Repair Man Jack at RedState cast a disapproving eye over the Chris Dorner fan club on Monday morning, noting that “thousands on Facebook consider this man a hero:”
Christopher Dorner wanted to exact revenge for the fact that he had been fired from the LAPD. He apparently believed that the murders of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence were necessary, yet not sufficient to fulfill that requirement. He hadn’t exacted true revenge until he called up Monica Quan’s father, Randall Quan, and taunted him about how easy it was to shoot his daughter.
What I described above tells me all I need to know about Christopher Dorner. Even in an older, more savage age, he could have been a man of honor if he were to have met Randall Quan somewhere and had it out with him man to man. Shooting the man’s daughter and then calling him up to rub it in should mark Christopher Dorner as a detestable coward, a man unfit for the role of the anti-hero. To root for Christopher Dorner is to root for genuine evil. This is America’s crappy remake of “Sympathy For The Devil.”
Yet thousands of Americans are currently doing just that. People are posting to Facebook that Dorner should run for President. One online page announces that “LAPD Cop Killer Christopher Dorner Is A Hero.”
Twitchy.com has been watching this phenomenon take shape on Twitter since Dorner’s killing spree made the national news. Among other things, they’ve chronicled enthusiasm for making Dorner into some sort of black civil-rights hero, and his portrayal as the modern re-incarnation of the fictional hero from the movie “Django Unchained.”
As Repair Man Jack noted, some of the support for Dorner comes less from bloodthirsty “Django” iconography and more from lingering questions about whether his termination from the LAPD was fair. Even current LAPD chief Charlie Beck – sufficiently apprehensive about the menace of Chris Dorner to stop releasing his schedule to the public – says he wants to investigate the madman’s allegations and review the case for his termination, while emphasizing that he’s not doing this to “appease a murderer.”
Beck, of course, has his ear to the ground in L.A., and knows what people are saying; he might have felt it necessary to address concerns that Dorner had a valid beef with the Department before launching his murder spree. And, of course, he might be hoping to persuade Dorner to surrender – he pointedly stated that the LAPD “will be happy to hear what he has to say” if he turns himself in.
But it’s also likely to be interpreted as a concession that makes Dorner’s legend grow in the minds of his fan club. Either murdering innocent people to draw attention to grievances is a legitimate, effective tactic, or it isn’t. If it isn’t, then Dorner’s complaints should be a complete non-starter. No one should get the idea that blowing away a couple of victims is the ticket to gaining fame and getting taken seriously. Particularly since Dorner’s manifesto is filled with the grandeur of martyrdom. The mass killers filling our headlines are often people who believe they’ll die in the course of committing their atrocities. Putting the LAPD on bent knee, and racking up a big online following – including a few Big Media apologists who find words of praise for your manifesto, or sympathy for your presumed victimhood – are exactly what we don’t want the next mass murderer to think he can accomplish. What better “happy ending” could a bloodthirsty power fantasy have?
It’s also not pleasant to see such a large number of people who view themselves as essential at war with the rest of American society. For some, it’s just a pose; but if Chris Dorner was the Tea Party killer of the media’s dreams, and his growing online following were right-wingers and militia types, the press would be deeply concerned about the problem of domestic rebellion. They’d already be wondering if some of those right-wing crazies might be helping Dorner elude capture, and how many might be preparing to take up arms and follow his example. But as far as I can tell, no one in Big Media seems worried about that possibility with the still-at-large Dorner, who named so many left-wing inspirations in his manifesto, and those who view him as the hero in a racialist drama.
