Progressives, I want to understand you better, because if my current theory about you is correct, you’re headed to Hell. And if I happen to also end up there for judging you, we’re not going to co-exist very well. I am totally manspreading wherever I end up, so I’d rather have Hell all to myself, to be honest. So I will tell you what I don’t understand. Then I will tell you my theory about you. Perhaps you can tell me how I am wrong. Hopefully you will tell me with some civility.
We need to talk about violence.
Exhibit A: A Republican Trump-supporting politician in Montana beats up an aggressive reporter on election eve.
Exhibit B: Muslim extremists commit systematic genocide on middle-Eastern Christians, gays, raped women, and many others.
Exhibit C: A fellow liberal dangles a bloody severed likeness of the POTUS’ head and calls it art.
Exhibit D: leftist extremists trash and burn the Berkeley campus because conservatives have simply been invited there to speak.
Exhibit E: late term abortions continue in America.
Exhibit F: Violent illegal immigrants, protected from deportation in “sanctuary cities” are killing and assaulting people.
Exhibit G: Hollywood progressives support gun control while glorifying gun violence on screen.
Exhibit H: Black Lives Matter activists calling for violence against police.
Exhibit I: Democrat-led Chicago continues to be a killing field, week after week.
Which of these offends you the most? Based on my general observations, the roughed up reporter story was generating the most outrage until Kathy Griffin’s failed artistic attempt. (Greg Gianforte should send Griffin a “Thank You” note, by the way.) Neither of these examples comes close to being the most concerning. At least not to me.
So, to my theory – the one that, if correct, means you can leave that Patagonia parka behind when you head to the afterlife. I think you are only outraged by the injustices and atrocities that have political value to you. The theory is that you are selfish and selective, and that your expressions of concern scramble out of you only if it hurts Trump or conservatives, or if it derails a narrative that does so. I also believe that you aren’t sure how to address the “inconvenient” violence — abortion, Christian genocide, violent campus protests, Chicago murders, etc. — because you can’t seem to find a way to process these in an agenda-friendly way. And you can’t, because there isn’t one.
Not to make a simple theory nuanced, but I suspect the creation of the violent Trump supporter caricature might simply be psychological projection; liberals have more than a few demons of violence in their own closet they’d rather not think or talk about, much less do anything about.
So, I guess it comes down to my honest effort to understand better. If there’s a reason thousands of dead Christians, hundreds of urban blacks, and dozens of dead gays are less worthy of your anger than a roughed-up reporter, I’m all ears.
Theories are meant to be disproved, so prove me wrong because I really don’t want you crowding up Hell if I’m there.
Associated Press award-winning columnist Neal Larson of Idaho Falls writes at www.neallarson.com. He is also the author of “Living in Spin.” He is a conservative talk show host on KID Newsradio 106.3 and 92.1, and also at www.kidnewsradio.com. “The Neal Larson Show” can be heard weekday mornings from 8:00 to 10:00. His email address is neal@590kid.com.
