What Does That Have To Do With Anything?

So, I’m a little late writing my blog this week, but there is so much to write about I simply couldn’t choose among them all, but I think I have finally settled on one.  This is something that so many people in both, or all, political parties do.

We all are acquainted with the old statements relative to women being assaulted.  “Oh, well, she had a couple of drinks, her skirt was short, and her blouse too tight.  She was just asking for it.”  No – all that had nothing to do with what happened to her, but it did make a great excuse for the assaulter to exonerate himself and to blame her for what he did.  Blame the victim.

This morning on several sites was the fact that a St. Louis officer had been caught on tape making really offensive remarks about almost everybody.  He was removed from duty, as he should have been, but this had nothing to do with what happened in Ferguson, MO, since this officer was from St. Louis.  His actions are reprehensible, but they should not be taken as an indication that every officer in the St. Louis/Ferguson area is a total bigot.  We may assume that some are, since bigots are not limited to that area of the country, but it is no more correct to blame all officers for the actions of one than to blame all the peaceful protesters in Ferguson for the actions of a few looters/rioters. 

The minute the Ferguson police began releasing negative information about Michael Brown, such as the video showing probably Brown snitching cigars from a convenience store, and then the police commenting from the autopsy that he had marijuana in his blood, made me wonder what they were trying to divert attention from.  That action by the department probably has done more to negatively impact that department than any other action they could have taken.  Fox News, although it isn’t, came up with a really great one, and that is the officer had to shoot Brown because Brown was so big and the officer, Wilson, was so much smaller!!  So all tall men need to shrink?

It is really difficult when diversionary tactics like this are put up by individuals, companies, government agencies or who or whatever, to keep focused on what has actually happened because these diversionary tactics are often quite subtle, and not quite so blatant as in the case of Michael Brown.  This happens at the national level as well.  A good example was the invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq.  These countries had to be destroyed because they were harboring Al Qaeda.  It was their fault we had to attack and destroy them.  Little or nothing was said about the fact that the terrorists were actually from Saudi Arabia.  I certainly am not advocating that we should have invaded Saudi Arabia, only that we should not have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq over something they did not do. 

Not only is the use of diversionary tactics basically the result of immaturity, but when used by adults in dangerous situations can lead to some really unpleasant, unhealthy and downright scary results.  In Ferguson it led to nights of protests.  In Iraq, it led to the rise of ISIS.  What we all need is a good dose of taking responsibility for our own actions – good or bad.