In the opinion pages of a local newspaper, another letter writer fabricates this claim of victimhood:
“My fear is that if I wear my Make America Great Again hat in public I may be assaulted. That is what I call ‘real’ fear. True Trump supporters are generally a quiet, hard-working, taxpaying, respectful group of people. We need a little more conversation and a little less confrontation,” she writes.
Hardly an appeal for ‘conversation,’ this letter writer fabricates a straw argument. Are quiet, hard-working, taxpaying Hillary voters just as likely to be harassed by an unhinged Trump voter? Our letter writer doesn’t say.
Binary thinking and misplaced attribution has turned our public life into a bully pulpit of exaggerations and confabulations. The difference between a bogus claim versus a real one is exemplified as follows:
In Quebec City, a gunman kills 6 people at a local mosque. Authorities arrest a Canadian national whose Facebook page reveals an admiration for Donald Trump (Toronto Star).
Two Texas mosques are destroyed by fire in one month, one within hours after the president signs his Muslim travel ban (Texas Tribune).
CNN reports a wave of bomb threats that close 130 Jewish Community Centers. In the face of pandemic anti-Semitism, the president dodges questions from an Israel reporter — ordering him to “sit down.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center documents a sharp rise in hate crimes since the election. These reports correlate with slogans and remarks made by candidate Trump during the campaign … over 1,000 new incidents in all.
Imagined fear is the province of children, and playing the victim card is a dishonest and disingenuous argument at best. No doubt, there are real victims … and REAL vampires … but not the ones we fear. When voters turn mirrors to the wall and refuse to see their own reflections, real vampires are the ones who scapegoat others and refuse to hold themselves accountable.
Introspection and honest self evaluation is difficult. It takes courage. Facing oneself is perhaps one of life’s hardest tasks. One far too many individuals avoid.
I’m reminded of one particular big L Libertarian blogger who posted about mirrors. Funny thing, he never seemed to use the mirror to see his own reflection. What he wanted was for like minded folks to be critical of the views of others, namely the views that he disapproves of.
Maybe to one degree or another we all struggle with our own reflection. I know I do.
You call him Libertarian?
He considers himself a libertarian as well as concervative. I simply go with the flow. You likely wouldn’t like what I would call him. 😉
Opinion page, local newspaper…Trump supporters “quiet, hard working, taxpaying, respectful…” We ponder the fascist type rallies where protesters were roughed up, which always (and still do) end with the roaring patriotic chant,
“Lock Her Up, Lock Her Up”. Perhaps that is why the “Make America Hate Again”
hats are selling well. Our local paper had an article in the same vein, reporting on our Idaho Tea Party senator , whose local office representative was so frightened of
a half dozen geriatric folk that stopped by that he called the local police. When they found no threat, he contacted the statehouse police. We are reminded of the old saw, ‘those that hand it out-can’t take it’. But, I’ll keep an eye out, trying to
locate a quiet, hard working taxpaying respectful Trump supporter.
Put another way… They can throw but they can’t catch.
All republicans seem to be accomplished spin artists there days.