I believe Ken is being sardonic. He’s a defense attorney / law blogger who uses to sarcasm to rake people over the coals for their stupidity with regards to the law.
I agree.
So close in time to the events in question it may be hard to judge their impact, I’m just saying.
Part of the reaction to Smollett’s actions seems a bit to me like butthurt (no offence).
He’s far from the worst guy ever and not even in the same league as the Trumps of the world, but he basically went for broke in the arena of things he could to damage society.
Agreed and understood. Just making it plain. Sardony (?? Sardonism??) is easily misread in such sensitive times.
Oh, what he did was damaging, no doubt.
I think that it was a fart in the wind compared to many other things though.
One sad actor doing something stupid isn’t going to make Righty the Blowhard say anything stupider than he would say anyway.
It’ll pass.
I think probably just “hurt”. In addition to whatever real damage was done by Smollett in this mess, it seems natural that people feel betrayed, angry and sad when someone tries to use their impulse to care in a con.
That’s fair. And…
… as I do.
I took the original story in stride and so was only saddened by further developments.
I think that those who were outraged by the original story find the current version outrageous as well.
For me the height that the shit-pile has attained makes it hard to see through.
Like you said above, only time will truly tell in the long run; but presently, this foolishness has deeply hurt the Black community and all victims/survivors.
In the words of Bob Marley, we don’t need no more trouble.
Amazing, our priorities in the media.
So, not too long ago, there was an article posted somewhere on the BBS about how the FBI has dropped the ball on white nationalist terrorism in the past couple of decades. I’m currently reading a book about neo-pagan white nationalist groups (published in 2003) that very much is able to pin down things like the lone wolf tactics that are a planned part of the movement… A scholar of religions could figure that out to write about it, but somehow the FBI couldn’t figure that out? Bullshit.
It also helps with perspective to know that the guy who leads the force that busted Jussie Smollett’s lying lies is the same guy here.
I will too. Mostly because the data bears it out. Hate crimes are rising in the US and in Canada. Not withstanding this current story of stupidity, real crimes are still happening, false crimes are rare, and victims should be believed.
Shit, dirt on both sides; just great.
Smollett filed a false police report, which is tragically bad, to a police department known for filing their own false police reports, which is additionally tragic.
And shame on the President for having time to chime in on this false report by Jussie Smollett while remaining completely silent on the Trump-supporting Coast Guard officer who was just arrested for plotting a massive and well-armed terror attack.
If only he had any shame.
Smollett may be just an asshole, or he may be truly disturbed. But he counted on the fact that within hours of the original attack story being reported, the news and entertainment industry would turn the dial up to eleven and would be pumping the story at full tilt, shrieking newsies-on-the-street-corner level.
Notwithstanding the dubious circumstances of the alleged attack (white guys shouting “MAGA!”, hanging around a black neighborhood in Chi when it’s five below, waiting for a black, gay actor to come by) the only question seemed to be what size halo St. Jussie should be fitted for.
Next time it might be a good idea to take a little time and do a little fact checking. Don’t jump on a bandwagon until you’ve checked to see all the wheels are properly attached. This came off as a huge win for the Trumpsters not because it was staged, but because so many people bought into it without a moment’s reflection.
I’m going to nip this in the bud right here:
No, we don’t. If you have a problem with believing victims by default until news to the contrary surfaces, you are in the wrong discussion forum.
BB reported on the facts as known, and then the facts as they changed. We are a heavily moderated forum that, as a policy, believes victims until proven otherwise. There are plenty of much larger, much more widely distributed places one can go to have those discussions if one wishes. Boing Boing chooses to be a place where victims (who are, in the vast majority of cases, legitimate victims) can be taken at their word until we have reason to do otherwise.
This is not the place to virtue signal on how “you knew better all along” or that you are disappointed in BB’s coverage. No one cares.
Many do care that if this situation is as reported, then it is a significant setback to legitimate victims.
No, it was because he lied. Literally no matter what they are going to claim the story is fake, so to use that as an excuse to not believe victims is an extremely bad take.
They still talk about how that guy that sent the bombs to news agencies was OK because they were fake.
I know nothing about Jussie Smollett, but is he normally this stupid?