Saturday, August 28, 2021

Coup Fans


Most of the tweets in response to Bitecofer agreed with her:

Right. Right. Right. Right. I had no clue who he was or what he looked like. Then I saw the video.

Exactly. White woman victim of black male violence scenario straight out of "Birth of a Nation." 

Why mess with the classics?

Yeah. It was so puzzling until you see the color of his skin.- Sadly, it is now obvious.

At least there was one tweet a little humorous, for someone remarked "the right showing their true colors."

My issue isn't with Lieutenant Byrd.  A few days before he emerged from the closet of anonymity to which he was entitled, I tweeted that the police officer who had shot and killed Ashli Babbitt should be seriously considered for the Congressional Medal of Honor. I believe the same now, marginally more so after seeing on television the excerpt Bitecofer linked to.

But we must stop assuming that attacks on social media upon the individual who killed Ms. Babbit are racially motivated. There had been for months on the right a vague rumor that it was known who the officer. However, if he was identified by name, I did not hear it, neither did many people, and there was no mention of his race. Forbes in mid-January had reported that a

Monmouth University poll—conducted June 9 to June 14 in a survey of 810 adults—found 47% of Republican voters say “legitimate protest” is an “appropriate term for the U.S. Capitol incident on January 6,” while 39% of independents and just 13% of Democrats say the same.

Roughly half of Republicans offering an opinion believe that breaking into the Capitol, destroying property, and threatening to hang the Vice-President constitute legitimate protest. In these circumstances, we shouldn't be surprised that a lot of people believe that shooting an unarmed "protestor" is is tantamount to murder, and that the perpetrator should go to hell, drop dead, or be shot dead himself.

For most, race is a supplemental characteristic, an aggravating factor. It is not the primary motivator of their extremism.  But the more Democrats or liberals/progressives suggest it is, the likelier it is that the left is viewed as determined to scapegoat white Americans and tear the country apart. Save the attack for voter suppression and where it otherwise matters.

 


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