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Idea for a Novel

January 13, 2011, 12:53 pm

I was doing something today that I generally avoid, which is thinking about Sarah Palin.  How bizarre would it be to wake up one morning and find that some random maniac you had never met in a city you might never have visited had gone on a killing spree and prominent people were all over the media blaming you for the killing. Not your political party, not all those who shared your views, not all those from a similar group, but you personally. Blood on your hands.   How weird would that be  (and how pissed off would I be -- I can say that I would have lashed out publicly early and hard and often, much harder than Palin's video, though no one ever has called me "presidential" in temperament).

Seems like there should be a novel in there somewhere.  Yeah, I know the falsely accused thing is done all the time (e.g. the Prisoner) but I can't shake the feeling there is an interesting concept here.

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Category: Books
  • me

    Except with an accusation like this, it's absolutely impossible to prove your innocence.

    That said, her public reactions aren't exactly designed to make her come across as a reasoned politician. It's more like watching reality TV, waiting for that terrible character to behave even more outrageously... shame that it works so well, it by definition makes better infotainment than any more moderate approach.

  • Val

    The thing that amazes me is how many people are grabbing the opportunity to say how wrong it is to blame an individual or party for what just happened, but almost to a one they have to start it with 'I don't really care for Palin but...'. How about just stating that it is flat out wrong without qualifications?

  • Mesa Econoguy

    That's a really odd twist to Kafka's Die Verwandlung:

    Ich habe in Alaska mit Schusswaffen aufgewacht, und wie eine Weibe.....

  • Heinz

    If you think about Kafka, "Der Proceß" might be a better analogy: Someone must have been telling lies about Sarah P., she knew she had done nothing wrong...

  • caseyboy

    The political "left" has a lot of motivations in play here. I think blaming Palin is an indication that they feel she is a real threat in 2012. I don't happen to think so, but the fact that they hammer her so hard suggests they do. Also remember that the left wants to shut down public speech in the form of Rush, Hannity, Beck and the Fox News channel. If they can stir up the public to believe that "hate speech" caused this shooting maybe they move a step closer to their goal. And never forget that people don't kill people, guns do. This shooting gives them an opportunity to roll out that old tale.

    Remember what good old Rahm Emanuel said, "never waste a crisis." I'm gonna miss him, aren't you?

  • Sam L.

    A few days later, all their talking points are disproved. And yet they persist.

  • Bill Lever

    Well, I have been blamed for things I've not done, only to half wish I actually had done them (nothing criminal or mortally sinful).

    Now, your protagonist, having received all the blame possible could truthfully deny everything -- and then begin to plot and secretly do the things their enemies had claimed -- with impunity, since the blame had been pre-judged and never believed. A twist on double jeopardy.