Friday, February 27, 2015

Kit's Thoughts: UNC Shooting, the Media, and Evil

by Kit

Craig Stephens Hicks’ alleged murder of 3 Muslims at UNC’s Chapel Hill brought about in the media a brief surge of euphoria as they finally had their hands on a bigoted white conservative in a red state (purple, actually) murdering 3 Muslims. They ran it incessantly, raising questions about the hatred in America and pointing out that Christians can be just as violent as Muslims —that is until it was revealed that Mr. Hicks was not only an Atheist, in the sneering Richard Dawkins category, but a progressive liberal, who, according to his wife supported gay marriage and the right to an abortion (two stances that have nothing to do with a person’s views on race) and killed the 3 people not over their religion or race but because of a long-standing parking dispute.

The story lingered for a day or two before quietly slipping from the media’s sight. Now, this story, like Giffords mass shooting, Aurora mass shooting, and the shooting of Michael Brown, provides another example of the Mainstream Media (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc.) jumping onto a story they believe fits their own worldview, quickly constructing a narrative around it, only to see it be revealed that said narrative is completely false or things are far more complex than they appear.

Now, two things:

First, the media only considers the murder of non-whites news-relevant if the shooter is (1) white and (2) carried it out because of race/religion.

Now, in feminist media circles there is a thing called the Bechdel test which looks at films and asks the following questions about a film: (1) Does it feature more than one female character, (2) Do they talk to each other, and (3) Do they have a conversation where they talk about something other than a man? Now, even many feminists have pointed out its problems as movies such as Das Boot, Name of the Rose, and Stalag 17 would fail the test. Even Mulan fails. But even I can acknowledge it does raise a point about how women are written even if it misses the mark entirely (well-rounded characters are the problem).

Anyway, there is a similar test involving minority characters that runs along similar lines: do their interactions, or, rather, does their existence solely involve whites.

And it seems, the news media is only interested interested in minorities if their actions involve whites. Or to be more specific, as far as the media is concerned it seems members of a minority , unless said member is President, only exists when they are victims of white racism. How progressive.

Second, notice how the shooter’s wife was immediately more concerned about him being seen as a racist than as a person who callously took the lives of 3 other people. Claire Berlinski summed this up well:

“Have we actually entered a universe in which it sounds exonerating to say, “My husband shoots people in the head over long-standing parking disputes, regardless of their race, religion, or creed?””

It appears we have. It seems we have made such a monster out of racism that it dwarfs all other evils, making it an elevation of one’s character to discover that he would shoot a person in the head over a parking dispute whether he was white, black, or an Auburn fan.

He may be a callous, cold-blooded murderer who kills people over trivial parking disputes but at least he’s not a bigot.

Perhaps it is because the Left prefers the evils it can understand. Racism as an evil is easy to “understand” because it can be so easily attributed to “close-mindedness” or, as is common on campuses these days, “privilege”.

But the more ancient and universal evils; those listed in the Old Testament as Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Greed, and Wrath are a bit harder to understand and, as such, the media prefers to avoid discussion of them. You see, they exist in the heart of every man, woman, and child, no matter how tolerant and accepting they are of people of other races, religions, and sexual orientations, as Mr. Hicks, displaying perhaps the ultimate dangers of Wrath, if his wife’s claim is to be believed.

And it is that existence that is the ultimate proof of the flawed and fixed nature of humanity that progressivism, with its utopian ideals and unconstrained vision for the world, denies.

12 comments:

Critch said...

Wow, such a good article....very good points...

tryanmax said...

Well put, Kit! I've often observed the same but didn't bother to put it down.

I don't know that racism is necessarily easier to understand, but it is a convenient foil for anyone looking to avoid the root of things. Certainly every case of real, out-n-out racism (as opposed to the conjured-up "systemic" sort) is rooted in one or more or the Seven Deadlies.

Kit said...

"Certainly every case of real, out-n-out racism (as opposed to the conjured-up "systemic" sort) is rooted in one or more or the Seven Deadlies."

Tyranmax, I agree.

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, Thanks for the article! I found it amazing how happy the left seemed when they thought they finally a white racist kill a poor Muslim...and how indifferent they became the moment the truth came out. That tells us a lot about the left!

Koshcat said...

Great article. What frustrates me is this tag-on "hate crime" crap. So what you are pointing out in the media is actually codified into law. You can kill someone and it is bad but if you are a bigot and killed them it much worse. Dumbest laws out there and I am still shocked that some judge hasn't thrown out a conviction based on this.

Kit said...

Andrew,

"I found it amazing how happy the left seemed when they thought they finally a white racist kill a poor Muslim...and how indifferent they became the moment the truth came out."

That was very interesting to watch.

Kit said...

Koshcat,

Koshcat, hate crime laws are one of best examples of the Left's identity politics. In fact, the federal law is named after two cases where the men found guilty will likely never see the light of day. One has already been put to death.

I'm not against jurors or judges issuing harsher punishments for crimes motivated by race or religion, especially if they are very heinous and brutal as in the James Byrd case.

Kit said...

Oh, and here is a tweet by one of the victims.
LINK

Requiescat in Pace

Critch said...

What's bothersome about liberals is that they are willing (even gleeful) to let someone get hurt, raped or killed to make their points.

Anthony said...

Anyone killed by anyone tends not to get major coverage unless someone involved is famous or it represents a larger trend that obsesses the nation. For example, school shooters kill a tiny, tiny fraction of the people drunk drivers do but they get much more coverage.

Also, I think the contention that the media ignores crimes which revolve around the seven deadly sins isn't true.

The news media is happy to talk about sins provided they are the sorts of sins or committed by the sorts of people that the public is interested, reflect public anxieties or further narrative the media favors (the media had hoped the killing of the three Muslims further the false equivalency liberals try to make between Muslims and Christians).

Examples of sin stories the media loves include lust stories (the love lives of celebs and sex abuse by teachers), envy stories (people murdering others for their money), greed stories (businesses announcing record profits and layoffs at the same time) and rage stories (school shootings and road rage killings get lots of play).

Killing which have a racial element tend to not get more than local coverage unless there is something to actually debate. If person A kills person B and goes directly to jail, there is little coverage. If person A skates, that is when things get heated.

I'm not saying the media doesn't have a liberal agenda, but it also has tabloid tendencies.

BevfromNYC said...

Murder by definition is a hate crime. You have to pretty filled with hate for someone to murder them. I liked the way that George Bush answered in one of his first debates against Gore when asked why he refused to sign a hate crimes bill in Texas following the James Byrd murder. His response was "two of the men are on death row for 1st degree and one is in prison for life without possibilty of parol How would a hate crime law improve their sentences?" And in Texas the two on death row WILL be executed, if they haven't already been.

Kit said...

Bev,

One of those two was executed.

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