General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy response to David Brooks and to all other Covington defenders
I posted this initially as a response to David Brooks' column in The New York Times today, a column melodramatically titled, "How We Destroy Lives Today."
New York, NY 56m ago
Having watched both the original video, and the video that the supporters of these kids claim is a vindication of them, I see nothing in the latter that in any way justifies their behavior. The claim is that the boys had been provoked by another group. Perhaps they were, but. . . provoked to do what, exactly?
They claim that the young Mr. Sandmann was "standing his ground." Really? Against what challenge? What I see in the video are two groups, one of the high school students, who are milling about, and the other the native American man and his group, who seem to be moving through the park in the course of their protest, and this is what brings the two into close proximity. Normally, in a free-flowing public setting such as this, there's an automatic give and take of space as people try to move through such a crowd. But for this young man, any such "give" is apparently too much to ask. And so this young man chooses to maintain nearly chest-to-chest contact, his face a foot from the man's face, staring directly at him and smirking. The student has said he was smiling to demonstrate that he and his friends were friendly and accepting. Sorry, but the totality of his smirk, his stare, and his chest-to-chest stance constitutes a body language the meaning of which is well known to any male over about the age of 8. It was clearly an attempt to intimidate, and those kids deserve to be called out on it.
I think there are a lot of very well-meaning people who have been hoodwinked by a clever right-wing spin machine!
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)It was pretty angry - we will see
I saw yours and it is well done.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)I will look forward to reading yours as well!
dhill926
(16,339 posts)I've been exposed to kids like this. They're fucking assholes. Their helicopter parents are fucking assholes. All they are doing, is teaching their kids how to respond to public scorn for their asshole actions. Unfortunately, sometimes the PR works. Fuck every goddamn one of them. You better believe when they're home, out of the public eye...they are indeed smirking...
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)And kids like this learn very early on how to explain their actions in such a way as to create plausible deniability!
onecaliberal
(32,861 posts)Way of their asshole kid.
SharonAnn
(13,773 posts)They were there for the sole purpose of promoting male control of female bodies.
Teenagers bused in to demand adult women be subjected to forced child-bearing.
They weren't on a field trip to the Smithsonian."
(They were there to harass people they don't agree with).
Charlotte Little
(658 posts)I couldn't agree more. I watched ALL of the videos as well. This one really boiled my blood. The kid switching out his white hat for a MAGA hat gives it all away.
Link to tweet
The teens knew exactly what they were doing and were enjoying it. The chaperones were either MIA or encouraging this.
Believe your lying eyes (and ears).
aeromanKC
(3,322 posts)"I think there are a lot of very well-meaning people who have been hoodwinked by a clever right-wing spin machine!"
They are neither very well-meaning or hoodwinked.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts). . . including even a friend of mine who is an ardent feminist.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)K&R.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)D_Master81
(1,822 posts)They had MAGA hats and were having their lives turned upside down. Most on the right wanted to believe the media had it wrong so when their side produced some new videos and providing a new narrative, they ate it up b/c thats what they wanted the reality of the situation to be.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts). . . and by falling all overthemselves to apologize for having run the original story, they are feeding into the right's ridiculous persecution complex.
Response to markpkessinger (Reply #18)
geralmar This message was self-deleted by its author.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Beartracks
(12,814 posts)Haven't seen many videos. Phone connection kinda sucky.
===============
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)... The boys were apparently provoked by four members of the Black Hebrew Israelites, who shouted racial slurs at them as they disembarked their bus.
The right is trying to claim that this somehow vindicates them in their harassment of the Native American man, because they boys were somehow "confused" as to who was whom. But watching the various videos, I see no confusion whatsoever. I see a group of rowdy boys who knew exactly what they were doing, and were enjoying every minute of it.
Beartracks
(12,814 posts)"Boys will be boys " doesn't always work in the real world. Hopefully.
Thanks for filling me in.
========
regnaD kciN
(26,044 posts)As I posted elsewhere, the extended video provides context but not a shred of exoneration unless you share the particularly-white viewpoint that being harassed by members of one minority group entitles you to take it out on an uninvolved person from a completely-different minority group.
markpkessinger
(8,396 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)saying all media gets it wrong and tens of millions will believe him, calling the drum a "war drum" and mocking nathan phillips.....
in much of america limbaugh fills in the context
as in just now he praised the kids for doing nothing wrong and being model citizens, the kind of kids all americans should want their kids to be like - white
he says this with his mocking voice whenever he referred to nathan phillips - "ancient indian hero" etc
from a quick sonix.ai transcription
attacking 'liberal' media using a moking voice, pretending to be the 'liberal' media
: "Oh even if we got the original story wrong we can still see that this kid is a racist bigot white supremacist" ---- ----they've (media) got to do damage control somehow in the modern era. all this began with the Trayvon Martin story. That whole incident and it's just continued to descend.
everybody has seen the kid standing there and he's smiling as this scrawny aging an elderly Indian Vietnam War vet is pounding on his war drum and there were stories about how the kid was smirking and was a smart ass and was taunting and his real crime was that he was white and his second real crime was that he was wearing a Make America Great Again Red Cap
well these kids or models of composure they were models of restraint they were polite they were respectful they were everything that never Trumpers say Trump is, everything that we need in leadership and they're being thrown overboard and they're the ones who deserve the accolades and his whole encountered they're the ones who were well-mannered they're the ones we hope become future leaders in this country not this ragtag bunch of protesters surrounding him they were subjected I don't know how many people know this these teenagers were subjected to some of the most vile racist homophobic verbal abuse that you can imagine they were called the F word you know slang for homosexual they were called murderers they were clever it was said they are what's wrong with life you should have been aborted because they were on a pro-
and so on
:
These kids were the model of proper parenting. They behaved impeccably properly they were respectful.
: They were not confrontational. Everything they did was designed to lower the temperature of this entire thing. They didn't do one thing provocative and yet that's what the media is now trying to say oh that kid might not have done anything but look at his face.