No, Republicans Aren't Pouncing on Iryna Zarutska's Murder
"Republicans pounce!" That's the go-to declaration of the entire legacy media in response to quite literally any news story that doesn't directly involve the wrongdoing of a Republican. The pattern is fairly simple to understand. When the story is about a Republican, the story is about a Republican. When the story is not about a Republican, then the story becomes the story about the Republican response to the story.
But this cliche has plundered new depths in recent days following the horrific murder of a woman — a refugee from Ukraine — on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail train, who was stabbed to death out of nowhere by a man — a homeless career criminal who had been released from jail more than a dozen times.
"Ukrainian Refugee Stabbing in North Carolina Ignites a Firestorm on the Right," from The New York Times. "Grisly Charlotte Stabbing Video Fuels MAGA's Crime Message," from Axios. "Ukrainian Refugee Killed in North Carolina Gets Dragged Into Political Messaging War," from Politico.
All while commentators race-ified the tragedy, with Van Jones accusing conservatives of "race-mongering" — even though it's being reported that the murderer declared "I got that white girl" — while CNN's Brian Stelter said that "Most murders in the U.S. never become national news" and that Zarutska was being used as a "political symbol."
"It's a little bit like the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police-involved shootings. In this case, it is Trump-aligned influencers who are posting up a storm about this case on social media, really over the weekend," Stelter added.
A little bit?
Setting aside the obvious difference between "police-involved shootings" and the execution of an innocent woman on public transport — as if police shootings are tantamount to entirely unjustifiable on-street executions — why is the left actually so outraged?
Well, it's simple! It's because a case like this — a horrific act of mindless violence — is a brutal reminder of their own hypocrisy, let alone how truly moronic their views on law enforcement are.
For a moment, let's imagine the roles were reversed, and an innocent black woman was stabbed to death by a white man who screamed "I got that black girl!" Not only would this be national — if not international — news, it would be the launching pad for another explosion of BLM-fueled outrage that portrayed this incident as proof of America's deep systemic racism.
But when it's a white victim and a black perpetrator, daring to report on the story is "seizing"? Give me a break.
Now, it's important to note that Brian Stelter is partly correct in saying that most murders in the United States do not become national news. Ideally, fewer murders should become national news, across the board. But let's not forget who, for decades, decided what murders became national news: the same legacy media outlets that people like Brian Stelter continue to work for!
So if he truly has a problem with murder victims becoming political symbols — something I agree lands somewhere between distasteful and disgusting — then perhaps it's time to look in the mirror and ask why it's only a problem now that politically incorrect victims are getting attention on the national stage?