Two stories on the front page of today’s, NY Times illustrate eloquently how false impressions can drive a narrative. One story comes out of the American west where mounted horsemen wearing chaps and cowboy hats backed by armed militia members are creating what they seem to think is a heroic American legend based on their defense of a small time bigot and petty crook who doesn’t want to pay his bills.
The other story is that of religious deniers objecting to the truthful narrative of how members of their faith created a monstrous catastrophe in the name of said faith.
Both stories are about the ways in which true believers (as in: God save us from…) are able to twist any narrative to make it fall in line with whatever they are selling that day.
Out in the American west, cowboys and gunners are lining up to protect the constitutional rights of one Cliven Bundy, a cheap chiseling bigot who is trying to rip off the government for the grazing fees he owes you and me for grazing his cattle on national park land. What this bunch of serious knuckle draggers have actually accomplished is to create a huge quandary for a government that just isn’t equipped to deal with anything out of their miniscule field of dreams.
By pointing their weapons at federal agents, the would-be John Wayne’s have made themselves vulnerable to all manner of criminal charges. The quandary the government faces is what to do about that. Cooler heads ruled at the site of the original confrontation when National Park Rangers holstered their weapons and walked away. This saved what could have been a tragic confrontation between the government and the idiots, but it also left the problem of what do you do about people pointing guns at federal authority. If the government decides to just let it go, the same way they have let bankers and Wall Street off the hook time after time we face a national picture where every time some hot shot wants to break a law, he may be backed up by a militia with all guns on board. A reality like that must eventually lead to a lot of bloodshed and complete chaos and cannot be allowed to exist.
The confrontation was photographed and filmed ad nausea so if the government is smart they will pick these guys up one at a time and let them all spend a little time in a federal hotel for bad boys.
But to get back to the point, the perception of what was happening was all wrong and that’s what actually sparked the whole mess. Bundy isn’t an American hero fighting for truth justice and the American way. He’s a cheap, bigoted punk trying to slime out of his cost of doing business. There’s a big mouth dude named Yeager who has made a lot of noise about how they are all there to support Bundy’s constitutional rights to graze his cattle on someone else’s land for free. I bet Yeager wouldn’t be mouthing off so much if Bundy had been grazing his cows on Yeager’s land and then stiffed him. See, the narrative’s all wrong and it was created by a couple of macho assoles puffed up on too much testosterone and a media that really doesn’t care about the facts, as long as the story will sell soap.
The second story has to do with followers of Islam getting all bent out of shape by a documentary on the 911 bombings that indicates that the attack was carried out by members of the Islamic faith bent on a jihad. The fact that all the existing evidence points to this circumstance as true seems to have no effect on the feelings of those objecting to the documentary. As I understand the contention, the film’s critics are only interested in the fact that it doesn’t seem to delineate between bad Muslims and good Muslims. Or maybe they just didn’t want the film to refer to Muslims at all. The real point of the film, to identify those degenerate terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center and ascribe a motive to their actions, is done accurately and seems to have escaped its critics notice, it seems to actually have been ignored in objections to it.
The current trend of religions or ethnic or social groups to object to the condemnation of unacceptable acts committed by those members of their group simply because the offending members do not make up 100% of the group is ingenuous, stupid and annoying.
I am an Italian-American. Growing up, our papers and screens were filled with images of the Mafia and a host of other Italian gangsters. I would ask my father about it and he would shrug and answer that there were good and bad people of all types and nationalities. My father was a simple man. How come all these highly educated intellectuals who are worried about their particular ethnic or religious group getting a bad name can’t comprehend that simple fact. Or what’s worse they can’t seem to comprehend the fact that if maybe they did something about weeding out the bad apples instead of protecting them, the rest of their members wouldn’t have to take the rap for the killers among them.
What this whole column is about, is that like it or not, certain facts exist. Bundy is a cheap bigoted thief, not a hero. The guys who blew up the world trade center were Islamic jihadists. If this isn’t convenient for you, tough shit. Don’t try to make it into something that it isn’t. If you are a cowboy or a gunner looking for a cause, find a real one, there are plenty out there. How about sticking up for the three senior citizens who showed us what a farce the surveillance on our most important nuclear facility was and are now faced with jail for doing the American people this important service?. How about, showing up at that courthouse and waving your guns at an embarrassed and pathetic Homeland Security. If you’re a Muslim who doesn’t want his people looked down on then how about helping to weed out the militant Islamists in your community who are giving you a bad name. Fight the good fight yes. But more important fight the right fight. There are already too many clowns fighting the wrong fights in this country and that’s why we have so many unnecessary problems.