Remember “freedom fries”? That was the name supporters of the war in Iraq created when they couldn’t stomach the idea of eating anything with “French” in its name.
France had not joined America’s “coalition of the willing” in 2003, and the country was trashed by politicians and other war fans for being effete and weak.
The French were mocked for being invaded by Hitler in 1940. The New York Post called them weasels, and photoshopped a weasel head onto a picture of a French diplomat on its cover to make the point. The ultimate diss came from President George W. Bush, who referred to England as “our oldest ally,” even though back when we were still fighting wars with England, France had been on our side.
That all changed quickly last year when French civilians were massacred in a coordinated attack by operatives of the so-called Islamic State.
Some of the same people who had rejected France back then suddenly considered them their new meilleurs amis. Runners in local races wore berets in solidarity. The new supporters put a tricolour screen over their Facebook profile picture or replaced it with a picture of the Eiffel Tower. “We stand with France” were the watchwords of the day.
What happened?
Easy – when you have a political ideology that feeds on resentment and victimhood, it’s hard to keep getting offended often enough to maintain your outrage. You have to glom on to the misery of others, and you can’t be too picky about where you get your victims.
I’m afraid there is some of the same amnesia in the public grief over 49 dead and 53 wounded at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last weekend.
How many of the people who today are saying that “we are all Americans” and “we stand with Orlando” were fighting last week to keep transgender boys and girls out of the bathroom that’s right for them?
How many were insisting that personal religious conviction should be enough to exempt them from laws that protect other people from getting fired, evicted or denied service by a business because of their sexual orientation?
Before Orlando, how many were protesting the steady beat of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that persists year after year?
What’s changed is that the Orlando attack had the right kind of villain. Omar Mateen, a Muslim who claimed allegiance to ISIS, was cast as the vanguard of a foreign army in the terror war. The facts aren’t supporting the image very well. With the information that’s come out so far, calling him a member of ISIS is like calling a drunk in the bleachers a member of the Red Sox. And the reports that he was seen regularly at the club and used a gay dating app suggests he may have had more complicated motivations than simply wanting to establish a global caliphate.
It doesn’t matter. Hatred of Muslims beats prejudice against LGBT people this week. But what about next week?
Just as the men and women in Orlando did not deserve to die, they did not deserve to live with less than full civil rights. How about honoring their memory by recognizing their humanity?
Instead of calling for the flags to be lowered to half-staff, maybe Gov. LePage could just take his name off that stupid lawsuit challenging a federal directive on transgender students’ use of public school facilities.
Out of respect for the people who were killed last weekend, all leaders could repudiate the North Carolina “bathroom bill,” which puts the government in charge of intimate details of personal hygiene while denying victims of discrimination the protection of the courts.
To honor the memories of the Orlando victims, everyone could stop suggesting that where transgender people go to pee puts children at risk.
And the best memorial would be if we all would stand up against hate crimes, not just when they are perpetrated by terrorists, but every time.
Real mourning should come with a change of attitudes. Otherwise, it’s just another plate of “freedom fries.”
Greg Kesich is the editorial page editor. He can be contacted at:
Twitter: @gregkesich
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