As you may have noticed, I've held off from posting on this story.
I have to admit, the very first short video I saw looked like it could have been the Catholic students harassing the Native American man. But I didn't comment about it. I kept doing my regular reading and tweeting, etc., and then more and more videos became available, and more information became available, and then there was a backlash against the backlash.
It turns out, for one thing, that the so-called Native American "Elder," Nathan Phillips, is not a Vietnam veteran. This Aint' Hell, the military blog, put in official requests to get government confirmation of Phillips' military service. See, "
Nathan Phillips – “Vietnam Times” Veteran." Now, though, the Washington Post is correcting its initial story on the controversy, saying in fact that Phillips did not serve in Vietnam.
It's a big deal.
On Twitter:
Okay, as you also may know, this story has just dominated Twitter for days, and for me it was overwhelming keeping up with all the different reports and hot takes. Your mileage may vary.
In any case, see Robert Stacy McCain, "
Lessons From an Online Lynching (Why #StandWithCovington Is Going Viral)."
And at Reason, Robby Soave did his homework, watching hours of video, to post a smackdown debunking over the weekend. See, "
The Media Wildly Mischaracterized That Video of Covington Catholic Students Confronting a Native American Veteran." Also, "
If You Still Think Nick Sandmann’s Smile Is Proof of Racism, You’re Seeing What You Want to See.
Neo-Neocon has been doing awesome stuff on this, but see in particular, "
The Covington chronicles: on hating the face of a teenage boy." And she's linked by Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "
NEO: Nathan Phillips and the surprise video."
Although these kind of lynch mob stories aren't new, this whole thing for me has been extremely clarifying. Twitter is a radioactive dump of hatred and lies, and as the site's run by leftists, it won't get better. I don't use any other social media, so I begrudgingly continue to use it, even though it sucks.
And of course no amount of factual truth seems to change minds in our extremely ideologically polarized era. And it's interesting, because I keep hearing people say, "talk to each other; listen to the other side." But talking to each other is only helpful if the "other side" is open to what you have to say. I work with radical leftists. They have their narrative and they don't budge. If you get on the wrong side of them, especially in any official capacity, they can be merciless, even using the power of the state to coerce compliance with the leftist agenda (the school hired lawyers to investigate me for disciplining a black student at one point). It's bad.
Check this leftist's thread for the perpetuation of the left's diabolical narrative, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary:
So again, it's been clarifying. If you're a Trump supporter leftists want to destroy you. They literally want to kill you. (See Uncle Shoes on Twitter, for example, a guy who wants to
burn down Covington Catholic High School, with all the kids inside.)
More later. (*Sigh.*)
