Yup. We're all murderers, here in Blue America.

I find it hard to read quotes like the one offered by TBogg today and not be reminded of the whole blue state/red state thing, the "moral values decided the election" meme, and the general notion that blue staters tend to look down on the red staters. Well, it goes both ways:

"It blows you away when it’s here. This stuff is supposed to be in New York City or Los Angeles."

That's a person from the town in Missouri where that horrific murder and fetal kidnapping crime took place. Tom responds by providing a brief rundown on some of the horrific crimes that have taken place in rural America. And yes, that's true enough. Horrific crimes don't just take place in New York or LA; they take place pretty much wherever there are people. It's who we are. Put people somewhere, and sooner or later you're going to have a nasty crime. The only reason crimes happen more in NYC or LA is because there are more people there. That's it. It's not because those places exist in some metaphysically different place where morality is a completely different thing. It's just because there are more people there.

But here's a thought experiment. Suppose someone committed an act very much like this one in NYC, and further suppose that after the crime, someone said something like, "Geez, you only read about this stuff happening in farm country, not in New York." I wonder what the reaction would be?