Note From Norm: The Goring of Ox in America

When I wake up on a Monday morning and find myself defending Chelsea Clinton it reminds me that miracles do indeed exist.

It’s important reminder as the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers prepare to do battle with the Louisville Cardinals in the First Round of the NCAA Men’s March Madness basketball tournament.

Miracles do exist.

This past Saturday Clinton, who is no stranger to publicity and the good and bad that comes with it all, attended a vigil for the 50 people who were murdered in cold blood during a terrorist attack in New Zealand.

She was, comically and stupidly, confronted by a group of people who, like far too many radicals on the left and right, jockey for the title of “Moron of the Year” for their comments and behavior.

One of them, captured on video, actually blamed Clinton for the massacre with this remarkable comment:

“This right here is the result of a massacre stoked by people like you and the words that you put out into the world…I want you to know that and I want you to feel that deep inside. The 49 people died because of the rhetoric you put out there.”

And, what was it that Clinton said that drove an evil madman to destroy the lives of 50 human beings, and the friends and family and community that loved them?

In a Tweet, in response to one of the anti-Semitic comments of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Clinton post:

“Co-signed as an American. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.”

I didn’t spend much time trying to figure out the composition of the group that confronted Clinton except to note that their manufactured outrage reflects an all-too-common reality in today’s non-stop circus that is called “social media.”

The irony that Clinton has people condemning her for condemning hateful rhetoric against a group of people should not be lost on any of us.

We should all be uncomfortable with the idea that condemning hateful rhetoric against Jews – or Muslims – or Christians – or any human being or group of human beings—is condemned as leading to violence against one group of human beings or another.

Democrats, and Republicans, should stand firm against those who demand tolerance to their point of view and perspective but are unwilling to give it to those they disagree with.

The violent act committed by a terrorist in New Zealand was rooted in intolerance.

Intolerance against people because of their religion, their faith, their beliefs and, most perniciously, simply because they didn’t look and act the way a madman wanted them to act, is nothing new.

We’ve seen it time and time again with those who espouse a view of the world that is centered on them and what they want the world to be like.

A world, all too often, that is filled with hatred and rage, incapable of feeling any sense of empathy for the lives they destroy and all of that suffering that comes with their awful acts of violence.

There’s no monopoly on phony and stupid acts of outrage in America today.

We see it everywhere.

You don’t like what someone says about food on Instagram and you’ll be pilloried.

If you Tweet a picture of yourself on a beach and you are perceived as too skinny or too heavy, you’ll be criticized by people who literally have nothing to do with their life.

The fact is, there’s so many Oxen being gored today that they are becoming an endangered species.

Sadly most of the Ox that have lost their lives would still be among the living today if people thought more about the consequences of their words and actions than the opportunity to go “viral” with their phony anger.

Chelsea Clinton was right to condemn the rhetoric of Representative Omar.

She was right to condemn the violent acts committed against the Muslim community in Christchurch in the holiest of places – a Mosque.

What isn’t right, and will never be right, are those who condemn those who condemn violence.