Understanding Ben Carson's Popeye's Parable
Many people have expressed confusion about the Ben Carson's ridiculous story about being held up in a Popeye's and suggesting that the robber turn his gun on the Popeye's employee. It increasingly seems that the story is a lie, but why make up a lie that paints one in such a horrible light? The confusion, I think, derives from the way the story was introduced on the left, subsequent to Carson's insane comments about confronting active shooters. We see it, in other words, in the context of debates on gun culture. Read in its own context, however, the story is simply run-of-the-mill conservative success rhetoric with an emphasis on race.
In order to understand the nature of this particular tall tale, you have to grasp its rhetorical purpose as a conservative parable. Carson is trying to highlight his blackness, while also highlighting his individual success. In order get there, he must 1) display his similarity with the Popeye's employee, and 2) display his difference from the Popeye's employee. All the elements of the story are just little devices to accomplish the parable.
For point 1), Carson is hilariously mistaken for a Popeye's employee by a would be robber: "Open the till, Popeye's employee! I've got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it, see?"
For point 2), Carson must hilariously correct the robber: "Ho ho, my good man! You must have mistaken me for a low-wage Popeye's employee! I'm actually a medical resident genius. You're looking for That Other Black Guy!"
The story's falsehood is obvious: it is a little parable of sameness and difference, so contrived that only a fool would believe it as an actual event that happened. In the context of the conservative parable, it's even slightly funny and creative. In the context of the gun debates, the casual way he directs the supposed gunman to the Popeye's worker is indeed horrific.
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