Remember when Jussie Smollett reported being attacked in a horrific anti-gay, anti-black hate crime

[jberryhill]

67. "many people here were very quick to question Smollett's story"

So what?

Really. So what?

It’s an internet discussion forum which frequently has discussions of a range of current events.

People speculate and share their opinions of those events.

Sometimes those opinions and impressions differ.

Yes, some people thought it was odd that two people would be hanging out at 2am in arctic cold weather in the general vicinity away from someone’s residence for a targeted attack on the off chance they went out at that hour. These people had the temerity to express themselves ona discussion forum.

So effing what?

Some folks hailed Snowden and Assange as heroes, for example. Some didn’t. Maybe some still do. So what?

Some thought Avenatti was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Some didn’t. Maybe some still do. So what?

I’m sure there are people here who KNOW who killed Jon Benet Ramsey.

This isn’t a courtroom. No one here is going to be on a jury in the case nor will they influence a jury.

Who knows, maybe more facts will come to light and there will be another dramatic turn of events.

Stuff happens. People have opinions, speculations, questions, guesses, and so on. Often, they differ.

You should have been here for the Duke lacrosse thing. That was a real rollercoaster ride.

It’s a shame that people tend to use the infinite and bizarre variety of human events involving real people simply as fodder for one narrative or another, but people are going to do that too.

But insisting “thou shalt not discuss a news item, nor form an impression about it until all the facts are in” on an Internet discussion forum is pretty much pointless.

I still don’t understand the point of the OP in this thread since I was attending a conference when this story broke and don’t remember who said what. Nor do I care. If I ever get so hard up that I keep track of “who thought what about X on DU” then I will have truly run out of things which matter.

If someone’s opinions or way of expressing themselves keeps you up at night, there’s an ignore button. I have a very select list, which tends to rotate, since people on my ignore list tend to go bye-bye before long. But I often find discussingor arguing with people whose opinions differ from mine to be enlightening. What’s truly amazing is that there are people who disagree with me who somehow manage to STILL disagree with me, even after I’ve unequivocally set them straight. Hard to believe, really.