There was a big fuss a few days ago about a video of teenagers looking like they were harassing a Native American senior. I only saw like a 20 second clip of a kid with an obnoxious expression on his face standing right in front of the man, and the man being interviewed later and tearing up as he recalled the teens were chanting "build the wall".
But it turns out the situation was more complicated: there was a third group, called the "Black Israelites" who were yelling racist slurs and inflammatory comments (I guess they are known for this). So the situation was already tense and confused before the Native American man stepped in to the picture.
I think the situation just shows how quick I and others are to judge. I felt pretty indignant toward the teen, and apparently the online reaction was quite over the top. Regardless of whether or not it was deserved, I'm just left wondering why it is so easy to judge and condemn people who I don't even know. And additionally this shows me how powerful it is to omit details and context in order to distort a picture. I think it's probably instinctual for us to rush to snap judgments, and this is a disaster when mixed with social media and news outlets who are literally monetizing our attention.
On January 23 2019 04:29 Starlightsun wrote: I think the situation just shows how quick I and others are to judge. I felt pretty indignant toward the teen, and apparently the online reaction was quite over the top. Regardless of whether or not it was deserved, I'm just left wondering why it is so easy to judge and condemn people who I don't even know. And additionally this shows me how powerful it is to omit details and context in order to distort a picture. I think it's probably instinctual for us to rush to snap judgments, and this is a disaster when mixed with social media and news outlets who are literally monetizing our attention.
imo, the mainstream media botched this. 1981's "Absence of Malice" nicely illustrates the flaws in how main stream media operates. The hatred for media and journalists started long before Trump started calling CNN "fake news".
"You don't write the truth..."
Notice the "The New Yorker" framed picture on Sally Field's wall.... as Paul Newman enters and says "you don't write the truth".
It was distorted, but at the core you got a crowd of kids wearing MAGA hats, doesn't mean they are stupid, means they are not being human, human's life will be altered or right down disappear and we haven't reached quite the state of humanity we could have had with millenniums of thinking, you look at our technology, you look at the human conditions in the world and the wealth, and you clearly see that we far from being Saints... Could be interesting to see how many people adhere to a religion advocating for an holy and benevolent attitude compared to what we are seeing everyday.
That picture wasn't telling everything, but that kid was in the wrong anyway...
He was in the wrong because he has different opinions than winlessplayer. That isn't allowed obviously. I did find it pretty disgusting at how badly the media + online sources framed this off an edited video, condemning this kid to so much harassment. I hope they sue and win.
I think this got latched onto so quickly because of their hats, and the fact that the media did an epic fail by believing Buzzfeed to be a reputable source. As soon as I saw Buzzfeed was reporting it, I raised an eyebrow because I was like "Of all the news sources to leak this to... you chose Buzzfeed? Why not the New York Times?" but I was like "Okay, let's see how this plays out."
The news was full-on "IF THIS IS TRUE" mode for almost 24 hours. Then they're like "Oh shit, oh shit" when it's a bunch of bologna, and have to come up with a story about how Trump is bad. Turns out, this made them look even worse! There was no chant of "build the wall", nobody called Mr. Phillips anything racist, and Mr. Phillips was NOT a Vietnam vet.
Here's the problem: The people in the media have such huge egos that they can't stand Donald Trump calling them "fake" and "failing", so they will do anything to discredit him. That's really stupid, and it's going to backfire every time, but they keep doing it. They keep looking for this "smoking gun" but can't find it! Instead of focusing on how the President's policies are nonsensical and often change regularly, they're praying to God that the Justice Department indicts him, and keep speculating on all the ways it could happen.
I was judged to be the creepiest man of January on TL and now I post just after Nina which adds to my creepiness level substantially
But I don't mind much, I never expected much from a public forum where people of all masses gather together and make an explosive mixture of judgements and condemnations.
On January 25 2019 07:36 Jerubaal wrote: Sorry, how exactly were they in the wrong?
There is no version of events where they are in the right...
Bunch of guys get caught acting like dicks. One of them then hires a PR firm, that discovers that there is some context to them acting like dicks (namely, some other dudes acting like dicks in the vicinity). PR firm then spins the other dudes acting like dicks until people somehow forget that the guys were acting like dicks in the first place. Guy gets to go on the national stage give a softball interview so that we all forget that he was acting like a dick, and then we'll uncover some exceptionally important context: that Native American dude, he had a record in the 1970s, brrrrr!!! That probably means he was being a dick as well!!!
This is why video won't change anything. People can literally tell you what's happening in a video and you will believe it, regardless of the video.
I'm sorry put that's pretty out of touch on your part. If you choose to believe wearing MAGA hats makes you a valid target of harassment, you might as well claim women are in the wrong if they wear skimpy clothing and get harassed. Everyone was the asshole here.
Also, can you blame the kid for trying to clear his name? Geez. So much stuff actually going wrong in the world, and people wonder why actual terrible things aren't cared about.
All these deleted tweets and retractions are hilarious. The smartest news orgs issued retractions quickly.
Here is a light-hearted, comedic look at Canada's long standing hatred of the media. After long time CTV News Anchorman Lloyd Robertson refuses to issue a retraction the Mayor takes the law into his own hands. It isn't just the Republicans hating CNN. + Show Spoiler +
you have to wonder if this comedy would be considered inciting violence against the media in today's hyper sensitive atmosphere.
On January 26 2019 01:16 Nebuchad wrote: There is no version of events where they are in the right...
EPT
It isn't just the Republicans hating CNN. 
