In a word, hypocrisy.
Since the Pilgrims and the Puritans arrived here nearly 400 years ago, Massachusetts has had a strong strain of “we know better than you, and we’re going to nag you until you agree” in its culture. That self-righteousness has often been married to a blindness about its own failings, and that’s what’s happening right now with the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Massachusetts liberals have expended no small amount of energy over the past decade scolding other parts of the country for discrimination against Muslims and failing to uphold the rule of law. Now many of them won’t stand up for the right of a family to bury their dead child.
Ruslan Tsarni (“I love this country, this country, which gives a chance to everybody . . . to be treated as a human being”) wants to bury his nephew, the suspected leader of the Boston Marathon bombings. He’s been met by protestors outside the Worcester funeral home where Tamerlan’s body lies, and he can’t find a cemetery that will accept and bury Tamerlan.
Republican Gabriel Gomez and Democrat Ed Markey, candidates for US Senate, have both said Tsarnaev should not be buried in his home state of Massachusetts. Gov. Deval Patrick has ducked the issue, saying it’s for the family to decide. Robert Healy, longtime city manager of the People’s Republic of Cambridge, has refused to allow Tsarnaev, a Cambridge resident, to be buried in the city’s cemetery.
It all serves as damning confirmation for what many conservatives around the country have thought for years—those liberals from Massachusetts are perfectly willing to be liberal…as long as there’s no cost to them.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam in in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7: 3-5
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/