If you have been following the US mainstream media, you would be forgiven for not knowing that the Jussie Smollett trial opened just yesterday.
There has been scant coverage of the trial largely because the
press had embarrassed themselves covering the story of Jussie Smollett’s
alleged hate crime from 2019. Since they aren’t too keen on learning lessons
and certainly not eager to relive their humiliation, they just stay away from
the story.
The case merits a quick revision owing to the rapidly evolving
or perhaps devolving news cycle.
On January 29, 2019, African American actor Jussie Smollett
who is gay, claimed that
two masked men wearing MAGA hats hurled racist and homophobic abuses at
him. He claims that they proceeded to punch him, pour a chemical substance over
him, put a rope around his neck and berate him with "this is MAGA
country". He also claimed to receive a mail with a barrage of racist
invectives.
The US mainstream media gleefully carried and amplified
because it fits their narrative of far-right Trump
supporters persecuting a gay man of color. Instances such as these explain
why very few
in the US trust their news media.
But Chicago is by no means ‘MAGA country’ and the entire
narrative seemed exaggerated and apocryphal.
As a film critic would say ‘the characters didn’t seem real
and their motives seemed implausible. The dialogues were overdone and the plot
was lacking. The choice backdrop was added to lacked credibility”
Despite these obvious questions, anybody who questioned the
veracity of the claimed occurrences was branded racist
enablers and conspiracy theorists. Hollywood celebrities, top Democrats, and
then-candidate Kamala
Harris offered their support calling it an example
of "an attempted modern-day lynching".
CNN’s Don Lemon even developed a personal friendship with
Smollett following the attack. Perhaps it was their lack of grey cell and their
very distant relationship with the truth that bonded them?
Two weeks after his story broke, Smollett also did an interview with
Robin Roberts on ABC where he tearfully relived the nightmare that was his
attack.
“I want a little gay boy who might watch this,” Smollett told
Roberts, “to see that I fought back.”
Smollett also said his account proved the white supremacy had
been mainstreamed.
In Smollett’s mind, he was on his way to becoming the next
MLK, the fact that he is gay only added to his profile as the perfect victim
and hence the ideal activist.
A few weeks later, following a thorough investigation by
Chicago's Police, it was proved that Smollett had staged the
entire attack. The police said that Smollett
had paid two Nigerian-born brothers $3,500
to stage the attack to take "advantage of the pain and anger of racism to
promote his career. Smollett had also sent the racist letter to himself at a
Fox studio.
To sum it up It was all an outrageous and disgraceful hoax.
Fox suspended him from the series Empire and
eventually his character was written out of the series.
Smollett was arrested on suspicion of filing a false report
and released on bond. Smollett then was indicted on 16 felony
counts. He was charged with filing a false police report and
claiming he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack.
On March 14, 2019, Smollett appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.
Then in a move that astounded everybody, Cook County State's
Attorney Kim Foxx dropped
all charges against Smollett in exchange for Smollett
doing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bond.
It was alleged that Michelle
Obama had a role to play in this travesty of justice.
Beyond this mockery of the law, the Smollet hoax also raised
serious questions about the times and the society we inhabit where an affluent
and successful individual thinks he can bolster his profile and get a salary
hike if he claims to be a victim.
Smollett’s hoax proves that victimhood holds more weight than
actual accomplishments. While accomplishment takes a great deal of time and
effort, victimhood merely takes a well-worded claim.
It would also explain why the likes of Michelle
Obama, Meghan
Markle, and even Oprah are
eager to be seen as victims rather than achievers.
In current times, victimhood enables activism which means an
excuse for fundraising that merely requires empty virtue signaling. Victimhood
is a great business model as proved by the likes of BLM.
While Smollett’s hoax was so specific that was verifiable,
others could make claims that are so vague that it is impossible to verify and
hence cannot be refuted.
If convicted, Smollett could face a prison sentence of up to
three years.
Despite overwhelming evidence of the hoax, Smollett
continues to claims his innocence.
The question remains should Smollett be punished or should he receive
a perfunctory slap on the wrist.
There will be those who say, nobody was actually harmed, it
was just a silly hoax.
Can we just forgive and forget?
Emphatically not, and for the following reasons:
First, he wasted precious time of Chicago’s police who are
struggling to enforce the law in a city infested by crime and gang violence. To
put it in perspective, the time wasted on Smollett’s hoax could have been spent
investigating and preventing gang violence on the streets. Smollett’s hoax may
have cost previous lives because the police were under pressure to investigate
the Smollet case that had received national attention. The investigation cost
the Chicago police department around $130,000
this investigation cost in overtime.
Secondly, he vilified an entire group of people. President
Trump's MAGA movement has been vilified from its very beginning. From Hillary
Clinton’s vicious ‘basket of deplorables’ attack to the myriad physical attacks
that supporters of President Trump have endured. Smollett’s allegations
doubtlessly added more venom to an already extremely poisonous climate of hate.
Hate is easy to spread and amplify but almost impossible to undo.
Thirdly and importantly Smollett’s hoax demeans real victims
of racism and homophobia. The next time anybody learns of a hate crime that the
media is amplifying, the first instinct is to doubt its veracity rather than
sympathize with the victim.
The media is at fault here, for magnifying the lies that
traveled halfway around the world, while the truth is merely getting its boots
on. If the media had performed some elementary fact-checking, the story would
never have received the attention that it did.
Hence, the culprits here are not just Smollett but the
mainstream news media.
In a civil society, all actions, especially irresponsible
actions must have consequences.
Allow one irresponsible action to go unpunished, there will be
several more and soon there will be total anarchy.
If there is a determination to create a deterrent against such
hoaxes, a fitting punishment to this hoaxer is richly deserved.
This article also appears on www.AmericanThinker.com
Comments
Post a Comment