So, there was this video that surfaced early this past weekend. It was appalling and it incensed a nation. Why
wouldn’t it? What was presented in the
video was an affront to decency – here we were again, a group of MAGA hat
wearing kids tormenting a Native American elder trying to bring a bit of peace
to what was an escalating situation between the MAGA kids and some African
American group that had been reported as being there as well. That is what was being sold in the
video. That’s what I reacted to. “Camera’s don’t lie”, right? I saw the original video but chose not to
push that one forward on my Twitter feed.
Instead I found the epilogue video of Mr. Phillips, the tribal elder, he
was in tears saying that he wanted to help defuse the situation. It was this that I saw and it was this that I
tweeted about…
And the Tweet had legs – it was retweeted and, as Twitter
does, shared and liked to thousands of other possible users. The video struck a chord. Real people are sick and tired of the
entitlement and hatred that permeates our nation. By liking or retweeting the post there is a
sense of like-mindedness a sense of “there are still people out there who give
a damn that when something is wrong it can be righted.” ALAS, aye’s the barb. The dirty trick is that the original viral video
was a half-truth. A half-truth that
launched an explosion on social media that we are still feeling the aftershocks
from. For the record, a half-truth is
still a lie. When you lie to support
your premise, you cannot claim to have the high ground. A lot of reactions were generated by this
video and it gave cause for a lot of people, myself included, to react and, apparently,
to act too quickly.
To the Covington
School, I apologize. You should not
have to shoulder the full brunt of this situation. In the end we are marked by our deeds and not
necessarily our words. Actions do, in
fact, speak louder. You were waiting on
a bus, bad things happened, and they escalated.
The internet took it from there.
I reacted to the information that I had.
This is not a complete, ‘free pass’, the chanting and the ‘tomahawk
chops’ that some of you were doing lacked class but you don’t deserve the
scrutiny that you have been receiving.
Truth be told, which is something I am extremely fond of, if MAGA hats
weren’t involved this never would have made the news.
“So, who was this third group?”
The third group were the “Black Hebrew Israelites”. A nearly two-hour video surfaced on Sunday –
after the internet blew up concerning the initial video was released. It showed that the Black Hebrew Israelites
were shouting slurs at both the Native Americans and the Covington School
group. The Covington School group
started a school chant to drown out the racially charged attacks. Mr. Phillips saw it as a sign of escalation
and, in his way, attempted to deescalate the situation. There.
That’s about as close to the truth of what happened that anyone sitting
at their computer who was not there at the event can glean. Mr. Philip DeFranco did an excellent piece on
the situation. Apparently, I am in very
good company
in acting too fast…
“So, where did the original video come from?”
@2020Fight, was the source of the initial video. They have been identified and Twitter has
shut down their account for spreading false information. From the link below… “The
Twitter account that helped spread the initial video has been removed. The user
-- @2020Fight -- claimed to be a teacher and advocate named Talia from
California with a photo appearing to show Brazilian model and actress Natalia
Cardoso. In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said "deliberate attempts
to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account
information is a violation of the Twitter rules."” One can no longer claim the high
ground once such tactics are used. Never
give away the high ground to those who do not deserve it. As the old saying goes, “If you lie down with
dogs, you will get fleas.” @2020Fight
crossed a line, for whatever reason and, unfortunately, he/she took thousands
of people along with them – me included.
Twitter responded appropriately. Here
is a CBS news segment identifying the perp or perpetrators…
Please, do me the favor of watching this video (I believe
it’s still up). In it is something I have never seen before. Something that has affected me more and more
each time I see it. There is a man,
possibly a school representative, talking to one of the Native American
protestors who have set up outside of the Covington School. He is wearing a MAGA hat and, instead of
screaming at the protester he is talking to him. In fact, he “suggested they sit down and share a cup of coffee or a meal.”
This is important.
At least it should be. Yes, this
is important. You see, ever
since the MAGA hat was invented I have never seen anyone attached to one talk to
anyone who is opposed to their line of thinking, let alone an offer to share a
meal or a cup of coffee. No, for me the
hat has always been associated with screaming, yelling, Kool-Aid drinking,
hatred, and rage. That is all that I
have ever seen from MAGA. Ever.
Here's the mind
blower. The converse is also true. I can show you MAGA who feel the exact same way that I do about them. “The Trump hating crowd does nothing but
scream, yell, bleat like sheep, hate, and rage.” As it turns out, we are more alike than we think we
are. For the record, I don’t see anything
that resembles either extreme in the above picture. I see two men trying to come to some sort of
resolution and this – THIS, is what has to happen on a national scale.
There is a massive miscommunication happening right now
and the only way to fix it – the only way,
is to communicate. Yes, I too have been
polarized. These are polarizing times. But we need to look beyond that. Sure, this man could be doing it for the cameras,
but I don’t think that’s the case. The
camera’s happened to be there. I believe
that this was probably the case for Mr. Phillips, as well. Both this MAGA hat wearing fellow and the
elder, Mr. Phillips were trying to deescalate a situation. What jarred me is the fact that my
assumptions of this fellow in the hat are the same assumptions that, more often
than not, leveled against me for being a, “Trump troll” or “Hater”. Facts are scarce things these days, but the
fact of the matter is I’m a centralist with the occasional left leaning tendency. I’m slightly left of middle on the bell
curve. The lunatic fringe – the extremes
of either side have always made me squirm.
They will always be there, but I don’t think I’m alone. I bet I share that belief of being more, ‘middle
of the road’, with people who claim allegiance to the right and to the left. I don’t believe that our country is only made
up of two extremes – us & them. But
the only way to test that theory is to talk and to listen.
So, could this
be a watershed moment? Wouldn’t that be
something? The fact of the matter is we need
to talk. We need to communicate. Perhaps, “Let’s sit down and have a
cup of coffee or buy a meal and let’s just figure this out,” is the sage advice
that we need right now as citizens of these United States. I believe that this gentleman, this MAGA hat
wearing gentleman, is correct. That is a
sentence I have never typed before. We
must talk to each other – we are the WE, in We The People. We need to start acting like it.
So, what say we grab a cup of coffee?
We have much to discuss.
2 comments:
Beautifully said. We were all duped. Now is the time to remember that we are all divine and powerful souls and that we need to protect each other
Thanks, Marie. :)
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