Double Standard

As part of the anti-war protests on Monday, a group of youths vandalized an Army recruiting office in Milwaukee. (There's also information on the report on Charlie Sykes's blog, posted on Tues, 3-20, at 8:05 a.m.) Today Charlie is commenting both on his blog (article entitled "Frustration? Juvenile?" at 9:41 on 3-21) and on his talk-show about the media response. He bemoaned the fact that there's not more outrage being expressed over this vandalism and the hatred being shown toward the soldiers.

I thought about that. And I think the answer to the lack of outrage is because it's what we've come to expect from liberals. No, not all liberals engage in such ugly behavior. In fact, most don't. But we have come to expect lies and cover-ups. We have come to expect cheating from the left. (Just look at what's been going on with voter fraud in Milwaukee!) We have come to expect that the media will slant coverage of stories so that we hear about the heinousness of any conservative group that engages in violence, and yet we hear excuses for liberal groups that engage in violence. When a fringe conservative group commits an evil (such as bombing abortion clinics or Klan-ish activities), conservatives denounce such crimes. When a fringe liberal group commits this kind of evil, the liberal media excuses it as something kinda sorta bad but not with an all-out renunciation of such activity, and certainly not for a call for prosecution of the evil-doers. As a generalization, conservatives hold themselves to a higher standard than do liberals. (Just think of the gun-control liberals who have their own guns and shoot the intruders who break into their houses, and the legislators who enact laws about the cars we drive while they drive big gas-guzzling SUVs themselves.)

Likewise, in the church, my husband has noted that parishioners with a high respect for the Office of the Ministry will often honor a pastor, even if he comes in, ditching the liturgy and wanting to change from the pattern of sound words that have been handed down. Those who do not honor the Office will agitate to get what they want (such as contemporary worship), and will fight a new pastor who may want to restore the hymnal and liturgy to the congregation.

It usually comes down to a matter of fascism and expediency and getting my way, versus a matter of submitting oneself to the orderliness of the law and having respect for those in office. Which basically means that Charlie is right about how sad it is that there's no outrage over the vandalism of the Army recruiting center. But the sad situation is not that people don't care about the vandalism. Rather the sad situation is that we're not surprised by wretched behavior from certain segments of our society, as well that we no longer expect fair reporting from the media.