Occasionally a “Man Bites Dog” story comes along. But most of the time, it’s “Dog Bites Man.”
Honest reporting should reflect the ongoing nature of dogs biting men, instead of pretending that man bites dog is a major crisis.
Three people have been killed following a shooting on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, the city’s mayor says.
Five others were injured in the incident, which police say appears to be a terrorist attack.
Police are looking for a 37-year-old Turkish man named as Gokmen Tanis and have warned people not to approach him.
Schools have closed and security has been increased while counter-terrorism police work to find the gunman.
It’s another, as Patrick Poole puts it, known wolf.
A local businessman told BBC Turkish that the suspect had previously fought in Russia’s republic of Chechnya.
Jihadist groups, including those aligned with the Islamic State (IS) group, have long operated in the region.
“He was arrested because of his connections with [IS] but released later,” the businessman told the BBC.
So, business as usual.
Utrecht is the Netherlands’ fourth largest city and has a population of around 340,000.
Crime levels are low and gun killings are rare, which is the case for much of the country.
Utrecht also has a 10% or so Muslim population.
Another witness told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that he had helped an injured woman with blood on her hands and clothes.
“I brought her into my car and helped her,” he said. “When the police arrived, she was unconscious.”
I’m sure the vigils will be coming any century now. I’m sure that these victims will get the same coverage that the people shot in New Zealand did. And I don’t doubt that the same media outlets running alarmist pieces about the threat of white supremacy will shortly be running pieces about the urgent threat of Islamic terrorism.
I’m sure they will. So sure I’m not even going to check.
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