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Covington, Buzzfeed, and the End of Patience as a Virtue in America
The ability of social media to elevate the smallest of issues into national controversies has been well documented. But the past few days has done more to show the ability of social media in mutating stories into false narratives that do damage to the nation as a whole.
On Saturday, a group of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky was on the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial, part of their trip to the nation’s capital to participate in the March for Life. They were met by numerous Progressive activists, including a number of African American Black Hebrew Israelite protesters, and several Native American activists. Among those activists were Omaha elder Nathan Phillips, who confronted the students while banging on his drum. The students then stood their ground and were later accused of taunting him and other participants. Philips later recounted that he became upset while watching the Black Hebrew Israelites make speeches. He stated that more and more Covington students arrived and were then “in the process of attacking these four black individuals,” according to Philips.
The story was quickly latched on to by mainstream media accounts on Twitter and elsewhere, and the story exploded from there.
If only that had been the full story.
As is the norm these days, more and more videos of the incident trickled out in the hours following the initial mob fury on Twitter. Slowly, one thing became more and more apparent: the story that the media had latched on, as told by Nathan Phillips, was at the very least inaccurate, and at worst, grossly disingenuous.
In an update on Reason.com Sunday, Robby Soave describes the different picture the new evidence, in totality, paints of what actually occurred:
Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.
Phillips put himself between the teens and the black nationalists, chanting and drumming as he marched straight into the middle of the group of young people. What followed was several minutes of confusion: The teens couldn’t quite decide whether Phillips was on their side or not, but tentatively joined in his chanting. It’s not at all clear this was intended as an act of mockery rather than solidarity.
One student did not get out of Phillips way as he marched, and gave the man a hard stare and a smile that many have described as creepy. This moment received the most media coverage: The teen has been called the product of a “hate factory” and likened to a school shooter, segregation-era racist, and member of the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea what he was thinking, but portraying this as an example of obvious, racially-motivated hate is a stretch. Maybe he simply had no idea why this man was drumming in his face, and couldn’t quite figure out the best response? It bears repeating that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.
And that’s all there is to it. Phillips walked away after several minutes, the Black Hebrew Israelites continued to insult the crowd, and nothing else happened.
This is another example in a long line of embarrassing examples in recent years where journalists, whose primary job is to verify and prove the facts and truths of the situation, failed totally in their mission. CNN, the Washington Post, and other mainstream outlets led with the story, without ever truly verifying it. They quickly accepted a narrative they were biased into believing (that MAGA hat wearing white teenagers clearly were racists and the instigators) instead of spending even a few moments interviewing those same teenagers and getting a second viewpoint on what was clearly a contentious interaction on the National Mall.
And before I go too far out on a limb, I want to quickly admit I fully admit I don’t know if this is the full story as well. We could absolutely wake up 24 hours from now, and have a new narrative for the story.
But the inability of the mainstream press to do their due diligence in stories like this has become a cultural epidemic. In the 12 hours between the beginning of this controversy to the point where a factual push back started (started not by journalists, but average Twitter users who saw flaws in the initial story), people on Twitter, mostly from the political Left, started doxxing the students involved, started calling for violence against these kids, and were voicing the intention of activists to protest at their school, hopes that the students would be expelled. The intensity of the anger even caused the Covington local Catholic diocese to put out a statement denouncing the events, apologizing to Philips, and promising swift punishment to their students…punishment now that seems to be either unnecessary or in need of severe tempering.
If this had been the only episode this week where the media had rushed to judgment and fallen flat on its face, that would be bad enough. But this was at the very least the second episode of such incompetence in the last 24 hours.
The previous story had to do with Buzzfeed’s apparent blockbuster report this week, stating that they had rock solid, documented proof that President Donald Trump told his then lawyer Michael Cohen to lie in testimony to Congress, regarding his investments in Russia.
If true, this would be the first clear evidence that Trump had committed impeachable offenses; offenses that even his allies in the GOP would be hard-pressed to ignore.
For 24 hours, the liberal news networks poured over the various possibilities. Would Trump resign? Would Democrats impeach him in the next few weeks? Who were the Republican Senators who would cross party lines to convict Trump in the Senate, and oust him from office? The possibilities were endless.
Only one problem: the story seems untrue; or at the very least, flawed.
24 hours into the liberal political orgy, no less than our liberal hero of the moment, special counsel Robert Mueller, poured the largest bucket of ice water in recent political memory over the entire story.
Mueller’s office, in an unprecedented move, publicly rebuked the Buzzfeed story:
“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate.”
From the normally tight-lipped Mueller probe, who has been reticent to leak any detail of their investigation whatsoever, such a statement is profound, and had to be taken with a great amount of seriousness.
Moving past the facts of this case, the reality once again was journalists marching far out on a limb to promote a story that they themselves had not verified.
Both the Covington story above and the Buzzfeed story below illustrate this point; a point that time and again gets our media into trouble. The failure of journalists to rely on their own reporting skills, and their own ability to verify facts and details of stories, undermines their credibility.
The Buzzfeed story, because of its specifics, would be far harder for most journalists to verify; but even in that case, a little bit of patience before latching on to a story accusing the President of the United States of lying to obstruct justice might be well founded. In fact, a wise man would argue that the larger the accusation, the more reticent journalists should be in blindly accepting the basic underlying facts of the story.
The story about the Covington students, on the other hand, just simply shows the gross incompetence of our media personalities these days. Multiple outlets rushed to interview Mr. Phillips, in their absolute certainty that he was the victim. The possibility that a bunch of white teenagers bearing MAGA hats may not have been the culprits never dawned on them. And their blindness to that possibility prevented them from taking the simple step of calling these students and asking for their version of events. A short call would have allowed them to receive the videos that we now all have, that undermine the story Mr. Phillips initially told.
Of course, much of the blame for all this is the influence social media has not only on our journalistic class but on all of us as individuals. I fully admit that I sometimes react to stories far quicker than I would have if I never spent time on Twitter. We all must bear responsibility for those actions, which do a lot to undermine the fact-checking process in our society.
But journalists must also carry the majority of the blame. Their very raison d’etre is to be the professional class that verifies truth and facts objectively, with a calm, rational approach that puts aside emotional and personal interests in the cause for truth. They keep failing in this regard, and thus, continue to undermine the very profession they are trying to defend.
In this sense, our ancestors understood the reality better than we do. Patience used to be a commonly accepted virtue. Leo Tolstoy stated, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” In our modern society, we have given up both in lieu of speed and publicity. The rapid turnabout on social media undermines the wisdom garnered by being patient. Maybe all of us, especially journalists, should start to learn a little humbleness, and once again claim that virtue for our own benefit.
Published in General
Of course it does. The doxxing, Twitter-mobbing and harassment (including death threats) are a separate issue to me, though. My question is, how does a story like this (which LED to the horrible harassment you’re talking about) even get legs? Literally nothing happened, other than some yelling and drum-banging. It wasn’t exactly Chicago 1968 or Tiananmen Square.
I think there are a lot of people out there who make money (or gain fame) by keeping us at each others’ throats, and the “white patriarchy” thing is just a tool in their toolbox. If we had real problems in the US, stuff like this would never get traction.
There is an attorney who has offered to represent the kids in suits against the media. Any one who does not correct and retract their story. Saying the situation is “more complex” than initially thought may not be enough.
National Review has removed the post and the author has an apology up on The Corner.
@cdor thanks for sharing that video — I saw it this morning. I don’t know if I could have been as composed as this kid with someone beating a drum within 10 inches of my face…
This event reminds of Rodney King video cut. The full video did not show the drugged-high King repeatedly tased and ordered to stay down before he got up and lunged at the officers surrounding him, who, finally responded in the beating shown around the world.
There’s a red hat.
I am not sure that the Editors of National Review fully accept your view here. They have put up joint article outlining the events and apologizing to the kids and to their readers.
“In this business, all we can do is own up to mistakes when they happen. We apologize to our readers and especially to the Covington students, who didn’t need us piling on”
The Editors are owning this as a failure that they all feel the need to apologize for.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/covington-catholic-nathan-phillips-affair/
A leftist judge will likely find them to be “limited purpose public figures” because they wore MAGA hats and/or participated int the pro-life rally and then decline to find “actual malice”.
Finally an actual apology. Better late than never. Good piece.
My lack of patience is with the ostensible leaders of the right.
It is the year 2019. At this point, I don’t expect better from the media, the left, or the agents provocateur. This is what they do. Nathan Phillips had a plan. He saw an opportunity, he ran with it, and afterwards he ran with the footage to the Washington Post, who he knew would believe it without question, and who might run the story without adequately fact-checking it.
It is the year 2019. This is not the first time it has happened. It isn’t even the first time it’s happened in the last 6 months. The Kavanaugh Hearings were in September. The BuzzFeed debacle was less than 24 hours old. And yet how many of the “leaders” of the right fell for it, caved, and capitulated in the first 12 hours? National Review was just the one that pissed me off enough to talk about it -but I saw it all over from the people who desire to lead the Right -now or post Trump. And now they are making apologies. I suppose better late than never.
But it is the year 2019. They should not be getting caught flat-footed like this. They should not be flying off the handle like this. This is what the left, the media, and their activists do. They have been doing it for years. This should not come as a surprise.
And those who believe they should be leaders on the Right should know this. Furthermore, they owe the activists on the right at least enough support and benefit of the doubt to keep their mouths shut for 24 hours to see if anything else comes out. Twitter Randos and Mike Cernovich should not have been the people who embarrassed the Right’s leaders into proper behavior. Frankly, an embarrassment of this magnitude is the reason true leaders fall on their swords. Frankovich can spend a few years cleaning toilets at a homeless shelter, maybe then he can be allowed back into a position of authority.
Until then -you know who didn’t cock this up spectacularly? Donald Trump.
Won’t that be a little harder to do in the face of the media members “doxxing” people, wishing their death and wanting to punch them in the face. The ran a bad story and called for violence based on it.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS760US760&ei=A0tHXMLeK_PojgSaioPIAQ&q=cnn+commentators+wants+to+punch+covington&oq=cnn+commentatots+wants+to+punch+covin&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.33i10i160.13105.13886..15913…0.0..0.121.469.4j1……0….1..gws-wiz…….0i71j33i10i299.0fjvD8f1HSQ
George Zimmerman filed a libel suit against a newspaper a couple years after his debacle. He had moved to a new city and a news org wrote a piece on where he was currently living.
The courts shot it down because Zimmerman was a public figure.
Thing is, that’s supposed to refer to people who willingly lead public lives. He did not become a public figure because of anything he did, but what the media did.
So no, I do not have confidence the courts will rule these boys as private figures.
It’s an upside down world. These kids were excoriated for wearing a MAGA hat. Those women were praised for wearing female genitalia hats. Remember?
They better apologize or their readership would halve.
Lawyers advise their clients never to apologize because it’s an admission of guilt. This is one of the many ways they make things worse between the parties. So many bad situations could have ended or at least not escalated if only someone had said “I’m sorry” and meant it.
I do wonder just how much self-reflection is happening in the offices of places like the Washington Post and the New York Times (to say nothing of the execrable Daily News), CNN and other left-wing media outlets over this incident that they got horribly, spectacularly wrong, and continue to get wrong.
I’m guessing . . . none?
They will just move on to the next slander.
I think the kid was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do other than smile at the man to show respect for his elders. Plus, remember that he was surrounded by cameras. I’ll just bet his heart was beating wildly at that moment not knowing what was coming next and hoping like crazy that their bus would hurry up and get there.
Every white person in America knows, from adolescence on, that in any confrontation he has with a non-white person outside of a playing field he will be presumed to be the “bad guy.”
That’s the reason why so many of the alleged “hate crimes” of recent years have turned out to be hoaxes.
Nick Sandmann knew it. So does Goldwaterwoman. So does every white cop. So does James Lileks. So does Nick Frankovich. So does Stina. So does Gary Robbins. So does Peter Robinson. So does everyone reading these words.
So does John Derbyshire.
What enrages conservatives toward the pundits on my list of “Kowtow Conservatives” is that they repress that knowledge and, weirdly, act as if it isn’t true.
We can’t have leaders, opinion or otherwise, like that any longer.
In all fairness to the left wing, there were some on the right side of the aisle who failed to view the entire video and saw only the kid smiling at the Indian beating the drum. I paid no attention to it at all last weekend since there were some very important NFL games and controversial calls there. It wasn’t until Monday when all the brouhaha over the cable channels made me want to see the entire video to see what it was all about. It took some searching to actually view other than snippets of the drum thing. What our entire press needs is more reporters with intellectual curiosity and who want to dig deep to get the whole story. I am always struck on the Sunday political shows by the pundits who opine quoting other reporters rather than personal knowledge.
Potential defamation action against Phillips.
I think it was already back in the 80s when I first started to notice that a lot of so-called reporting that was heard on broadcast media consisted of reporters interviewing other reporters. Of course, a lot of these Q&A sessions were obviously staged. That activilty fosters a lot of bad habits that don’t improve the state of journalism.