My Son Would've Looked like Abdulrahman

Abdulrahman al-Awlaki,
U.S. citizen killed by U.S. airstrikes in Yemen
weeks after his father was also killed by
targeted U.S. airstrike
______________________

President Obama recently rode the outrage wave (and made a savvy campaigning move) when commenting on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's shooting, "If I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon." It was Obama's "Ich bin ein Berliner" moment, almost.

I must have missed it when he said the same thing about Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the 16-year-old American citizen he popped a cap on (via proxy) last October in Yemen, who also could have looked his non-extant son. What's that? Oh, Obama DIDN'T say that about Abdulrahman? Funny, I wonder why.

Several other NPR commenters have hopped on Obama's meme, too, as though having a biracial child gives them street cred to comment on what happened the night of 26 Feb in Sanford, Florida. "That could have been MY child!" they cry. Well ... you're on NPR, where even Tavis Smiley is extremely polite (hey, I like Tavis); your kids know how to comport themselves, and probably haven't been expelled from school a few times. If these people are really interested in the mulatto concept, why not also affiliate with Zimmerman, as well?

What is equally odd is the fact that Trayvon was the offspring of two African American parents.

However, we live in a post-factual world, and our technology has helped us zip outrage around the world many times over before truth is revealed. No need for verifiable data which might take some time to collect. We haven't the time: Our world is now hyperreal, which is to say not real at all.

Thank you, Baudrillard -- it is the simulacra and the repetition that we crave. Non-nutritious empty calories, but all the flavor.