Some things that DO happen in "real America"

In today's Washington Times David Keene pens one of the most arrogant pieces I've read in a long time. "Flyover country is home to those who still believe in America," he says. He tells a story about a man who was bitten by a snake in Montana and how everybody pitched in to save him. He says folks in the rural heart of the country still think America is exceptional, still celebrate it.

At the end, he says

"The night before, a drugged-up 18-year-old stabbed a man to death while onlookers stood on both sides of a Metro car in the District. In January, a 77-year-old man collapsed and died of a heart attack across from a District fire station while people who banged on the door seeking help were turned away."

Of course, not everyone in DC is callous. In suburban DC a man saved another man from a beating, and DC is hardly the only place where 911 or EMTS don't respond, or medical personnel don't help.

But Keene certainly wants us to think so. He follows up by saying

"In the real America that wouldn’t have happened."

Maybe. But here's what does happen in "the real America" - in, in fact, that very Montana - recently:

• book burning
  
• a man who dies in swimming pools while employees watch
  
• a man who kills his families and himself
  
• people plotting to kill one's wife's divorce lawyer
  
• a man setting traps for teenagers and shooting one
  
• a woman shoving her bridegroom off a cliff
  
• a man shooting a television host in a jealous rage
  
• a man abducting and murdering a school teacher
  
• a man who raped his 11-yr-old granddaughter

Look. This is not an indictment of Montana, which is no worse than any other state, I'm sure.

It's an indictment of the "real America" myth.