Mike Huckabee was shellacked good for his Facebook statement in support of Josh Duggar. How could a man who has savaged Barack Obama on his parenting – because Beyonce! – and has publicly been harsh about OTHER people’s own crimes related to sexual molestation, go so easy on this instance of abuse?
If you browse the Facebook posts of the erstwhile potential presidential contender, you will see a specific thrust of questioning: why make excuses for these people for such a serious crime? Why is this acceptable?
There is a surprisingly simple answer to this: Relationship. People are much more compassionate about people or ideas that they are familiar or intimate with. And less willing to see them punished, even if that is what the law requires. I’ve always thought that part of the reason that the United States invaded Iraq was because most people in the US were not exposed to Iraqi culture or ever seen an Iraqi neighbor. Making the decision was without emotional costs for most people (although let history record that a significant number of Americans opposed the war regardless).
Without delving too deeply into fraught waters, this might also explain why there is a markedly unfair outcomes in the criminal justice system in the US (and has always been); in the fall of 2014, polling showed that only 25% of Caucasians in the US have any African American friends. If I’m right, a criminal justice system controlled by a dominant culture cannot quite be compassionate about minority cultures that it does not quite understand. Or more precisely it understands second and third hand from many anecdotal sources including the media.
In Huck’s own words: “In fact, it is such times as this, when real friends show up and stand up. Today, Janet and I want to show up and stand up for our friends. Let others run from them. We will run to them with our support.”
