Guilt by MAGA hat

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Guest, 23rd Jan, 2019.

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  1. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Did anyone see the Covington Catholic student turmoil over the weekend and early week?

    Basically a group of students were standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, waiting for their bus after attending a pro-life rally and sightseeing. Many of them were wearing MAGA hats and related garments.

    The students were verbally abused (racist and bigoted remarks) by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites and the students responded with enthusiastic school chanting to drown out the comments.

    After some time a small group of Native Americans with a drum (being drummed) and cameras approached the students. The students started dancing around and chanting to the beat of the drum. Eventually the drummer (Nathan Phillips) was right in the face of one of the students beating it within a few centimeters of the students face at which point things became more tense as this student didn't move out of the way as some others had. Instead he smiled at the drummer. A short video highlighting this part of the incident (only a couple of minutes) was then uploaded on social media and jumped on by the wider mainstream media, showing just the kid smirking at the drummer and the suggestion that the kid was the one who instigated the standoff and was being disrespectful / getting in the way of their march. A lot of the criticism seemed to be fueled by the kid wearing the MAGA hat.

    A day or so later the real story broke with a longer video showing everything in context. There is a write up here: The Media Wildly Mischaracterized That Video of Covington Catholic Students Confronting a Native American Veteran

    It seems terrible that anyone (let alone kids) would be targeted for their political beliefs in this way just for wearing clothing that aligns with their political views and then to rub salt in the wound to be jumped on by the (primarily) liberal media to amplify the hate.

    The worst part of it was many in the entertainment industry and news media were jumping all over this, suggesting the kids should be doxed / hurt / targeted. Twitter, which is supposed to be a platform that doesn't allow targeted abuse still has all sorts of terrible comments about these kids published on it.

    Media outlets which originally published an inaccurate account of events have since published updated news stories with the full picture. Some of those who criticised the students have since apologised or deleted their posts, others have left their hate or lies on Twitter e.g.

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    Quite frankly I think it's incidents like this, the unjustified criticism of Trump/Republican supporters, the piling on of liberal media and high profile personalities, that will help to secure Trump's victory again in 2020.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 23rd Jan, 2019
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  2. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Yea, straight away there was lots of news about him harassing the native elder etc, people trying to dox him and get him suspended from school, put him on hitlists etc. Of course, Trump is hated world wide, so made it very easy for it to go viral because everyone wants the same thing in that regard - getting them lots of hits / views, etc

    24hrs later when the real stories came out the, the truth was almost the opposite. I say almost because i think all the parties involved clashed a bit.

    Kinda annoying that "journalists" go for the knee jerk reaction instead of actually investigating things.
     
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  3. Blueskies

    Blueskies Well-Known Member

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    Problem is the widening gap between left and right, makes it hard to find a compromise in the middle ground when both sides have such extreme opposing ideological beliefs.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 23rd Jan, 2019
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  4. MRO

    MRO Well-Known Member

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    I think the hate against Trump is ridiculous. It follows a downward trend in social standards where it has become acceptable to be completely offensive to our elected leaders. I dont like Trump and think a lot of his policies just dont make sense but ultimately he was elected by the US citizens. This is democracy, if you dont like it try moving to North Korea. As for this kid, just another band wagon for Trump haters to jump on.
     
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  5. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    What happened to free speech? Is free speech only applicable for people you support?

    Yes, the US is a democracy, and free speech is a part of that.

    If it is bad to be offensive to elected leaders, why is it OK for that elected leader to be offensive towards other people? Doesn't he invite like treatment by doing so?

    The original clip was out of context-, whether deliberately of accidentally, I don't know. It became viral through social media before it appeared anywhere else. Interpretations were given originally on the basis of all information to hand; when more information came through, that was covered.
     
  6. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I think that is definitely a part of it, but there are other contributors to the problematic themes across this story e.g.
    • More people are looking to social media for their news stories / to keep up to date
    • Social media also gives people an outlet to immediately spread those stories which resonate with their baked on beliefs
    • Mainstream media is now having to compete with this faster source of news and probably makes more mistakes as a result (less time to verify / clarify / seek context)
    • News media, social media (the platforms themselves) & the entertainment industry in the United States is (mostly) Liberal leaning which leads to anti-Trump biases
     
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  7. MRO

    MRO Well-Known Member

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    I think free speech can occur without the showing the level of disrespect that we are currently seeing. This does not mean some healthy debate about policy cant also be conducted.
     
  8. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    Fake news.

    Who cares about american politics!
     
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  9. wategos

    wategos Well-Known Member

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    The vast majority of fake news in social media is consumed by people on the right, not left. Fake news is what helped Trump get elected, but he's hijacked the term to attack real news that he doesn't like.

    Fake news sharing in US is a rightwing thing, says study
     
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  10. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I was referring to mainstream media sites, which are mostly liberal leaning and have a far wider reach than a few handpicked conservative blogs for a study (academics are also mostly liberal leaning).
     
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  11. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    One article pointed out the quandary that news outlets often find themselves. It can take a long time to track though to find the source of information - by the time that's tracked down, it's 24 hours later and out of the news cycle. Does a news organisation take that time to dig deeply and miss out on the story?

    Here's a story about the source of the original tweet.
    Covington students, Nathan Phillips viral video: Twitter suspends account that helped ignite controversy - CNN

    I think it's really ironic that a person like Donald Trump who disrespects others to the extent that he does has to be defended against disrespect. Pocahontas, Crooked Hillary, Low Energy Jeb, Little Adam Schitt... List of nicknames used by Donald Trump - Wikipedia

    Every president has been hated by some, and love by others. It doesn't matter what side of the spectrum, there will be haters. However, one who disrespects so many others can hardly be asked to be respected in turn.

    He has complained about being treated worse than any other politician. I think that Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy might beg to disagree, if they were able.
     
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  12. wategos

    wategos Well-Known Member

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    The story was corrected by the real news media when they realised they had been duped. You don't see these corrections from right wing entertainment channels like Fox who have a variety of pundits relentlessly pushing fake news, lies, propaganda and conspiracy theories.
     
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  13. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Perhaps they should skip the "story" if they have nothing more than short video of a kid in a MAGA hat, smiling and standing in front of a Native American who is banging a drum in his face. What would you have done in the shoes of the new organisation?

    Per the article you linked, the account had a "high follower count, highly polarized and yet inconsistent political messaging, the unusually high rate of tweets, and the use of someone else's image in the profile photo", maybe the mainstream media needs more experts on hand to check their sources in the moment (especially when politically charged, missing context and kids are involved).
     
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  14. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    I do have to wonder why a Catholic, all boys school, found it appropriate to bus the students in to take part in an anti-abortion rally.

    Pity they're not pro life if you're elderly, disabled, coloured, non-Christian or needing health care
     
  15. CowPat

    CowPat Well-Known Member

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    This is a thread about the false reporting(fake news) and social media about the Covington Catholic Schoolboys

    NOT another one of your Trump bashing threads ........

    PS ----- re-read the last sentences in the OP
     
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  16. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Probably because it aligns with their moral beliefs (& school / Catholic teaching). Why would that be inappropriate?
     
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  17. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    If you do not understand why it is inappropriate on a fundamental, moral and ethical level then we have nothing to discuss.
     
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  18. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I expect there are many moral and ethical issues where Catholics would have a different stance to me, but I wouldn't question whether it's appropriate for them to participate in a rally (it absolutely is - to share their support for an opinion even if it's different to mine).

    It feels like your post was rather off topic. Bringing it back to the thread discussion points, what do you think about the confrontation and media coverage? Do you think it was fair and balanced from the get go? Do you think it's ok for high profile celebrities to call for the kids to be named and shamed? Do you think targeting people based on the hat they wear to be reasonable political discourse?
     
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  19. Casteller

    Casteller Well-Known Member

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    The hat they were wearing is particularly offensive and antagonistic to most people, sure they are kids probably misled by their parents or school but it's an agressive act wearing such a thing in that environment. Personally I would not respect or trust someone wearing that hat, it represents the ugly side of the USA.
     
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  20. Fargo

    Fargo Well-Known Member

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    Your are wrong. Trump WAS NOT ELECTED BY US CITIZENS he was not the popular choice he a minority had approval of him. America is not a democracy. It has the electoral college system where representatives are elected who then vote with their conscious and don't have to vote as directed by their electors. Trump getting elected is a degrade of social standards.
     
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