All The News That Fits The Narrative
January 25, 2019 at 10:26 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
There are lots of reasons for liberals and the media to hate them, aren’t there?
All the stars were aligned. They were Christian, Catholic, mostly white, mostly male and wearing MAGA hats at a pro-life march.
Bingo. Zero to 100.
Denounce, deride and denigrate the kids. They deserve it.
But wait. Aren’t the people trashing these kids the same people who decry hate? So why are they so comfortable heaping hate upon a bunch of teenagers from Kentucky?
Easy. They might grow up to be Republicans. It’s perfectly acceptable in progressive circles to heap hate on somebody as long as they’re white. Or Christian. Or Republican.
I’m sure these kids are not angels. I’m sure at least some of them are capable of doing stupid things.
But the thing over the weekend was not one of those things.
Initially, the story was that the star of the viral video “smirked” when a Native American man – a Vietnam War veteran – beat a drum in his face. Some of his friends hooted and howled in the background. A few did tomahawk chops.
The left exploded.
“Before even antagonizing the elder, the boys decided to put on hats that symbolize locking children in cages, calling Mexicans rapists and thieves, calling African nations “s***hole countries and siding with racist murderers in Charlottesville,” opined one blogger.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Covington Catholic High School a “hate factory.”
All over social media, there were calls for violence against the teens. There also were calls for their addresses and phone numbers to put on social media so that they could be harassed in person instead of just online – a process known as “doxxing.”
The teen in the video released a statement in which he said he has been called every name in the book, including racist. He’s received physical and death threats. One person threatened to harm him at school and the school was closed Monday over security concerns.
After the short video went viral, the mainstream news media picked up on the story and it was broadcast far and wide. Media outlets were stumbling over each other to paint the MAGA-hat-wearing teenagers as racists, publishing misleading stories based on an incomplete set of facts.
And, of course, they were quick to connect the dots between these alleged racist teens, President Donald Trump and all that is wrong with America.
A day later the complete set of facts started to emerge because there was another video. A much longer one that showed almost everything about the media’s coverage of the event was either completely false or taken out of context.
Seems the teens were waiting for a school bus to pick them up. While they were waiting – for the better part of an hour – a group of four men from The Black Hebrew Israelites berated them.
And by berating them, I mean they said some of the most vile things you could say to a Catholic teenager.
They called Jesus Christ a “fag*** child molester.”
They repeatedly called these teens “crackers,” as in "Look at these dirty-a** crackers. Can't stand in the sun for five minutes," or "you crackers are some slivery-a** bast****."
It goes on and on. They hurl racist, homophobic and vulgar insults at these kids, calling them “future school shooters,” “child molesters” and “young klansmen.”
The teens began chanting school chants much like they would at a basketball game in an attempt to drown out the verbal assault.
While this was going on, the man with the drum and his folks approach. They walk right past the men who were yelling at the kids. They walk up to confront the kids, and the guys who were yelling fall in behind him.
The kids didn’t move. The kids didn’t “mob” the drummer as news reports said. The drummer didn’t try to advance past the kids, so they weren’t “blocking his path,” as news reports said.
If anything, the drummer was invading the kids’ space.
Oh, and by the way, the drummer was not a Vietnam veteran, as reported. He served from June 1972 to May 1976 in the Marine Corps Reserve. He did not deploy, and he left the service as a private after disciplinary issues. For a few months, from October 1972 to February 1973, he was classified as an antitank missileman. Then he became a refrigerator technician for the majority of his service. Details, details.
As I said earlier, some of the kids hooted and hollered and a couple of them did tomahawk chops. That type of behavior could certainly be seen as inappropriate, but given the nearly hour-long barrage of bizarre anti-Catholic epithets, an objective observer of the whole mess would easily conclude the kids were fairly restrained.
Nobody yelled at the drummer. Nobody poked, punched or pushed anybody. Nobody got in anybody’s face – well, except the drummer.?He got in the kid’s face.
I would say the kids from Covington were guilty of being immature teenagers for sure, but they certainly didn’t deserve nationwide vilification.
So what have we learned here?
First, those on the left who perceive themselves as tolerant were the authors of some of the most disgusting comments online. Apparently, tolerant as they are, they have zero tolerance for anyone wearing a MAGA hat – especially teenagers from a Catholic school.
Second, the media have stooped so low in their quest to denigrate Trump and all things Republican that they have little or no regard for finding the facts or getting to the truth of an issue before running with a story.
As long as the story fits the narrative – Trump and Republicans are crooks and racists – it’s a go. If it doesn’t fit the narrative, it gets buried.
Finally, many of the people who were so quick to malign a bunch of kids will face no consequences for their actions or the damage they have done. They just take down their vile little tweets and life goes on.
Nobody is even condemning the actions of the Black Hebrew Israelites. Savannah Guthrie didn’t question their motives on “Today.” No, they just get a pass.
The kids, however – especially the star of the video – likely will carry a social stigma for a long time
Just another good reason to hate what social media has done to our culture.
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There are lots of reasons for liberals and the media to hate them, aren’t there?
All the stars were aligned. They were Christian, Catholic, mostly white, mostly male and wearing MAGA hats at a pro-life march.
Bingo. Zero to 100.
Denounce, deride and denigrate the kids. They deserve it.
But wait. Aren’t the people trashing these kids the same people who decry hate? So why are they so comfortable heaping hate upon a bunch of teenagers from Kentucky?
Easy. They might grow up to be Republicans. It’s perfectly acceptable in progressive circles to heap hate on somebody as long as they’re white. Or Christian. Or Republican.
I’m sure these kids are not angels. I’m sure at least some of them are capable of doing stupid things.
But the thing over the weekend was not one of those things.
Initially, the story was that the star of the viral video “smirked” when a Native American man – a Vietnam War veteran – beat a drum in his face. Some of his friends hooted and howled in the background. A few did tomahawk chops.
The left exploded.
“Before even antagonizing the elder, the boys decided to put on hats that symbolize locking children in cages, calling Mexicans rapists and thieves, calling African nations “s***hole countries and siding with racist murderers in Charlottesville,” opined one blogger.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Covington Catholic High School a “hate factory.”
All over social media, there were calls for violence against the teens. There also were calls for their addresses and phone numbers to put on social media so that they could be harassed in person instead of just online – a process known as “doxxing.”
The teen in the video released a statement in which he said he has been called every name in the book, including racist. He’s received physical and death threats. One person threatened to harm him at school and the school was closed Monday over security concerns.
After the short video went viral, the mainstream news media picked up on the story and it was broadcast far and wide. Media outlets were stumbling over each other to paint the MAGA-hat-wearing teenagers as racists, publishing misleading stories based on an incomplete set of facts.
And, of course, they were quick to connect the dots between these alleged racist teens, President Donald Trump and all that is wrong with America.
A day later the complete set of facts started to emerge because there was another video. A much longer one that showed almost everything about the media’s coverage of the event was either completely false or taken out of context.
Seems the teens were waiting for a school bus to pick them up. While they were waiting – for the better part of an hour – a group of four men from The Black Hebrew Israelites berated them.
And by berating them, I mean they said some of the most vile things you could say to a Catholic teenager.
They called Jesus Christ a “fag*** child molester.”
They repeatedly called these teens “crackers,” as in "Look at these dirty-a** crackers. Can't stand in the sun for five minutes," or "you crackers are some slivery-a** bast****."
It goes on and on. They hurl racist, homophobic and vulgar insults at these kids, calling them “future school shooters,” “child molesters” and “young klansmen.”
The teens began chanting school chants much like they would at a basketball game in an attempt to drown out the verbal assault.
While this was going on, the man with the drum and his folks approach. They walk right past the men who were yelling at the kids. They walk up to confront the kids, and the guys who were yelling fall in behind him.
The kids didn’t move. The kids didn’t “mob” the drummer as news reports said. The drummer didn’t try to advance past the kids, so they weren’t “blocking his path,” as news reports said.
If anything, the drummer was invading the kids’ space.
Oh, and by the way, the drummer was not a Vietnam veteran, as reported. He served from June 1972 to May 1976 in the Marine Corps Reserve. He did not deploy, and he left the service as a private after disciplinary issues. For a few months, from October 1972 to February 1973, he was classified as an antitank missileman. Then he became a refrigerator technician for the majority of his service. Details, details.
As I said earlier, some of the kids hooted and hollered and a couple of them did tomahawk chops. That type of behavior could certainly be seen as inappropriate, but given the nearly hour-long barrage of bizarre anti-Catholic epithets, an objective observer of the whole mess would easily conclude the kids were fairly restrained.
Nobody yelled at the drummer. Nobody poked, punched or pushed anybody. Nobody got in anybody’s face – well, except the drummer.?He got in the kid’s face.
I would say the kids from Covington were guilty of being immature teenagers for sure, but they certainly didn’t deserve nationwide vilification.
So what have we learned here?
First, those on the left who perceive themselves as tolerant were the authors of some of the most disgusting comments online. Apparently, tolerant as they are, they have zero tolerance for anyone wearing a MAGA hat – especially teenagers from a Catholic school.
Second, the media have stooped so low in their quest to denigrate Trump and all things Republican that they have little or no regard for finding the facts or getting to the truth of an issue before running with a story.
As long as the story fits the narrative – Trump and Republicans are crooks and racists – it’s a go. If it doesn’t fit the narrative, it gets buried.
Finally, many of the people who were so quick to malign a bunch of kids will face no consequences for their actions or the damage they have done. They just take down their vile little tweets and life goes on.
Nobody is even condemning the actions of the Black Hebrew Israelites. Savannah Guthrie didn’t question their motives on “Today.” No, they just get a pass.
The kids, however – especially the star of the video – likely will carry a social stigma for a long time
Just another good reason to hate what social media has done to our culture.
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