Jeffrey Lord is scandalized that Shirley Sherrod would describe the death of her relative as a "lynching" when in fact he was merely handcuffed, dragged and beaten to death. No rope, get it? Lynching requires a rope. Lloyd is clearly writing in the grand tradition memorialized by Justice Holmes' story of the defendant who was accused of stealing a churn. The Justice of the Peace released the defendant after he checked his law dictionary and found no entry for "churn."
By this standard Lord's reasoning is unassailable but the point needs nuance. Perhaps rope is required for a low-tech lynching. A "high-tech lynching" occurs when a a left-wing zealot asks a question of a Supreme Court nominee.
1 comment:
So I guess Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner also weren't lynched. And the death of James Byrd Jr. who was dragged behind a truck wasn't a lynching, either.
By engaging in this kind of blatant, mocking sophistry, Jeffrey Lord joins the lynch mob.
Yours crankily,
The New York Crank
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