The Right People

It was a typical morning talk show panel—one black "activist, a "political analyst," and a NYC detective—convened to have a "conversation" about racism in America—how cops target black men, and oh, by the way, the murder of 5 cops by a black man in Dallas. Surprisingly, the moderator brought up a series of tweets with BLM (Black Lives Matter) hashtags that applauded the Dallas murders and called for more more targeting of "racist cops." The following interchange occurred (paraphrasing):

The activist: "You can't blame sincere Black Lives Matter members for the tweets of a few angry people. Those tweets aren't representative of the BLM movement."

The NYC Detective: "You can't have it both ways. If you ask me not to blame Black Lives Matter for those despicable tweets, then you have to agree that the actions of a few rouge cops cannot be used to paint all police officers as racist."

There was an awkward silence as the implied double standard hit home. The activist ignored any rebuttle and moved on to discuss how cops must be more sensitive to the anger in the African American community.

Jonah Goldberg addresses this when he writes:

... there is something particularly vile and disgusting in the way many of the leading masters of sanctimony keep changing their standards. When a registered Democrat and Muslim murdered people in Orlando in the name of ISIS, it was outrageous to suggest that maybe we shouldn’t point fingers at Christian conservatives or the NRA. When Gabby Giffords was shot by an utterly apolitical schizophrenic, Paul Krugman blamed it on Michele Bachmann’s “eliminationist rhetoric.” The Democratic party almost en masse blamed it on some crosshairs on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. The Orwellians leapt out of their bunkers and started memory-holing martial metaphors.

But now, I gather, any suggestion that rhetoric from Black Lives Matter influenced these murderers is beyond the pale.

I keep repeating the old line: Behind every apparent double standard is an un-confessed single standard. The single standard here is that only the right people may politicize tragedy. Only the right people get to determine what sort of speech incites violence. Only the right people know when it’s a time for prayer and unity and when it’s time to take up action. Only the right people know when the blame falls solely on the murderers and when the murderers are simply a symptom of a larger problem. And when anyone disagrees with the right people, they reveal themselves to be the wrong people. Because you can only be right if you agree with the right people.

So, as I’ve said before, to Hell with [the right] people.

There is growing anger among millions of brown, Asian, black and white people who disagree with the "right people," who reject their sanctimonious arguments, their moral preening, and their suggestion that another view is inherently wrong. That anger is growing, and I suspect the "right people" sense it, but they're so wed to their fantasy narrative that they plod on, unable to apply common sense, logic, or a modicum of understanding for those who might disagree.

The right people (a.k.a. the elites), along with their supporters in the media, the arts, and politics, are leading the nation down a path that is exceptionally dangerous. They work to divide, and as a consequence, they fragment our country for political gain. The path they they've chosen will lead to ruin—not just for them, but for all of us.