June 17, 2015 5:51 AM

You can be sad and you can be angry...but we're not about to let you make us your scapegoat

The father of a man who opened fire on Dallas police headquarters blames liberal policies for his son’s obsessive anger…. “Every one of us has a breaking point,” said Jim Boulware. “He hit his.”…. A police sniper shot and killed 35-year-old James Boulware — described as a conspiracy theorist who had made threats against schools, churches, and family members - after he fired gunshots and detonated explosive devices shortly after midnight Saturday at the police station. His father told CNN his son was enraged at police - who the younger man blamed for taking away his son in a custody battle. Jim Boulware said liberal policies had spurred a Child Protective Services investigation after he choked his mother two years ago, which landed him in jail for three weeks - until his father bailed him out.

There’s no way I could hope to understand the pain of a father whose son died doing something as phenomenally stupid, dangerous, and criminal as attacking a police station. I’ll grant Boulware his right to his grief…but he’s not about to get a free pass for arrogantly and ignorantly placing blame for his son’s actions everywhere except where it belongs: squarely on his son’s shoulders. James Boulware made his decision; no one forced him to take up arms in a dangerous, quixotic, and ultimately futile protest against…well, against whatever it was that had his panties in a wad.

The father’s attempt to blame his son’s violence on “liberal policies” is as much pure, unadulterated bullshit as it is misplaced and misdirected anger. Rather than realizing that his son made his own choice of his own free will, he’s decided to blame “Liberals.” Rather than think about what more he could have done to get his son some help, he’s blaming “liberal policies.” Instead of realizing that his son caused a good deal of pain and anguish through his actions, the father’s casting blame everywhere except where it belongs, portraying his son as a victim instead of what he died as: a criminal with serious anger control issues.

“I knew he was angry at police, he blamed them for taking his son,” the elder Boulware said. “I tried to tell him the police didn’t do it. The police were doing their job to enforce the laws. If you want to get to that, yo’ve got to go back to the liberal people that put these laws in place, to where CPS and all can grab kids.”

Mr. Boulware, I’m sorry your son decided to deal with his considerable rage and anger in what was essentially a very public and explosive “suicide by cop.” Despite your attempts to deflect responsibility, your son stopped being a victim when he decided to launch an armed assault on Dallas Police headquarters. At that point, he became a criminal and accountable for his actions. That he was killed during the commission of this crime is as sad as it is wasteful…of a human life and of police resources. Ultimately, James Boulware is solely responsible for what happened that night in Dallas. You don’t get to blame “Liberals” or “liberal policies.” How about being a man and accepting responsibility for whatever part you played in his son’s tragic denouement…as well as acknowledging that your son made his own decision?

Blaming those who you know nothing about (except that they’re- in your mind- evil destroyers of all that’s Good and Holy about America) is as cowardly as it is inappropriate. Your son didn’t get to be the person he was because of “Liberals” or “liberal policies.” His life was what it was likely for a number of very complicated reasons, some of which may well start with his upbringing, but ALL of which had to do with the decisions he made along the way. Before you begin attempting to assign blame to shadowy third parties, how about taking a good, long, and honest look at how you raised him? Were you there for him when he needed you? Did you take an active role in raising him? Your son wasn’t driven to attack Dallas Police headquarters by Liberals, which, judging from your CNN interview, I’m not certain you could even define.

I feel sorry for you and I wish you the best in dealing with your grief, but you don’t get to make those us who are proud Liberals the scapegoat for your’s son’s death. Your son made his own decisions and suffered the consequences that flowed from them. On behalf of those whose ideology happens to fall on the left side of the spectrum, we’re not about to accept responsibility for this tragedy. That’s on your late son and, depending on circumstances, perhaps on you as well.

WE didn’t drive your son to attack Dallas Police headquarters. Your son chose that path. You don’t get to portray him as a victim.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 17, 2015 5:51 AM.

Why Politico represents the death of journalism was the previous entry in this blog.

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