Victimology, The Head Caveman and Forensic Logic

NMB, Florida October 17, 2001 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

"VICTIMOLOGY", THE HEAD CAVEMAN AND FORENSIC LOGIC

I saw the use of "victimology" for the first time in Maureen Dowd's Op Ed
column in the NY Times this morning. It is useful as a descriptor of media
confusion in how to depict the mass confusion that terrorism is evoking.
Thus, the Head Caveman in far off Afghanistan has created a masterpiece of
laying his opponents low. If we all suffer from "victimology" we mill
around afraid and suspect each other and he wins.

Now, I have seen enough mortuary scientists excavating corpses and seen the
criminalists on TV to realize the value of forensic logic. You have to
reconstruct the crime scene and minutely examine what to others looks like
dust or blank surfaces. If you do the job correctly, logic, science and a
fearless eye and mind will save the day.

We are victims because focused lightning spooked our herd. The far off
caveman used logic and our own momentum so when he attacked we were off
running in all directions at once. He did this with little effort.

Our fearless leaders from the top to the bottom haven't a clue and neither
do I. Where is Quincy when we need him? We seem to be equipped with Laurel
and Hardy instead.

Now, on the other hand - the caveman and his cohorts are few and,
unfortunately for them, appear odd to the eye of Americans. Remember the
war movies about Nazi Germany? They recruited "American" looking Germans who
would be trained to be just like us, infiltrate and sabotage our war effort.
They existed and so did the Communist ideologues who used sophisticated
argument to prove that our persecution of Negroes and the workers in our
factories made us support the wrong causes. They looked just like us, too.

Unfortunately for Osama bin Laden, his troops do not look like us, he has
few supporters here in our land and his arguments are blatantly false,
baseless and foreign. What do you think? Carol's Evaluation: 10+ out of
10.