Jeffrey Goldberg notices that his Atlantic Monthly
colleagues are in See-No-Evil mode.
A few thoughts on why this is so:
The nature of elite reaction is not strictly a matter of the
potential political ramifications of events. There is also the
matter of complexity and nuance, which are
specialties of the intelligentsia. When events seem to teach a
simplistic liberal lesson, there is no need to seek out any
mitigating factors. Yet when the simple lesson would seem to
favor a conservative argument, there is a frantic search for
mitigation, or else the event is dismissed as
meaningless.
The murder of Matthew Shepard was interpreted as evidence of
mass homophobia induced by Christian conservatism, even though
the murderers were a couple of two-bit hoodlums with no known
ties to the Religious Right. Yet here we have Nidal Malik Hasan
reportedly screaming "Allahu Akbar" while gunning down U.S.
troops and . . . well, this means nothing.
You can read the whole thing. But obey President Obama
and don't "jump
to conclusions," or else you'll forfeit any hope of ever
belonging to the elite.
