Taking the Bait For Fake Hate

I grieve for our collective sense of judgment in the aftermath of the Jesse Smollet fiasco. The courts will ultimately decide his fate, but the rush to believe the actor’s claim that two attackers were drones of the “Make America Great” movement, looking to hang him, just makes me shake my head in disbelief.

But why am I so baffled? When a story emerges that fits the media’s narrative that all things Trump are evil----this type of story gains legs and walks all over the place. Remember the Covington Kids?

For a moment…Smollet, an actor true to his craft, claimed he had been the victim of an attack when two men accosted him outside a Subway in Chicago. He claimed they put a noose around his neck…but he reported the attack to police while still holding his sandwich. Those Italian subs are mighty tasty.

He said the men claimed to be a part of “Make America Great Again.” I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard of many roaming south Chicago MAGA gangs.

Nancy Pelosi  and many of her colleagues’ took the bait and tried to pin the attack on the White House. Then, as the facts emerged, they pulled down their tweets. So now, instead of fake news, we unfortunately have to worry about fake hate crimes.

Writing in Spector USA, Douglas Murray said it best.

“Fake hate crimes make people forget the fact that there are people out there who are racist and otherwise bigoted.  (The Smollet case) makes “people doubt the real thing….which in turn makes us complacent about a real and visible problem.” 

Agreed.