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The motives of Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona shooter, remain unclear more than a week after the shooting. The Washington Post reported that 250 federal investigators and 130 local detectives are conducting interviews of anyone who knew Loughner. So far they have spoken to about 300 people, but have not indicated a breakthrough in the case. Loughner is in custody but not talking, so the speculation continues based on his incoherent internet postings and a few statements by people close to him. One question not being asked in the news media is, ‘What if Jared Loughner were a Muslim?’ Dean Obeidallah asks this question and predicts the way the media and the authorities would have interpreted the shooting if a Muslim-American had pulled the trigger. Obeidallah compares the reaction over the Arizona shooting to the reaction generated by the Novemebr 2009 Fort Hood shootings by Nidal Hasan, a Muslim-American military psychologist. Like Loughner, Nidal Hasan showed signs of mental instability preceding the shooting. But unlike Loughner, Hasan’s religion, more than his mental state, was what most people obsessed over. New York Representative Peter King lashed out at Muslims in an op-ed and called Hasan a “home grown terrorist.” Obeidallah says recognizing the differing reactions to violent people based on skin color and religion isn’t meant to divide the nation, but to help it heal productively when tragedy strikes.

GUEST: Dean Obeidallah, award winning Arab-American comedian

Read Dean Obeidallah’s Op-Ed on CNN.com here: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-13/opinion
/obeidallah.loughner.muslims_1_muslims-arab-american-terrorist-label?_s=PM:OPINION

Find out more about Dean Obeidallah at www.deanofcomedy.com.