idea to pick on someone’s ethnicity and religion to the point where he snaps.

Come on, run that ball down the field.

The question of political correctness is one that really needs to be addressed in this case, for two reasons.

First, not getting rid of a soldier who was off his rocker was a bad idea, in the easy realm of 20/20 hindsight. Not getting rid of him because it would look bad only makes it look worse now. Equality and political correctness aren’t necessarily at odds, but in this case safety and political correctness were.

And second, it is looking more and more as if Major Hasan was subjected to very un-PC behavior by other soldiers around him. Scratching “Arab” into his car, calling him a “raghead” and other things should not have been tolerated, no matter how much it would be “politically correct” to suggest that those other soldiers should have not done that.

Was it a workplace shooting with terrorist undertones or a terrorist shooting with workplace undertones? I don’t really give a damn, since the guy was clearly a bastard who deserves what justice will dole out to him. Maybe it’s not a good idea to pick on someone’s ethnicity and religion to the point where he snaps. If the stories about his treatment in the Army are true, this guy’s story will contain some element of twisted righteousness to go along with his murderous insanity. No, that doesn’t justify diddly squat. Nothing can justify what he did. But it shouldn’t be ignored, either.