By Jeff Davidson,
Every now and then, when I’m about to head out the door of a Whole Foods market, I stop by the literature rack and grab one of the local rags, named Indy Week. It is published in Durham, North Carolina. Bordering on Raleigh, Durham is the unofficial state capital of insane Leftist ideology.
Celebrating Assailants, Ignoring Victims
I read any Indy Week features with a grain of salt. One such article that captured my attention is by Amanda Abrams, writing about Rodney Taylor, a prisoner on death row. The title of the article is “Who Deserves to Die? Not the 136 People Currently on Death Row in Raleigh.”
She writes: “Half a lifetime ago, 26-year old Taylor was caught up in the drug trade and killed a man in Wilmington while visiting from New York. He was sentenced to death and has been here ever since, waiting to be executed. I met him in 2016 when I began leading a meditation group on the unit, and we stayed in touch after it ended.”
“Caught up in the drug trade.” Hmmm… You mean ensconced in a livelihood which poisons people and shortens their lives?
Some 17 years after he murdered, says the veteran writer, Taylor started a program for children. Oh, and he’s working on his third novel. The writer suggests that he now is worthy, along with 135 other murderers, of being taken off of death row. I have never met Rodney Taylor so I will comment no further on the merits of her argument related to Taylor. Concurrently, his victim can’t be reached for comment.
Perusing the article for a second time, I seek any information about the man Taylor murdered. Nothing appears. In one-half a sentence the victim was vaguely referred to and dismissed. Is Ms. Abrams curious about the victim? Perhaps she knows the back story but chose not to include it her article.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
For her to assert that someone should be taken off of death row, I want to know about the victim and the circumstances of his death. I wrote to the author, but thus far have received no replies. Here are the questions I asked. Do you think that she’ll ever respond?
I asked, “Who did Taylor murder and how?” Can you tell us about the victim’s life? How about his name? Did the deceased contribute to the fury? I mean, was he hostile or threatening to Taylor? Was his death slow and painful, or was it quick and done? A few details would serve us well here.
Did the victim have a spouse or a partner? Did he have children? How old was he? About his parents, were they alive at the time of the murder? What type of life did the victim lead? Did he have aspirations? Was he in school, the military, or some form of public service?
The answer to any of these questions, obviously, would at least offer readers a smattering of information on the victim. Alas, nothing was addressed.
Victims, Worthy and Unworthy
Probing further, I asked, “Does Taylor’s launch of a youth program, coming 17 years after he murdered someone, excuse the crime?” How does letting the murderer live on, and we could broaden the question to any murderer anywhere, aid the victim and his family? Then I asked, “Are all the questions above moot for you because you know best?”
Abrams’ article is standard fare in publications such as the Indy Week. The lives of crime victims reflexively are overlooked unless the victims are members of a special class. You know the groups to whom I’m referring – minorities, transsexuals, gays and lesbians, and certainly anyone who votes on the Left.
Victims, who lean right politically or who are not considered by the Left to be in a special class, are deemed unworthy. Their names mean nothing to Indy Week authors or publishers. Their lives mean nothing. They’re merely pawns in the “people’s struggle” to conquer the Earth with their nihilistic views of society, government, and life in general.
Madness Mindset
Multiply this mindset by the multi-millions of Leftists who think that George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Liz Cheney, and other perpetrators of injustice, are heroic and deserving of the nation’s highest civilian award, and you can quickly fathom the depth of the convoluted values that have shockingly been in vogue among half of our citizens.
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Jeff Davidson is “The Work-Life Balance Expert®” and the premier thought leader on work-life balance, effectiveness, integration, shift, blend, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Perfect Timing, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit BreathingSpace.com or call 919-932-1996 for more information on Jeff’s keynote speeches and seminars.
