What if C-A-T spelled Dog?

That's what comes to mind when progressives and the press struggle with counter narrative events.  Take this.  It's a lengthy article that is written because what happened in Israel, and the subsequent reaction around the world, hit like a boxer the dominant leftwing narrative of the day.

That narrative says the problems and dominant evils of history are the result of white, European and American heterosexual Christian men.  Period. They're the baddies.  The racists.  The sexists.  The homophobic bigots.  Their history, heritage and heroes are all worthy of the chopping block because anything and everything they produced was draped in blood, oppression, slavery, genocide, imperialism, colonialism and injustice.  And these things are the motivating factor for anyone to the West of the Urals.  

When something happens that fits the equation of WASC v. non-WASC, then the reactions are swift, the coverage simplistic, the propaganda clear.  Consider Ferguson or George Floyd.  Consider the January 6th riots.  Heck, consider the anti-Asian hate crimes that were discovered to be driven more by black Americans than anyone.  It didn't take progressives long to say that's still the fault of white American racists.  So racist is our country, and so much the fault of white Americans, that when non-whites do racist things it's still the fault of WASCs (I'll assume you get that stands for White Anglo-Saxon Christian). 

You don't find nuance or complex ramblings in journalism.  You don't have professors or advocates come out and speak of context or nuance when George Floyd is dead.  You don't have articles where people call for restraint, or a broader understanding of all parties, or trying to see what might or might not be true given this or that contextual qualifier.  Nope.  Floyd was killed because racism.  All American police were indicted.  All white Americans indicted.  The history of America was indicted.  All of Western Civilization was indicted.  Period.  Let's start tearing down those statues. 

But now, you have decidedly not-WASC people doing something staggeringly heinous.  And going out of their way to make it as bad as it can be, in a way that would make Nazis in the 1940s proud.  And not only that, but around the world you had both non-WASC and leftwing activists sing the praises of Hamas for its enlightened actions.  And even worse, some of the protests and demonstrations have made it clear it's not just the state of Israel they are hating.  You can, in some broad sense, oppose Israel and not be antisemitic (a sin most comfortably placed at the feat of anyone west of the Danube).  But some of these protests have sported signs and rhetoric that make clear they're not just cheering the slaughter of Israeli men, women and children.  They're pining for their deaths for the precise reason that they are Jews.  Gas the Jews is a tough slogan to explain away. 

Of course we know the world was waiting with bated breath for Israel to respond.  For it to respond any way possible.  As soon as it did, and any civilians in Palestine were killed, the moral equivalency would be invoked.  We could call down barbarism on both sides, accuse both of being equally culpable, and bring back the condemnation of Israel as the main perpetrator in this ages old conflict.  

But you still have those damned 'Gas the Jews' signs. And not from white men with Jesus t-shirts wearing MAGA hats.  Darn it anyway.  So that's why you'll see endless articles, posts, homilies and others making it broadly about hate and racism in the most abstract form.  Or pondering endlessly on the complexity of the details, the nuanced appeal to context, and just the basic question of what we should do, if we should, when we can do, what can we know, and can CAT spell dog?  

Not like George Floyd.  Heck, not like Russia invading Ukraine.  Ah, that was nice.  It was the first time in my lifetime I remember us going full Pearl Harbor on someone in a war.  Up until then, any conflict (the two I recall both occurred in the Middle East) was weighed down with endless appeals to love our enemies, say nothing bad about our enemies, never make it about any people but the ones with the guns, understand the complex histories, see where we might be at fault, and on and on.

But we had no problem calling hellfire down on Russia, Russian soldiers, Russian culture, Russian products, Russian history.  Boycotting Russian.  Erasing Russian names.  Boy oh boy that was fun.  A small dose of what it must have been like in December, 1941.  That's because Russia, on the surface, is White, European and Christian.  

But now, we have inconvenient evidence that challenges that leftwing framework.  Whenever that happens, expect death by a million nuanced ponderings.