NOTE: David Sirota's new book Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now is out on 3/15. Read USA Today's new cover story about the book here and pre-order the book here.Look, it ties into current events!
As I said, this hypocrisy isn't interesting because it's so utterly undeniable. However, what is interesting -- and profoundly telling -- is King's explanation for his behavior. He says simply that "It makes no sense to talk about other (read: non-Muslim) types of extremism."Fucking cultural reactionaries, longing for halcyon days of the '80s. As reactionaries, they're emotionally stuck in the decades of their pubescence/adolescence. So today's young conservative cultural firebrand (usually a middle-aged wretch just realizing that "middle-aged" is a lie & well over half his/her existence is in the rear view mirror & fading fast) misses the moral clarity of the '80s, w/o remembering the reactionary generation who hit puberty in the '50s, & were on about the cultural horrors of the '80s when they hit the downslope.
The remark, of course, typifies a broader sentiment in America and raises the most important "why" question: Why do so many like King see extremist acts by non-Muslims as mere isolated incidents that "make no sense to talk about," yet see extremist acts by Muslims as a systemic problem worthy of military invasions and now congressional witch hunts?
The short answer is 9/11 -- but that's oversimplified. Anti-Muslim sentiment was embedded in American society well before that horrific attack stoked a bigoted backlash. The real answer, as I discovered in researching my upcoming new book, is connected to overwrought Reagan/Bush-era pop culture that first equated "terrorist" with "Muslim."
"Defective," every last one. Send 'em to Siberia.
Compare & contrast. You think he was paid for the Salon version?
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