"How much of the call for 'extraordinary measures' in fighting terrorism . . . has to do with an irrational, orientalist fear of all things Arab and Muslim?"

Most of it. Another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

On the other hand, the guy who shot the soldier at the recruiting station was Muslim. On the other-other hand, he was an American-born non-Arab (black) convert. So maybe he gets half a pass?

Spot on analysis, however, not sure how the term 'orientalist' is used here?

Tosh, a century ago anthropologists, geographers, and whatnot who studied the Arabia, the Holy Land, Turkey were deemed Orientalists. I don't know why; it WAS east of England, though.

The terminology had faded out by 50 years ago, but venerable academic journals still include it in their titles.

two points:

1. "Orientalism" as used here refers not to people who studied (or were fascinated by, in less than totally academic ways) the Middle East and East in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but rather to the specific approaches, assumptions, and perspectives that those folks brought to such "study." To make very short of it, "we" in the West were presumed to be without any issues or problems, and epitomized by all that is good and normal just like white male Supreme Court justices have no "identity to worry wingnuts - we were/are masculine, civilized, smart and full of action and progress and laws and freedom and such. "They" over there were backwards, passive, mysterious, feminine, barbaric, untrustworthy, yet also alluring and seductive. Basically it was/is an approach that romanticized colonialism and xenophobia and justified whatever we wanted to do to them, just like now.

Edward Said wrote a big book about it, summarized here:

http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Orientalism.html

2. Aside from the orientalist angle, we should note that there is another issue: extremists never condemn violence committed for their own cause as "terrorism." Supporters of Hamas or al Qaeda call their guys freedom fighters, or martyrs for justice, but not terrorists. Supporters of the IRA don't call their guys terrorists either.

Rightwingers in this country will never have the same attitude about conservative, Christian, Obama-hating, white-supremacist, anti-semitic, anti-abortion rights violence as they do about violence committed by people who hate THEM. Tim McVeigh is not a "terrorist"" to most Republicans, he's just a murderer, if they think about him at all - while Bill Ayers is, of course, a terrorist. Same deal for the new crop of killers and bombers.

America's political and media discourse is heavily dominated by right-wing extremists (even if most of American does not support their policies and values). Thus it's normal that left-wing, anti-white Christian capitalist violence is terrorism to freak out about, while right-wing violence is, at worst, just some isolated bad apples to discount - or even carefully (or not carefully) support.

It isn't just that they're white guys; it's also that they (and the one who is Muslim) all used guns. Everyone knows that if terrorists want to inflict a lot of damage, they can do it using guns--thanks to the extraordinarily lax gun laws in some states. Gun fetishists know it doesn't pay to highlight that fact, lest hysteria about terrorism take a form they aren't altogether happy with.

You've been pwned.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/06/how-soon-they-forget-if-they-ever-knew.html

This word "pwned"... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Shame on you for politicizing and trying to capitalize on a horrible event by trying to assign blame for this murder on people who you disagree with politically.

Von Brun hated Bush, McCain and Neocons. He also thought 911 was an inside job and he despised Christianity.

In that regard, you could say he was a fan of yours and all the other Far Left blogs such as DailyKos, Democratic underground and the Huffington Post.

The problem with this spate of murders isn't the ideology of the murderer, but rather how crazy people who rant crazy thoughts all over the Internet like von Brun and Roeder had access to weapons of murder. And how someone like Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, who was under investigation by the FBI for terrorism links, was able to possess weapons of murder.

Um - since Sept 2001 we have had a moslem try to bring explosives into WA, a moslem run down college kids using a car in NC, moslems plot to kill soldiers at Ft Dix in NJ, moslems in Miami plot to get bombs and kill, moslems in TX & MN & VA & FL send money to terrorists, moslems plot to blow up a synagogue in NYC, and a moslem murder a Soldier in AK. That list is not comprehensive.

Where's the internment camps?

You and Campos are full of crap.

"...we view these instances of violence as the acts of deranged individuals..."

Um, because they are the acts of deranged individuals. If we find out what organization or movement or ideology they all belong to, we'll change our opinion.

Like the epidemics of church burnings and child abductions, this could be a reporting wave, not a crime wave. Let's be skeptical.

RE: Most of the above posters.

I don't think Mr. Serwer's point was that we should view all these right wingers as a group working together but that they ARE deranged individuals. The issue is that we don't treat many comparable acts of terrorism as by deranged individuals when they are committed by Muslims. The point here is just because there are violent acts committed by people with the same individual DOESNT mean they are part of a terrorist organization. The point being simply that these acts are no less terrorist incidents than anything the above posters have managed to list.

And for the record, white supremacist organizations have been plenty busy during the past 8 years, and I don't consider them any less threatening by nature.

correction above: should read "committed by people with the same religion or similar backgrounds"

"how much of it has to do with an irrational, orientalist fear of all things Arab and Muslim?"

I think it's even simpler than that: how much of it has to do with a fear of brown people?

You'd do well to replace the Malkin link with this one:

http://www.isthatlegal.org/Muller_and_Robinson_on_Malkin.html

Quote OxyCon: "Von Brun hated Bush, McCain and Neocons. He also thought 911 was an inside job and he despised Christianity."

He was also a socialist by his own admission. That makes him a liberal.

If this racist wacko had been a Muslim, then no Progressive would have given a damn, would not even have mentioned the incident. Remember Private William Long or his murderer? No, you don't.

Did Cliff May really argue that torture is justified against Muslims because they're Muslim? Or is that how you loosely interpret his comments?

Is waterboarding "torture" because you say it is? Extreme discomfort from which you walk away without permanent damage - that's torture?

Can we have a debate about this, please, rather than a simple pronouncement that "everyone knows it's torture?"

Remember Private William Long or his murderer? No, you don't.