The 800-Pound Assassin in the Room [View All]

[Czar One]

Perusing DailyKos yesterday, I cam upon a diary entitled, "You're Going to Kill Him, Aren't You?" The author, apparently Canadian, was expressing great concern---fear, even---that President Obama will be murdered while in office.

I also read the replies to the diarist, and, though a few shared his worries and expressed understanding, most of them tore him a new asshole, which caused me to wonder, "Why?"

I mean, are we not cognizant of our own history? Have we forgotten the violence which permeates it?

Personally, I'd wager dollars to dimes that this Canadian was expressing what ninety-five percent of all foreigners think of us already!

Lincoln. Garfield. McKinley. JFK. Bobby. Martin. Malcolm. Add to this list our actions toward native Americans and African slaves, and exactly what the fuck else do we expect from the world???

I couple of days ago, I posted that---even though I'm an agnostic---I have been praying for Obama's safety. And why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't you? It is, at worst, harmless, which is a helluva lot more than I can say for the "Shhh! Don't say that! Words have power!" crap I keep seeing whenever the subject is broached. Psychiatrists would call it "magical thinking." And that's where the agnostic in me comes out.

"Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear." Bull! "Oh, if we just don't talk about the President maybe getting shot, it won't happen." Shit! No talismanic effect will derive from hushed silence. The Soviet Union was afraid of what it deemed "bad ideas." It tried to suppress them. Gee, that worked out well for them, didn't it?

One of my best friends is a Catholic priest, and he once explained to me that, in his church's rite of exorcism, the key point in the process, which unlocks the door to ultimate success, is to name the specific demon. Once that is accomplished, a positive outcome is virtually certain.

Talking openly about this particular demon won't guarantee its expulsion from our midst, but letting it fester unspoken is, in my opinion, to take our heads and plant them firmly in the sand.