I don’t think of it so much as a narrative the media wants to push as much as the advertising dollar landscape has shifted and this is the product we’re getting as a result.
Digital media needs clicks and shares and for readers to keep coming back again & again. Cable needs viewers to keep tuning in and watching, again & again.
A frenzied news cycle with outrageous news brings in dollars. The media outlets need to capture clicks and viewers.
I’ve listened to some podcasts recently discussing the problem, although unfortunately the discussions have been short on solutions.
Some here have judged Smollett already. You aren’t there, you aren’t in any way connected, not to police, not to the players, not to how investigations proceed, and you are trusting 2nd (or third) hand media reports.
@Lookingforward I am not sure if you are referring to me… but all of the sources I site are actually for attribution direct quotes of either Smollett or named police officials. I also state my views aren’t conclusive but are the overlay of where facts seem to lead. Not sure how that would be shameful.
If you didn’t mean me sorry. Agreeing to disagree doesn’t make one side shameful.
It’s tertible to have been attacked and we should all be supportive of the victims.
Even if the people actually being attacked are not the ones originally thought. And are not of your political ethos.
If the actor was the victim of a hate crime that is awful.
If it was made to look like a hate crime and to make some supporters of the current President look like racist criminals, that’s awful too. Especially if was done to further demonize potentially good, hard working fellow citizens.
I think it is reasonable to hope this was a hoax. First it means that this terrible and hateful crime didn’t occur.
And if you are a reasonable person who may be conservative but not racist or a homophobe that is another reason as well.
I’m not referring to any one poster I might post directly after. Rather, that collective trend showing on this thread. In ways, some posts are feeding on others. An not ‘speculating,’ what if…, but asserting.
I have no opinion on this case yet. So I’m just pointing out the rush to judgment. That’s an issue, to me.
I agree with poster above. But I think part of the reverse rush to judgement seen is the incredible original rush to judgement.
That is was perfectly plausible that two MAGA loving racists and homophobes went out into -8 below zero weather with a noose and bleach to attack a fairly obscure actor in the middle of Chicago.
Sure it could be and should be investigated. And if true they should throw the book at those two Neanderthals.
I think it’s perfectly acceptable to use our brains and reason to decide whether a claim is believable or not. I don’t fall into the camp of ‘believe all victims’. Anyone can claim anything. People lie. Just as I didn’t think that UVA Jackie was telling the truth about being raped on broken glass without any cuts, I am skeptical about this case for reasons stated already.
Our society rewards false claims by “marginalized” people. You would have to look long and hard to find a hoaxer who has paid any substantial price for the lie. That dynamic unfortunately needs to be factored in when judging the likely veracity of a literally impossible set of "facts ". I mean, really, he fought back against two bodybuilders with a Subway sandwich in one hand and an open line to his manager on his cellphone in the other? And emerged with nary a scratch? Come on.
Just as an aside, I need to go back through the thread on the Covington Catholic kids and see if there was such concern about prejudging…
SatchelSF “Just as an aside, I need to go back through the thread on the Covington Catholic kids and see if there was such concern about prejudging…”
You should give posters like @Lookingforward the credit they are due for being remarkably consistent. This was what she said in the Covington thread:
“I don’t think some here even realize how they’re jumping to their sides in ways that inflame. For heaven’s sake, if you aren’t part of the solution, you may be part of the problem. Just look at the thread. Worst case scenarios, judgments”
Credit where credit is deserved Lookingforward! Mutual respect, civility, patience, openness to disagreement without vilification, etc are what our country needs…
Although I feel like this story sounds a little off, I certainly haven’t made any pronouncements about it and would take ZERO joy in finding out it was a hoax.
I believe that a big part of what looks like a rush to judgment (besides the odd details of this story), is that the assault was highly publicized. Smollett wasn’t just attacked and had filed a police report, but talked to the media about it, of his own choice. He politicized it, saying that it was because of his criticism of “45”. He made himself look like the strong, brave, victimized hero. And maybe he is. Giving the police all the information and access they need to investigate this would be his best option. Lawyering up and refusing to provide anything they need looks bad.
Of course people are fascinated with this. He is young, handsome and famous.
Maybe it is a sign that the race issue is maturing. It could be a sign that our society, with all its shortcoming, is responding well to racial injustice. There won’t be hoaxers in a completely unsympathetic society.
I don’t think it is ‘jumping on the victim’ to be skeptical when the facts don’t make sense. In this case, for me, it was the fact that it was so cold that night that I didn’t think two guys would be out, in an alley, just waiting for a guy to come out of the Subway store, and that guy would just happen to be gay and black and not bundled up like he was going on a trek to the Antarctic. In the UVA/Rolling Stone article, I read the article when it was first posted, before anyone questioned it, and I didn’t believe it because of the coffee table. Jackie claimed that she was pushed down on a glass coffee table and it shattered and then 7 guys raped her on top of the glass.
It was the facts that didn’t ring true to me. The first time I saw this on the news it didn’t ring true.
Except it was a stunt. My BIL lives in same building, in upscale Streeterville high rise, in camera-intense neighborhood near Navy Pier in Chicago. Unbelievably cold night made this story suspect from get-go. Plenty of cell-phone snatchings, some car-jacking, and couple of instances of gunfire at night from non-resident troublemakers in this neighborhood. Several deaths, several hospitalizations reported in past three years. But not one instance of a sandwich-toting guy “fighting off bleach’n’rope white-guy attackers” as described. Yes, he said “white guys”, even though now he’s identified his Nigerian buddies from film set. Oddly, his not losing neither phone nor wallet, nor sandwich, despite his “fighting-back” report made this seem yet weirder story.
Let’s not criticize those who thought story was fishy from start. It’s not “racism” to do so, this attack account made no sense from beginning for those folks who know location, time, weather, and practicalities.
I’ll feel sad regardless - either a young man with a bright future put it all at risk and caused all future victims to be derided, or there was a hate attack or some sort of weird attack and it turned into a media circus (brought on by the star himself, justifiably if there was an attack, opportunistically if there wasn’t.)
Not knowing Chicago nor the details, it seemed believable to me that a known gay man could be attacked at night, when the cold meant there’d be fewer witnesses. Yes people make things up but if a guy comes into a police station stating “two thugs stole my wallet and my phone” the officer would take down the complaint. I really believe we must extend this courtesy to all victims until further details emerge.
I apply this to young posters on this site even if sometimes their exploits sound a bit outlandish.
A part of me truly can’t fathom why a young star would do such a thing as stage an attack (even as the details that emerge keep shifting the story).
Uh oh. CNN is announcing that Jussie paid the two men to set up the attack… But we will see if the brothers are making up a story to protect themselves…???
I don’t recall that he addressed the race of the men, beyond saying,"“It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me … a lot more,” he said. “And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now.”
So I’m not sure if he’s assuming they were white, or just not specifying.