Fort Hood, Malcolm X and chickens

i drove home listening to a public radio program about the incident at Fort Hood, and it occurred to me how weird it would be if ROTC was renamed the Future Veterans of America. but this is beside the point.

the point is that my anticipation for Armistice Day has hijacked my psyche, and as the interview progressed, i couldn't help but hear Malcolm X somewhere in the back of my head, talking about chickens and roosts in December.

apparently, Hasan was not only a disinterested psychiatrist, but he also kept shoddy patient records. furthermore, they said, he was prone to ill-timed outbursts of religiosity and long-winded interpretations of The Holy Qur'an regarding throats, infidels, and the pouring of boiling oil. as one might presume, these orations did not set well with his colleagues.

what i didn't hear: (a systemic analysis of the event and its context)

according to the reporters, Hasan was either:

A) a nut job
B) a religious nut job
C) a religious nut job terrorist

there was one question, however, that belied the purported portrait:

the host asked about the effect of the incident on the surrounding town of Killeen, Texas. the reporter answered that Killeen was "a military town" and his tone implied that, as such, Killeen was accustomed to a certain level of violence. the interview proceeded without further commentary about Killeen's relationship to violence.

a brief thought experiment:

1) draw a circle called "Hasan"
2) draw a larger, concentric circle called "Fort Hood"
3) draw a larger, concentric circle called "Killeen"
4) draw a larger, concentric circle called "Texas"
5) draw a larger, concentric circle called "America"

sometimes it's difficult to tell which way the circles are going.