If the killer is white, that is better. If the killer is from the South: better yet.

There is a guy at the bar who is extremely sensitive to news about terrorist attacks when immigrants are involved. His sensitivity is heightened further if the terrorist is a Muslim. Because he is gay. With a Muslim boyfriend.

He does not want to see his boyfriend subjected to hate. As such, people tiptoe around him when a terrorist act has just occurred. But obviously, it is an elephant in the room. So the elephant is carefully ignored, and people mostly talk about sports when he is around.

Of course, the sports world has elephants of its own. Players kneeling, being one example. Because now you are talking about racism, not sports. Sometimes there are a lot of elephants in the bar.

However, the guy at the bar with the Muslim boyfriend has become more outspoken about this of late. There is a lot of hate, he says: a lot of Americans are homophobic immigrant Muslim haters. These people are usually identified as white. He is white. But he knows about homophobia, so he understands what it is like to be hated. Sometimes homosexuality is an elephant, too.

On a rare occasion it will be brought up to him that his boyfriend is Muslim and gay. The idea being that Muslims are not seen as tolerant of American Gay Life. He explains that this is not true: Muslims are a loving people. Oh yeah: the haters he usually identifies as white he also identifies as Christians. Sometimes more specifically identified as dumbfuck Christians. So: sometimes Christians are an elephant, too, at least if you are are loosely Christian in a Seattle bar.

When there is a mass shooting he is noticeably happier when the killer is not Muslim. If the killer is white, that is better. If the killer is from the South: better yet. And odds are that the killer isn't gay: gay killers are not really an elephant.

There was a time when this country was remembered fondly as Where The Buffalo Roam. But now: mostly elephants.


- james james

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