Beating The Dead Horse
It is absolutely astonishing to see how our blatantly biased media keeps on beating the dead horse of President Trump’s commentary regarding Charlottesville. They WON’T let it go. You would think that it was Trump that ran over Heather Heyer with his golf cart.
For purposes of analysis, and to sort out some very confused thinking and commentary, it’s absolutely essential to divide the Charlottesville tragedy into two parts.
The first part is the weaponized automobile massacre (WAM) that killed one person and wounded many others. It was perpetrated by one James Fields. In addition to being a diagnosed schizophrenic it does appear that Fields had sympathies for right wing extremism. Although his Facebook account has been shut down, there are pictures that have surfaced of him standing with right wing demonstrators. Although Unite The Right has categorically denied his membership, in as much as this individual was captivated by right wing ideology, one might say that right wing extremism is culpable in the tragic death of Ms. Heyer. But, there is also some justification for a bit of blame sharing as well. Fields had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, so psychiatric disease can rightfully be said to have been a contributing factor. And not only is the disease itself culpable, but often, the psychiatric practitioners that manage this disease sometimes do so in a rather cavalier fashion (see my previous post: Paranoid Violence, 7/12/17 and Dangerous Schizophrenia, Again, 7/21/17)) with poor monitoring and follow up. Many schizophrenics that desperately need to be on stable doses of antipsychotic medications stop taking them and become increasingly unstable and, ultimately, dangerous. And let’s not forget a role for Islamic terrorism. ISIS both publicized and popularized weaponized automobile attacks, providing Mr. Fields with a ready made battle plan to follow. And do keep in mind that the left wing Antifa (an acronym for so-called ANTI-FAcists) counter-demonstrators (Ms. Heyer included) did NOT have a permit to be in that area at that time. And, recall also that the riot police IN ATTENDANCE did nothing to keep those without a permit OUT of the area. As you can see, if one looks analytically and objectively, there is PLENTY of blame to go around. But, in the last analysis, the IDEOLOGY that appears to have motivated Mr. Fields to put his foot down on the accelerator WAS extreme right wing.
BUT, the second part of the equation, the violent rioting, is a SEPARATE issue. The left wing Antifa counter-demonstrators and the ideology that motivates them MUST shoulder their fair share the blame. First, it is crucial to note the many Antifas ADVOCATE VIOLENCE. For example, longtime Antifa organizer Scott Crow has been quoted by CNN on 8/15/17 verbatim: “There is a place for violence. Is that the world we want to live in? No. Is it the world we want to create? No. But will we push back? Yes.”) Second, they did NOT have a permit to even BE in the same area as the Unite The Right demonstrators. In other words the leftists CAME AT the rightist demonstrators in the area that was set off for the rightists to be in. Third, many Antifa came with heavy clubs, soda cans weaponized with cement and some were even wearing masks. These were NOT individuals that had come for a peaceful protest; they were militants looking for a fight. Fourth, if one looks at the videos (and there are MANY) it is clear that BOTH SIDES are taunting one another and BOTH SIDES were engaging in violence.
In other words, President Trump was EXACTLY RIGHT when he said that there was blame to be had on “many sides.” And, even though there was NOTHING wrong with his initial comments, the following day, for those slow on the uptake, he EXPLICITLY denounced “Nazism”, the KKK and right wing extremism. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, critics of Mr. Trump and left wing provocateurs, the HORSE IS DEAD. You will end up further distancing yourself from mainstream America if you continue to flagellate it. Bury the poor beast and move on.