When did we devolve to media misleading and half the population believing? When did we descend into destroying lives simply because a false narrative says we should? When did we stop thinking and examining on our own? I have my suspicions, and it appears to have been at least over a decade now. But here we go yet again.
Reckless, damaging rhetoric that works hard to immediately destroy individuals, often targeting white males or Law Enforcement (but not always), without basis in fact, is not only wrong, but also outright and deliberate lying. But these people don’t seem to care. Who are “these people” that I refer to? Simple: Those hosts and so-called analysts of programming on MSNBC, CNN, and “The View”, and the last two Democrat Presidents of the United States. I grew up listening to Walter Cronkite. He was respectful, non-judgmental, honest, clear, and concise. However, these days the media, their analysts, and our government leaders have no regard for delivering facts; only delivering stinging rhetoric that is more and more often two things: Gas-lighting and … False.
The latest case: Kyle Rittenhouse. White kid. 17 years old when the incident in Kenosha happened in 2020. His trial was carried in almost its entirety by the much-maligned Fox. The coverage was followed by Right and Left-leaning prosecutors and defense attorneys’ analysis. They all, on both sides, provided good points and reasonable, objective opinions. On multiple shows. All on that network. What none of them did was provide labeling of Rittenhouse or those he shot. What all of them did (including the Harvard Emeritus Law Professor) was agree that the evidence presented pointed to only one possible verdict. And they were all correct.
Switch networks and I heard Joy Behar refer to him as a White Supremacist and Racist. Joy Reid was just as bad, if not worse. I heard multiple CNN and MSNBC analysts label him as a Gun-Toting White Supremacist. He was also referred to as a Racist who attacked a peaceful crowd, unprovoked. I even heard Biden refer to him using the same white supremist terminology when Biden was a candidate and also now as POTUS. Biden even said he was angry at the verdict this week. And they all mis-represented what actually happened. All of them.
Did any single person that offered these opinions actually watch the videos presented as evidence? Did they even bother to listen to the prosecution’s own witnesses, including one of the ones shot by Rittenhouse, when he admitted he threatened him and pointed his gun at Rittenhouse’s head before being shot? Did they listen to any of the evidence of those people threatening to kill him, grabbing his barrel, kicking and hitting him across the back of his head with a skateboard? Most of these people were the so-called experts doing the analysis, so they claimed? But the bottom line is no. They wanted to paint Rittenhouse as an evil white supremacist racist. Never mind he only shot white folks, and is a supporter of BLM (before and after the night of the incident) while also a supporter of Blue Lives Matter as well.
These people lied to their audiences, to gas-light them. If you watched any of them and believed without seeking the truth, you were played. Again. Don’t take it from me – go WATCH the actual evidence being presented.
Of course, the multi-racial, multi-gender jury acquitted Rittenhouse on all charges. They judged based on facts. Period. Now Rittenhouse’s legal team is preparing antidefamation lawsuits against those networks.
Remember Nick Sandmann? The young kid touring Washington DC with his church school group in 2019? Videos showed him in the face of an African American war vet who was protesting. Then it was off to the races for CNN, MSNBC, and various talk show hosts, saying he was chanting racial slurs and labeling him as a racist, among other things. Nick was 16 and wearing a MAGA hat, waiting for the bus to pick his group up at the Lincoln Memorial. But then a very few other networks got access to the WHOLE video. Nick was standing there and was approached and ridiculed by the protestor, and Nick stood his ground and said and did nothing. Nothing. But the damage to this kid was done. He later sued those networks for defamation and won a large, undisclosed settlement. Because they lied and misrepresented, to light up their audience.
But does this pattern sound familiar? Hum. Think back to Ferguson. When Brown approached Officer Wilson in his patrol car and reached for the officer’s weapon and a skirmish ensued that resulted the weapon discharging in the officer’s car, and then Brown being fatally shot, there was later proven to be no “hands up don’t shoot” action, as was originally reported. That was a lie. But never mind, all the MSNBC and CNN personalities and analysts ripped that officer wide open. Obama and Holder (then-AG) ignorantly commented the NEXT DAY about that officer’s actions as being excessive and inappropriate, and Ferguson burned in protests and more people died.
When the truth came out, the multi-racial, multi-gender Grand Jury did not indict Wilson. There wasn’t the evidence to support any indictment. They didn’t even need to know that Brown had just left a store he stole from. But the damage to Wilson and his family was already done, due to the gas-lighting of left-leaning analysts and POTUS Obama.
Remember the Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray? The cries of racism and brutality were heard all over those cable news stations I mentioned earlier. Nobody waited for the truth before flaming the officers to their national audiences. Those six officers, incidentally, were multi-racial, and multi-gender. And again, the multi-racial and multi-gender juries acquitted those officers, and the DOJ refused to press a case at the Federal Level. But the damage to those officers was done.
There are more examples out there, and a serious lack of rational, balanced commentary on virtually all of the main networks; I watched commentary from MSNBC and CNN (as much as I could stomach as I found their portrayals many times in direct conflict to evidence I saw and heard). Several (not all, but certainly the loudest voices at those news desks) lied. Obama and Biden lied, or best-case, were mis-informed. Similar to Biden when he mis-quoted the new Georgia voting law over… and over… and over. I READ that law. He did not provide a truthful account. So, I’ll ask those of you that listen to the completely inflammatory gossip of The View, or watch those other networks and believe them: After watching these “opinions”, would you be open to looking elsewhere for information before forming an opinion? These people I mentioned above were accused and destroyed by these voices, then later not charged, acquitted of wrong-doing, and in some cases paid large sums of money, quietly, for defamation. I’m not saying change who you watch and listen to, but what I am saying, though, is perhaps consider broadening your scope of information to capture. That’s what I have to do to write any of these posts…
Kyle Rittenhouse now has to live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. Go actually watch the evidence and tell me if you think that’s a fair outcome.
Have a good weekend –
