Denial is a River in Egypt
If you get caught cheating on your spouse or embezzling funds from your company, just start yelling about sexism or homophobia, maybe transphobia or racism and, if there is a shred of truth to your cry, no matter how tenuous, you can get away with just about anything.
This is not new, although, the victimology has changed. For instance, in Harper Lee's classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” a poor White woman claims she was raped by a Black man in order to deflect attention away from her real problem, which was her equally poor, angry, racist brother who was just itching to find a scapegoat for his low social standing and poverty—and most of the other poor crackers living in this deep Southern town simply followed suit. It’s an easy and effective dramatic device for explaining a complex problem. There’s also enough truth in it to make a compelling story, but not so complex that the reader gets lost in a maze of history and sociology.
Today, we do pretty much the same thing after every high-profile tragedy, as we descend into our various tribal affiliations in an effort to explain the world. The horrific circumstances of the mass shooting in the predominately gay Orlando nightclub is a good example.
The man who did the terrible deed, did so because he hated gays—and because he was a radical Muslim. If he had been a White, straight man, that would have been good, for some people, because it fit the Left’s narrative. And, the media being overwhelmingly leftist would’ve had a field day, while maintaining the appropriate outrage and solemnity, of course. But he wasn’t a White man, he was a Muslim, and that was troubling.
Now, if you can find any group that is more openly anti-gay than Muslims, you might want to purchase a lottery ticket, because that will be your lucky day. At least, it will if you’re a leftist. But you won’t find such a group. This doesn’t represent all Muslims, mind you, just many hundreds of millions of Muslims. So, I guess I need to show a little nuance here. We don’t want to come across as bigoted, do we? Unfortunately, for this particular narrative, the fact that the shooter was a radical Islamist played right into the hands of vicious and bigoted right-wingers. So the story needed to shift quickly from Islamic radicals to gun control.
“Yeah, that’s the ticket.” The left proclaimed. “Right-wingers hate gun control. Meaning, they like murder and death. How else can you explain their predilection for firearms, except as a phallic symbol reflecting their moral impotence?”
“Moreover, if this Muslim man hadn’t been able to get his hands on deadly firearms, this would’ve never happened. Well, I guess he could’ve strapped a bomb to his chest, but terrorists don’t do that, do they? And, let’s not forget, if he’d been teased by hateful Christians about his faith that might provide a psychological motive."
"Yeah, now were onto something."
"This would mean that Christians and right-wingers are actually responsible for this mass killing of gay people. They might as well put that sub-machine gun into that poor Muslims man’s hands and pulled the trigger. Isn’t it clear, if you believe that Homosexuality is a sin, it’s the same as murdering a huge number of people. That’s right, there is no difference—besides the 49 dead and the 50 wounded—but that’s just a technicality.”
Let me stress, this is not a joke, but is precisely what transpired within 24 hours of the shooting. An avalanche of speculation, fostered by people’s highly selective ideology, took over and the real issue, which is the killer and his motives was reduced to a secondary status that slipped into the darkness like a pig buried deep in the mud. This warped passion play reflects the psychosis of a nation divided by everything. One that can no longer defend itself because the enemy although standing right in front of us is a complete mystery. At least, it is for some. For the president. For his party. For most of the media. Leaving America and its citizen's open targets for madmen, both from those living within our borders and those without.
Mark Magula
This is not new, although, the victimology has changed. For instance, in Harper Lee's classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” a poor White woman claims she was raped by a Black man in order to deflect attention away from her real problem, which was her equally poor, angry, racist brother who was just itching to find a scapegoat for his low social standing and poverty—and most of the other poor crackers living in this deep Southern town simply followed suit. It’s an easy and effective dramatic device for explaining a complex problem. There’s also enough truth in it to make a compelling story, but not so complex that the reader gets lost in a maze of history and sociology.
Today, we do pretty much the same thing after every high-profile tragedy, as we descend into our various tribal affiliations in an effort to explain the world. The horrific circumstances of the mass shooting in the predominately gay Orlando nightclub is a good example.
The man who did the terrible deed, did so because he hated gays—and because he was a radical Muslim. If he had been a White, straight man, that would have been good, for some people, because it fit the Left’s narrative. And, the media being overwhelmingly leftist would’ve had a field day, while maintaining the appropriate outrage and solemnity, of course. But he wasn’t a White man, he was a Muslim, and that was troubling.
Now, if you can find any group that is more openly anti-gay than Muslims, you might want to purchase a lottery ticket, because that will be your lucky day. At least, it will if you’re a leftist. But you won’t find such a group. This doesn’t represent all Muslims, mind you, just many hundreds of millions of Muslims. So, I guess I need to show a little nuance here. We don’t want to come across as bigoted, do we? Unfortunately, for this particular narrative, the fact that the shooter was a radical Islamist played right into the hands of vicious and bigoted right-wingers. So the story needed to shift quickly from Islamic radicals to gun control.
“Yeah, that’s the ticket.” The left proclaimed. “Right-wingers hate gun control. Meaning, they like murder and death. How else can you explain their predilection for firearms, except as a phallic symbol reflecting their moral impotence?”
“Moreover, if this Muslim man hadn’t been able to get his hands on deadly firearms, this would’ve never happened. Well, I guess he could’ve strapped a bomb to his chest, but terrorists don’t do that, do they? And, let’s not forget, if he’d been teased by hateful Christians about his faith that might provide a psychological motive."
"Yeah, now were onto something."
"This would mean that Christians and right-wingers are actually responsible for this mass killing of gay people. They might as well put that sub-machine gun into that poor Muslims man’s hands and pulled the trigger. Isn’t it clear, if you believe that Homosexuality is a sin, it’s the same as murdering a huge number of people. That’s right, there is no difference—besides the 49 dead and the 50 wounded—but that’s just a technicality.”
Let me stress, this is not a joke, but is precisely what transpired within 24 hours of the shooting. An avalanche of speculation, fostered by people’s highly selective ideology, took over and the real issue, which is the killer and his motives was reduced to a secondary status that slipped into the darkness like a pig buried deep in the mud. This warped passion play reflects the psychosis of a nation divided by everything. One that can no longer defend itself because the enemy although standing right in front of us is a complete mystery. At least, it is for some. For the president. For his party. For most of the media. Leaving America and its citizen's open targets for madmen, both from those living within our borders and those without.
Mark Magula