Why
the Left Hates Sarah Palin
By Robin of Berkeley
AmericanThinker.com
When I was ten years old, I participated in an act
of unadulterated group evil. It happened at a
sleep-away camp in the Catskill Mountains.
Starting in third grade, I was shipped off to
this summer camp for three months at a time.
Although I was in no way ready to be so far from
home, my parents wanted the summers free and
clear -- so I was whisked away, like hundreds of
other Camp Tawonga kids.
I
lived in a bunk with a gaggle of other girls,
with two teenagers to oversee us. Since our
counselors were more absorbed in the male
staff
than in us, we girls had the run of the house.
One
day, my bunkmates decided to punish Barbara, a
popular and confident child. The masterminds
held Barb down while a few others stripped off
her clothes. Barbara struggled and screamed as
the rest of us watched, transfixed. The details
are blessedly murky, but they involve mocking
Barbara and grabbing at her body.
Although I wasn't a major player, I also did
nothing to stop the madness, which shames me to
this day. I even recall feeling a strange,
wicked thrill surging through my body. Now that
I analyze it, it was the maniacal power of
sadism -- and evil.
I've
always wondered why Barbara was chosen to be
tortured, and not a nerdy girl instead. But
after beholding the horrible treatment of Sarah
Palin, I finally understand: Barb was a sweet
and happy and innocent child. The leaders of
the pack wanted to knock her down from her high
horse.
My
mind flashed to this awful memory after hearing
that Palin was being scapegoated for the Tucson
Massacre. Palin has been a
target of
the left's wrath from the moment she was
nominated for vice president. Many
conservatives have tried to explain why.
Some
say it's jealousy, which is true; Palin is a
lovely woman with a handsome husband. She's
also a self-made woman; Palin has risen to power
on her own, without the coattails of husband or
father.
Some
conservatives believe that the hatred is a
result of brainwashing; this is true, as well.
Liberals respond robotically, like Pavlov's
dogs, whenever Palin's name is uttered.
But
there's a darker reason for the abject hatred of
Palin, and the clues can be found in that
Catskill Mountains bunk. Because evil can
manifest when people project their own badness
and shame onto another.
People on the left hate Palin for one simple
reason: because she is everything they are not.
She is their polar opposite because her life
journey has diverged from the prescribed liberal
path.
Palin was raised to be self-sufficient and
independent since "idle hands are the devil's
tools." Little Sarah was up at the crack of
dawn, hunting with her dad; in sharp contrast,
liberal kids like me were still fast asleep.
Palin didn't have life handed to her on a silver
platter, like so many in the ruling class.
Instead, Sarah balanced school, chores, jobs,
and sports. While liberal girls like me were
glued to the boob tube, Sarah had no time for
sloth.
Palin attended church with her family on
Sundays. On Sunday morning, young liberals like
me were recovering from Saturday night.
From
her devout Christian upbringing, Sarah learned
to be a good girl. In contrast, I learned
everything I needed to know about how to be a
modern girl from the monthly Playboy
Magazine, which was conspicuously displayed
on our living room table.
Sarah dated and then married her high school
sweetheart; I learned that my body was a
commodity that I "owned." And I could use my
body -- and allow it to be used -- to
temporarily still the pangs of loneliness.
There's a lyric from a Matt Maher song that
always moves me to tears. It's when he cries
out to God: "Where were You when sin stole my
innocence?"
When
I hear these words, an unspeakable pain cuts
through me. I feel the ache of something stolen
from me -- something precious, never quite
recovered. And there are countless others out
there, similarly robbed, though they have no
idea what has gone missing.
And
then, out of the blue, Sarah Palin, like a
majestic bird
in
flight, swooped onto the scene of a
depraved and deprived nation. With her children
and grandchild, her religion and her patriotism,
Sarah is the antithesis of everything the
progressives
stand for. Palin is not just pro-life, but she
emanates life -- and good,
clean
living.
And
what does the left do? They try to drag her
through the mud to sully her. The hardcore
among them want to eliminate her, even
if this means putting her life at risk.
The
progressives "joke" about gang-rape, make
pornographic movies about her, and leer at her
legs. (Would any of this be tolerated against
Michelle Obama?)
Palin's church was torched during the primary, a
vicious crime that was hushed up by the MSM.
And now, with the smears about Tucson, death
threats against Palin have soared.
Yes,
leftists attack Palin because they envy her
beauty; and true, she's a political threat. But
the main reason for the hatred is something
deeper and darker.
Leftists loathe Palin because she has retained
something that was stripped from them years ago:
a wholesomeness, a purity of heart. People on
the left despise Palin because she shines a
bright light on their shame and unworthiness,
which they try desperately to deny.
The
progressives, like that brutal gang of abandoned
girls, want to drag Palin down into the gutter
with them; they want to spoil her. Of course,
their efforts will be futile; Palin is fueled by
a Spirit that isn't simply her own.
The
left knows only how to point fingers, and
threaten, and menace. Why? They are lost,
abandoned children as well; they have shunned
the only Force who could wash them clean and
bring them home again.
A frequent American Thinker
contributor, Robin is a recovering liberal and a
psychotherapist in
Berkeley.
Robin's articles are intended to inform and
entertain, not to provide psychotherapeutic
advice or diagnosis.