Tim Rutten doesn’t get it

Last updated on: December 29, 2010 at 10:54 am by Dave Griffey

Tim Rutten doesn’t get it 2010-12-29T10:54:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Tim Rutten writes a piece for the LA Times lamenting the West’s lack of concern regarding the plight of Iraqi Christians. He focuses on America’s policies, the West’s general blindness to the historical intolerance of Christianity in the Middle East, and the important role these historic Christian communities play. All fair enough. But the main reason we hear or see nothing is not mentioned. That is because our media, like our culture, is weaned on a Super-Narrative that simply doesn’t compute such things as being worthy of the radar screen. The basic narrative of the post-war West is that White, European and American, Heterosexual, Christian Men are the incarnation of absolute evil and the singular cause of all human suffering in the world. All other peoples, cultures, and civilizations, in addition to being infinitely superior in every way, are both morally and intellectually pure, peopled with happy and loving individuals who only wish to run through the lily fields of life chanting John Lennon songs all day.

So when Bill Clinton sounded the atrocity alarm in the 90s to validate our attack on Milošević and the Serbians, it fit. Serbians, White European Christians, were assaulting and massacring Bosnian Muslims. That fits. That fits the paradigm, the Super-Narrative. So we went to war. When George W. Bush attempted, in the earliest days post-9/11, to rally support for our inevitable invasion of Iraq, he played up to the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein among other reasons. Problem was, that did not fit the Super-Narrative. Non-White, non-European or American, non-Christian committing atrocities against anyone? Didn’t compute. We didn’t support it, or think what Hussein did was good. It just didn’t strike ‘That Nerve’ that comes with pointing to American Slavery, or the US treatment of the American Indian, or the Nazi Holocaust. Hence the focus turned almost exclusively to the infamous WMDs.

It’s that nerve that fails to be hit when people try to whip up similar visceral responses by mentioning the atrocities of Imperial Japan, the aggression of historic Islam, the brutality of Chinese history, or the butchery of the atheistic Communist empire of the USSR. The formula isn’t there. We don’t react. Sure, it was bad. We don’t say it was good. But there isn’t that Pavlovian response that you get with good old fashioned stories about Inquisitions, Witch Burnings, and Crusades; with American Slavery, European Imperialism, the Holocaust – all of which can be fitted into that mold, that model, that formula.

So the fact that 9/11 has been an inconvenient blip has been bad enough. Early were we able to ponder what we did to make them hate us so much. After all, it must have been us. Thus does the Super-Narrative demand we interpret all things a certain way. But continued violence by Muslims across the Islamic world is becoming a troubling reminder that many simply choose to ignore. A reminder that the Super-Narrative upon which so much our modern progressive thinking is based, might be wrong. And that cannot be accepted. So we will blame Bush, the US, Europe as much as we can. But when it finally comes down to something that may challenge the Super-Narrative, and no amount of interpretive gerrymandering will do the trick, turning a blind eye is our best bet. And it’s a tactic that has, so far, worked like a charm.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 28, 2010

Anarchists growing more coordinated

Next Post

December 29, 2010 Elton John and "Husband" welcome

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many days did God take to create the world?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seven Six Two Ten