Enduring Myths

Oh, how people love, love, love their fantasy narratives. Like this one:

“This is something you do not see in rural southern Tennessee. You just don’t see armed hostages,” said Weigel.

Bullshit. I read half a dozen rural Tennessee newspapers every week and I see stories like this one all the time. It’s that myth of “rural American values” (or “real American values,” if you prefer.) It doesn’t exist. You’re no better or worse than your city cousins, Real America. You’ve got the meth, and the boredom, and whooo-boy do y’all have the crazies. Like this small town guy accused of murder and cannibalism.

This is not a story you see in the big city. In the big city, someone shoots you because they want your stuff. This is a crime I understand. They do not take you out so they can have a side of human with their Bud Lite.

And let me tell you, as someone who has lived both in major metropolitan areas and small-town America? There is waaay more crazy stuff going on in rural America.

Myth number two:

“If the criminals feel that more people are armed and that more people might be set up to protect their selves, they may steer away from those places and go somewhere where they don’t feel they have direct harm in their way,” said Weigel.

Dude, you’re a moron. Criminals don’t think logically or rationally. This guy in the CVS incident started out shoplifting at Walmart, was called out, grabbed his gun and ran into the CVS and took a pharmacist hostage. That’s someone who is not exactly clear on their thinking. They’re not gonna stop and go, “gee, hmm, might be some armed folks in that pharmacy, better not do this.” As a police officer once told me: criminals are stupid. That’s why they have that job. They can’t do anything else.

Myth number three:

“You can see across the country it’s a growing trend which is unfortunate,” said Lawrence County Sheriff Jimmy Brown. “Yesterday we were very fortunate. We are very lucky.”

No, actually, the growing trend across the country is that violent crime rates are down, not up. And they’ve been going down for decades.

But don’t let facts stand in the way of a beloved narrative.