A Rage both Righteous and Impotent

This originally appeared on Ricochet.com, but was never promoted to the main feed, so I'm placing it here for any who care.

If you have never read Dostoevsky’s Demons I suggest giving it a go. He can be a tough author to read, but his work well worth it. The book itself is a scathing commentary on the nihilism that was growing in popularity at the time. In the novel, a town is influenced by men holding to these ideas and in doing so their small community breaks down until horrors ensue. Dostoevsky’s theme runs strong through this book to the end: ideas have consequences – quite serious consequences at that. It’s a book that is terribly timeless. One cannot help but look around today and see.

For the last several years we have been told our law enforcement is nigh-irredeemably racist. For four years they’ve found what they called proof. It matters not the truth of the story, or the facts. Michael Brown never surrendered – that story was contradicted quickly. The officers indicted for Freddie Gray’s death are winning their days in court one after another as the facts come out. But none of that matters. The story they like is the story they are running with.

They are aided and abetted by those in our highest office. When the President and his Attorney General both call our nations various police forces infected with institutionalized racism, they put their weight behind this story whether it’s true or not. We knew something was up with the so-called Beer Summit, but many of us didn’t want to believe it could go so far.

And I have seen the anger from the left with the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Once again the usual voices shouted out in outrage. They called it murder, and whether they understood all the implications of using that word or not it matters little. They called this proof of racism. They posted for hours about the injustice of it all. They called any who argued to wait and see racists as well. They told us we just had to shut up.

Now in Dallas, hundreds to thousands of miles away, officers have truly been murdered during a Black Lives Matter protest. Hours before, these officers posed for pictures with the protestors while smiling. But a man with the express purpose of killing some white police officers took five lives, injuring more.

This morning the same voices angrily denouncing the deaths of Sterling and Castile express brief regrets, calls to note the Black Lives Matter movement is not to blame, and continued to accuse the nation’s officers of institutionalized racism. Less than twenty-four hours ago they smugly demanded gun rights advocates stick up for Sterling’s right to carry, now these same people wail and gnash their teeth at our nation’s “Gun Culture” which is clearly to blame for this in their eyes. Weeks ago, they scolded Christians for daring to express sadness at the terrorist shooting at Pulse in Orlando – how dare they do so after criticizing the LGBT movement so long. Now they want to express remorse for the police officers they criticized so long without any judgment against them.

Those I know express remorse, but one doesn’t have to go too far down the rabbit hole to find people who cheer the murderer on, who fault the police for this solely because they are police officers.

Let it be said, the shooter who did this is the man solely at fault. He is the murderer who deserves justice. I will even give the social media activists in my feed the benefit of the doubt that they refuse to give any of us. I know most of these are horrified by such unjustified murders as any.

I am filled with a rage both righteous and impotent. Righteous as I can see evil for what it is, I can see the harm it does. I can see those who do not sleep easy tonight because such evil exists out there. Impotent as I fear I can do little against it. I want to shout, “Stop!” but I know it will come to nothing.

For the activists want this narrative to remain: that our criminal justice system is founded on institutionalized and systemic racism. That any time a black man is killed by police officers acting in the line of duty, it is an act of injustice and racism. But ideas have consequences – serious consequences. For some this idea worms its way into their hearts and minds and it poisons them. For some this poison turns them to do evil that most of us would never countenance. And so many who espoused these ideas stand back and wonder aloud, “how did this happen?”

Such demons possess sick minds, turn them to evil. How can I act? What can I do as I watch our country to such madness? My strength fails me. My soul is weary.