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Earplugs, Rubber Bullets
Yes, everyone, you’re making too big a deal out of it.
Mollie, I love you, but you’re overthinking this:
The thing about not knowing that earplugs are not rubber bullets is that it makes it really hard to take any other reporting about police tactics, much less guns, seriously. It’s one of those unfortunately boneheaded errors that destroys credibility. Heck, it makes me wonder if Reilly has never been to either a gun range or a concert, where such earplugs are commonly found.
Common sense says it’s impossible, or vanishingly improbable, that an adult American has never seen earplugs before. This guy may be so effete he’s never fired a squirt gun, but I’m sure he’s been on an airplane—he got there somehow, right?—and every airport convenience store sells earplugs.
The poor guy was just too tired. It happens to the best of us. I’m sure he’s mortified. It would be a kindness to cut him some slack.
I agree. That’s why there used to be editors, or fact-checkers, or people who were not any of the above who decided whether or not to run the story after the sometimes rather compromised reporter on the scene sent it in.
Now, any clown, no matter his qualifications or condition at the time, can command an audience of millions in a nanosecond. Mark Twain (or someone) once said something like “sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Words to live by in the 21st century.
Why not? How often do you use ear plugs? I’ve worked in factories that require them, and I use them when I go shooting (infrequently). Other than that I haven’t needed them. I flew across the country this summer, but I didn’t have a problem with the airplane noise, and I didn’t go into the airport convenience stores because I know they’re a rip off.
And even when you’re shopping–well, maybe not you, but my eyes slide over everything that I don’t need. I was in a walgreens a couple weeks ago looking for toiletries. I can’t tell you a single thing in that store other than stuff I was actively looking for. And some stuff I considered and declined when they didn’t sell the thing I was looking for against all reason. The information slides into the “not my problem right now” buffer and disappears.
I’m a fan of kindness — I’m a fan of anything that improves our reputation.
However, this guy could do himself a huge favor and grow a self-deprecating sense of humor. When you find yourself on the wrong side of “mortified,” it’s best to laugh along. Not that I have any experience with this…
Wait, wait, wait. This is your defense of him? Were I the prosecutor, I’d stand up and say “the State rests.”
Incidentally, when I saw the picture, I didn’t know what they were (the last foam earplugs I used looked more like colored marshmellows than candy corn). But not knowing what they were, the proper question is “what are these?” I don’t blame him for not recognizing them as earplugs -I blame him for assuming they were rubber bullets and tweeting as such. That’s not being tired. Tired is “What are these” when he should recognize them. This was massive incompetence.
More proof that Ryan Reilly is not only a twit, but a dangerous twit.
Exactly. I’m cross-posting my own comment from a different thread (an excellent thread by Genferei, might I add):
I think it would have been easy enough to ask his boss, ask a local ordnance expert, call the PR department at the Ferguson police station, call his local police station, or ask the google, before posting the photo on twitter with a suggestive caption. He was not asking “what are these?” but rather seeking confirmation of an egregious error.
Really? It’s too much to ask for a reporter not to spasmodically tweet a question out to the universe because he’s tired? Nothing like setting the lowest possible bar for expectations.
Secondly, the question reveals the assumptions he was making – he didn’t Google “rubber bullets”, but could have before he posted. I realize fatigue after a flight ‘n stuff is a real challenge, but hey, 10 seconds on a laptop and he’s suddenly not an idiot.
Can anyone confirm…?
This is not an example of a journalist having a dumb moment. This is an example of a journalist rushing to judgement, eager to have his worst suspicions (i.e. greatest hopes) confirmed.
It’s also a presumption of guilt. “Alleged this” and “alleged that” until it comes to the police.
HAHA. Also, dittoheadADT, I like your avatar.
I believe you’re identifying yourself as someone capable of ursine veterinary care. Can you confirm?
Oh, wait . . . .
Ha! Good one. I’m not observant enough to have noticed either interpretation.
I’m surprised he didn’t think they were free contraceptive sponges.
After all, isn’t free birth control the answer to everything?
Remember the man who flew a plane into IRS offices in Texas? Some early reporting went something like this: “A man named Andrew Stack flew a plane into IRS offices today. We’ve found an ‘Andrew Stack’ listed on Tea Party rosters. We don’t know if it’s the same man. ”
Can anyone confirm…?
MMPadre is right. The corrupt American “mainstream” media have NO desire to confirm anything. They only want to tar and smear the Right and deceive the public.
If Ryan J. Reilly wanted to “confirm” whether the objects were rubber bullets, he only needed to bend down and pick one up.
What? He wasn’t there? So he’s reporting on someone else’s picture? Great job, Ryan. Do you even know whether that picture is from Fergurson (sic)?
Can anyone confirm?
Same thing happened with the Aurora movie theater shooting and James Holmes.
Mark, I think I stand corrected. I knew it happened in a western state but all I could remember was the Gabby Giffords attack, and I knew it wasn’t Loughner’s name attributed to a Tea Partier, so I assumed it must’ve been the Texas IRS attack (even though that wasn’t as far west as I remembered). So thanks for the correction.
I think what happened with the Texas IRS attack (and the Boston Marathon bombings) is that the media and the Left (but I repeat myself) just assumed they had to have been done by the Right, considering the target of the former and the date of the latter, and reported accordingly. In both cases they were dead-wrong…but no mea culpas were ever issued.
Nope. You were right. That’s what the press does. That’s what it’s for.
Thanks for finding that, genferei. Apparently on the Right the only times we’re wrong is when we think we’re wrong.
Wait, you mean they’re not condoms?
Claire,
I was going ot take your advice and cut the guy some slack and then I read this piece by J Christian Adams.
Now I think he got about a 10th of what he deserved.