Will journalists apologize if their portrayal of the Covington students vs Indian Elder incident turns out to have been wildly wrong?
...Now we have the truly outrageous, horrible story of what Kant called radical evil.
A white, male, Catholic teen who had been to the pro-life march and was wearing a MAGA hat smirked at an Indian Elder who was beating a drum in his face while clad in Native garb (but white Western eyeglasses).
It took place near the Lincoln Memorial Friday just after the pro-life March.
Videos of the horrible event went viral.
Videos of the horrible event went viral.
The Washington Post, natch, made it all about President Trump.
The episode, they skirled, ‘has heaped fuel on a long-running, intense argument among abortion opponents as to whether the close affiliation of many antiabortion leaders with President Trump since he took office has led to moral decay that harms the movement.’
Huh?
Meanwhile, the boy’s high school has issued a statement of apology to the Indian Elder, Nathan Phillips, and to ‘Native Americans in general,’ whatever that means.
So far, the smirking teen has not been identified.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington apologized after videos emerged showing students from an all-male Catholic high school mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial.
STORY: bit.ly/2RV1mPK?utm_so…
Meanwhile, the boy’s high school has issued a statement of apology to the Indian Elder, Nathan Phillips, and to ‘Native Americans in general,’ whatever that means.
So far, the smirking teen has not been identified.
Doubtless he will be.
And he is in big trouble.
If the Twitter Mob had its way, he’d already have been lynched and had had his MAGA hat stuffed down his throat.
His high school is ‘investigating’ the incident and promises to take ‘appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.’
Expulsion?
Expulsion?
To listen to some of the wailing, that would be too good for the kid.
He should have his life ruined.
He should be sent, like Captain Dreyfus, to Devil’s Island for a life of penal servitude.
I know that, of all human passions, the passion of moral self-righteousness is the most delicious.
I know that, of all human passions, the passion of moral self-righteousness is the most delicious.
The problem is, the people who are the objects of our indignation often present a more complicated reality than we first assume.
Take this MAGA-hat wearing teen.
Take this MAGA-hat wearing teen.
He is presented as taunting the Indian Elder.
Just look at the video.
But wait.
A classmate has written to a local television station to give his side of the story, which is sharply at odds with the white-boy-bad version burning up the internet.
And another video, as Daniel McCarthy points out, shows the activists taunting the kids.
According to The Narrative, it was the teen who approached Phillips.
According to The Narrative, it was the teen who approached Phillips.
But according to the letter writer, the high schoolers were, as was their wont after the March for Life, gathered together cheering.
‘In the midst of our cheers,’ he writes, ‘we were approached by a group of adults led by Nathan Phillips, with Phillips beating his drum.’
‘They forced their way into the center of our group.
‘They forced their way into the center of our group.
We initially thought this was a cultural display since he was beating along to our cheers and so we clapped to the beat.
However, after multiple minutes of Mr Phillips beating his drum directly in the face of my friend . . . we became confused and started wondering what was happening.
It was not until later that we discovered they would incriminate us as a publicity stunt.
As a result, my friend faces expulsion for simply standing still and our entire school is being disparaged for a crime we did not commit.’
Uh oh, a wrinkle, a tear in The Narrative.
Uh oh, a wrinkle, a tear in The Narrative.
And the tear gets bigger.
According to press accounts, some of the students verbally abused the Indian, some chanted ‘build the wall.’
I saw neither in the clip I watched..."
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