There's another Facebook friend of mine, let's call him the Tabloid Friend because of his fondness for linking to stories of sensational crime stories and sex scandals. He's a devout Obamanian -- in fact a few weeks ago he urged me in evangelical terms to let Obama into my heart, it would change my life the way Obama had changed his -- so he also links to Obama apologetics and material that mocks the Stoopid Republicans. But he's mad hot cute, so I keep him on my friends list while annoying him and his many allies in comments. (I'm not such a slave to lust as to let my politics be compromised by it.)Today he wrote something that surprised me. He'd linked to a political cartoon that showed Qaddafy waiting to be admitted to Hell, while the Admissions Demon complains over the phone that Obama is killing too many Muslims: "Things were sure quieter here under GW Bush's watch." I commented that Bush killed a few hundred thousand Muslims, so of course it was hardly quieter then; and if you believe in the Christian Hell, that of course is where they went. Another commenter replied, "Duncan..get an education!! Ignorance sucks!!"
It now occurs to me that the person was upset that I'd said that Muslims would go to Hell; I didn't realize that because I thought I'd made it obvious that it was only "if you believe in the Christian Hell." If you don't, as I don't, then of course they won't. I thought the complaint was about the subject of the cartoon, the large number of Bad People with Arabic names being sent to Hell on Obama's watch, and that the person disagreed that Bush killed a few hundred thousand Muslims. Certainly the cartoonist was ignoring that fact. The joke demands that selective amnesia to work.
Tabloid Friend then addressed the other commenter: " He was being facetious. I know the snark is a bit over the top at times but he's generally harmless." I was not being facetious about the number of people Bush killed, nor about Christian belief in Hell. (And being criticized for "over the top" snark by TF is like being accused of rudeness and meanness by Ann Coulter: like getting an A on my report card.)
Still, given the cartoon itself, it seems that even Obama fans are forgetting the murderous record of his predecessor. Is it because their policies are too similar for comfort? Or is it that they're so busy rewriting and obfuscating Obama's record that they're whitewashing Bush too, just to be safe?
