The postal carrier was only delivering the mail.
So why did Russell Frank Valleau (photo, left), 61, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, chase her with a knife? Because his mail that day included a Kamala Harris flyer.
After yelling “derogatory, racist and sexual remarks,” he lunged toward her with the knife, but she pepper-sprayed him before he could hurt her.
He’s now in jail charged with a hate crime, and facing up to two years in prison (read story here).
“Attacking the messenger is a metaphoric phrase used to describe … blaming the bearer of bad news,” Wikipedia says (here). The fact we have stories about this from classical times, and Shakespeare mentioned it in his plays, suggests this behavior springs from human nature.
I suppose the psychology behind it works something like this. Someone hears bad news, gets upset, and takes it out on the first person at hand, or someone easy to get at. A somewhat related story goes like this:
A man had a bad day at work. He went home and yelled at his wife. Now in a foul mood, his wife snapped at their son. The boy, upset at being yelled at, kicked the dog. The dog then chased the cat. The cat then ate the canary. The poor canary’s last thought was wondering what the hell he did to piss off the cat.