Thursday, April 22, 2021

Demagogue first, sort through facts never

When news breaks of a tragic event in the U.S., we're usually awash in a monsoon of reckless speculation. It's apparently an unbearable burden to wait mere hours for initial facts to be released. 


Here was National Public Radio's initial story on a police shooting that occurred Tuesday evening. 


A 16-year-old Black girl was fatally shot by an officer outside her home after she called the police for help on Tuesday afternoon, according to her family.

The girl has been identified as Ma'Khia Bryant by her aunt, Hazel Bryant.

Bryant allegedly called officers at about 4:30 p.m. local time when a group of "older kids" threatened her with assault, her aunt told Ohio Statehouse News Bureau reporter Andy Chow. She did not elaborate on the nature of the threat.

The Columbus Police Department could not say on Tuesday whether Bryant was the one to call for assistance before she was shot.

Bryant was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, where she later died.


Later in the story, some clarity is provided as to why the officer shot Ms. Bryant.


Columbus Police showed (body cam footage) a second time in slow motion during Tuesday night's news conference. (Interim Chief of Police Michael) Woods said the video shows Bryant holding a knife as she pushes two girls. He said police believe she is attempting to stab both girls during the fight.





The body came footage shows pretty clearly that Ms. Bryant was about to plunge a knife into another girl when police fired upon her. 


Video from a neighbor's security camera was even more definitive. This includes audio of the assailant declaring "I'm gonna stab the f--k outta you."





Unfortunately, this didn't placate the proverbial mob on social media. 


Sure, you had the obligatory garbage takes from Twitter users who have no avatar and/or less than double digit followers. But it was the verified users (aka "blue checkmarks") who put forth some of the most stupefying reactions (Allahpundit at Hot Air complied a few). Hell, National Review's Philip Klein even compiled evidence of a new political movement - The Let-Teenagers-Knife-Fight Caucus. Some would seem to imply that this is commonplace among kids much like good ol' fashioned "rasslin', " hence cops oughta just let kids be kids.


Unfortunately some of the rhetoric can devolve from bizarre to downright dangerous. Here is the initial reaction from NBA superstar LeBron James' Twitter feed. 





The tweet (now deleted) contained a picture of the officer who shot Bryant (I deliberately cropped it out here). 

With anti-police sentiment at a boiling point, especially in light of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin recently being convicted of second degree murder, this was incitement by James. Pure and simple. As such, LeBron's advisors likely got ahold of him posthaste to explain the ramifications, thus resulting in his deleting the tweet. 

LeBron again took to Twitter in an to attempt to explain his outrage. 




Soooo....was it Bronny's preference to see a black person killed by a knife-wielding black person? I'm not really certain that's the game-changing moral distinction everyone thinks it is. However, it would have ensured that breathless media coverage would've ceased to exist. 


In the end, Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire reminds us where the priorities should be. 





That would require significant introspection, a trait which would fly in the face of our victimization culture. Not many folks seem to eager to upset that applecart. 

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