University of Virginia. An entire frat more or less is accused of holding rape parties. Big cover story in Rolling Stone Magazine. Media piles on relentlessly. Turns out the party in question never took place. The person accused of rape never existed. The whole story is a complete and total fabrication. A independent investigation of Rolling Stone and it's writer come to the conclusion that no semblance of due diligence in reporting was even attempted. Crickets.
Brett Kavanaugh. Accused of a violent rape when he was a teenager. Accuser doesn't remember when, doesn't remember where, can't remember exactly who was there and who wasn't. Her only supposed witness has no recollection. No one named has any recollection. Kavanaugh is pilloried in the press and by certain members of government. Crickets.
A teenage boy wearing a MAGA hat appears in a 2 minute video with a smirk on his face. No context is given besides the word of one Native American man. This man claims this boy and his friends were harassing a group of African American people, yelling "Build the Wall", and that when he (the Native American) went to "diffuse" the situation he was blocked from being allowed to pass. The media piles on. Stars and big names pile on. One of them even says that a school shooting at this boy's high school would be acceptable. Fast forward... two full hours of video are released by the African American group in question. It shows the African Americans needlessly harassing the boys. Calling them names, telling them to go back to Europe, and other things I won't even write here. The boys, being teenage boys, yell some school cheers and maybe act a little over the top to drown out the hate being directed at them. The Native American man marches up to the boy in the video and bangs a drum, inches from his face. A wider angle shows there was plenty of room for this man to walk around the kids and he chose not to. Boy gets lawyer and lawyer takes on several people in defamation lawsuits. Crickets.
Jussie Smollett accuses 2 white men in red hats and yelling about this being MAGA country of attacking him. Kicking him, beating him, throwing a chemical substance on him and putting a rope around his neck. The also yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him. Jussie is an actor on the show Empire. Despite the host of other stories that have turned out to be hoaxes (many of them not listed here), the outrage parade starts again. Politicians, Hollywood stars, bloggers, news media, jump on this story and perpetuate the idea that this is normal. That this is now what happens in Donald Trump's America. Breaking news yesterday... the Chicago Police Department investigates, arrests, and then releases two black men. It is possible that Mr. Smollett paid these two Nigerian Extras on Empire to attack him. They actually had the red hats and the bottle with bleach. The PD knows where the rope and hats were purchase. These aren't white men, they are black men. They were found via video camera footage. They know the victim and interacted with him on the set. They are not Donald Trump supporters. One of them turned over his phone, which may show he was in contact with Mr. Smollett. Crickets.
Why did I put crickets after every incident? Because not a single one of these bandwagon jumpers has apologized after spending weeks accusing a person, group of people, or half the country of being the worst kind of people. Each one of these hoaxes, and many more not listed here, targeted a specific group of people. Wealthy white privileged male athletes. Testosterone filled men child fraternity students. Conservative white judges who just might serve on the Supreme Court. Young mostly white male catholic students. White male Donald Trump supporters.
Almost all of these stories were believed right out of the gate. Not because there was overwhelming evidence. In most of these cases there was a severe lack of evidence, or what evidence there was pointed to something far different than the story being told. Why is it that so many people are willing to believe things that have almost no basis in fact?
Here is where Amy makes people angry, because I am going to tell you what is the common thread in all of these stories (and once again, the many more like it that I haven't bothered to rehash). White men. Every single one of these stores involves white men. America has been turned on it's head.
Sixty years ago, and even less than that, the stories would have been black men, and would have been believed simply because they were black men. That's racism, by any definition. So now, let me make you increasingly angry by pointing out the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. These stories are believed because they involve white men. In every facet of our life we are told white men are the devil incarnate. They are the reason for all of society's issues. It's pushed on us in major media stories, in television shows, in movies, in books. Nothing comes without a political agenda anymore. And yes, it's a political agenda, because for the last 10 years, it's everywhere, and it's been a common theme in political campaigns. There are more racist white men now then there were 60 years ago.
How many times have you been told, or you have told someone yourself, that all white people are racist? That it's almost a biological process. White people are born racist. At least in this country they are. All men are capable of rape. We need to teach men not to rape. (I don't want to write forever, but I could take that extrapolation down a rabbit hole with every human being on the planet.) If you are a white person, and especially a white man, you have a target on your back solely because of your skin color and gender.
That my friends is the definition of racism and sexism. To believe, in your heart, from a 2 minute video clip, or a story in a magazine, or because some self-righteous prosecutor trying to win re-election tells you so, that this happened because these so-called perpetrators are white men. It's a white man. White man are privileged, they have had no major hardships, they think they are better than everyone, so of course, they must have done this awful thing. That's bias. That's racism (white) and sexism (men). It's wrong. It was wrong when it was done to black men, simply because they were black men, and it's wrong to do it white men, simply because they are white men. Two wrongs don't make a right. Morality doesn't work on the same principles as math.
We can never fix the injustices that took place in our history. You can't. It's there. It was bad. It should be remembered in the hopes that we never repeat those mistakes again. Instead, a large group of people in this country wish to act as if nothing has been done to move America forward, to progress past the days of slavery and Jim Crow. You can be absolved or your biological white racism if you just attack white people and white men. It makes you feel good in your warm gooey places to pile on. It makes you feel better. It's wrong.
God have mercy.... for we know not what we do.... or do we?
Brett Kavanaugh. Accused of a violent rape when he was a teenager. Accuser doesn't remember when, doesn't remember where, can't remember exactly who was there and who wasn't. Her only supposed witness has no recollection. No one named has any recollection. Kavanaugh is pilloried in the press and by certain members of government. Crickets.
A teenage boy wearing a MAGA hat appears in a 2 minute video with a smirk on his face. No context is given besides the word of one Native American man. This man claims this boy and his friends were harassing a group of African American people, yelling "Build the Wall", and that when he (the Native American) went to "diffuse" the situation he was blocked from being allowed to pass. The media piles on. Stars and big names pile on. One of them even says that a school shooting at this boy's high school would be acceptable. Fast forward... two full hours of video are released by the African American group in question. It shows the African Americans needlessly harassing the boys. Calling them names, telling them to go back to Europe, and other things I won't even write here. The boys, being teenage boys, yell some school cheers and maybe act a little over the top to drown out the hate being directed at them. The Native American man marches up to the boy in the video and bangs a drum, inches from his face. A wider angle shows there was plenty of room for this man to walk around the kids and he chose not to. Boy gets lawyer and lawyer takes on several people in defamation lawsuits. Crickets.
Jussie Smollett accuses 2 white men in red hats and yelling about this being MAGA country of attacking him. Kicking him, beating him, throwing a chemical substance on him and putting a rope around his neck. The also yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him. Jussie is an actor on the show Empire. Despite the host of other stories that have turned out to be hoaxes (many of them not listed here), the outrage parade starts again. Politicians, Hollywood stars, bloggers, news media, jump on this story and perpetuate the idea that this is normal. That this is now what happens in Donald Trump's America. Breaking news yesterday... the Chicago Police Department investigates, arrests, and then releases two black men. It is possible that Mr. Smollett paid these two Nigerian Extras on Empire to attack him. They actually had the red hats and the bottle with bleach. The PD knows where the rope and hats were purchase. These aren't white men, they are black men. They were found via video camera footage. They know the victim and interacted with him on the set. They are not Donald Trump supporters. One of them turned over his phone, which may show he was in contact with Mr. Smollett. Crickets.
Why did I put crickets after every incident? Because not a single one of these bandwagon jumpers has apologized after spending weeks accusing a person, group of people, or half the country of being the worst kind of people. Each one of these hoaxes, and many more not listed here, targeted a specific group of people. Wealthy white privileged male athletes. Testosterone filled men child fraternity students. Conservative white judges who just might serve on the Supreme Court. Young mostly white male catholic students. White male Donald Trump supporters.
Almost all of these stories were believed right out of the gate. Not because there was overwhelming evidence. In most of these cases there was a severe lack of evidence, or what evidence there was pointed to something far different than the story being told. Why is it that so many people are willing to believe things that have almost no basis in fact?
Here is where Amy makes people angry, because I am going to tell you what is the common thread in all of these stories (and once again, the many more like it that I haven't bothered to rehash). White men. Every single one of these stores involves white men. America has been turned on it's head.
Sixty years ago, and even less than that, the stories would have been black men, and would have been believed simply because they were black men. That's racism, by any definition. So now, let me make you increasingly angry by pointing out the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. These stories are believed because they involve white men. In every facet of our life we are told white men are the devil incarnate. They are the reason for all of society's issues. It's pushed on us in major media stories, in television shows, in movies, in books. Nothing comes without a political agenda anymore. And yes, it's a political agenda, because for the last 10 years, it's everywhere, and it's been a common theme in political campaigns. There are more racist white men now then there were 60 years ago.
How many times have you been told, or you have told someone yourself, that all white people are racist? That it's almost a biological process. White people are born racist. At least in this country they are. All men are capable of rape. We need to teach men not to rape. (I don't want to write forever, but I could take that extrapolation down a rabbit hole with every human being on the planet.) If you are a white person, and especially a white man, you have a target on your back solely because of your skin color and gender.
That my friends is the definition of racism and sexism. To believe, in your heart, from a 2 minute video clip, or a story in a magazine, or because some self-righteous prosecutor trying to win re-election tells you so, that this happened because these so-called perpetrators are white men. It's a white man. White man are privileged, they have had no major hardships, they think they are better than everyone, so of course, they must have done this awful thing. That's bias. That's racism (white) and sexism (men). It's wrong. It was wrong when it was done to black men, simply because they were black men, and it's wrong to do it white men, simply because they are white men. Two wrongs don't make a right. Morality doesn't work on the same principles as math.
We can never fix the injustices that took place in our history. You can't. It's there. It was bad. It should be remembered in the hopes that we never repeat those mistakes again. Instead, a large group of people in this country wish to act as if nothing has been done to move America forward, to progress past the days of slavery and Jim Crow. You can be absolved or your biological white racism if you just attack white people and white men. It makes you feel good in your warm gooey places to pile on. It makes you feel better. It's wrong.
God have mercy.... for we know not what we do.... or do we?
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