The true definition of stupidity is to ignore the truth that stares you in the face. Now, though I may not know how to drive stick shift or often open a door when it says pull, those alone do not necessarily make me stupid. What would make me stupid would be to say that, I don’t know, there is no longer such a thing as racial profiling or just flat out racism. In fact I don’t think there’s anyone out there who would be truly stupid enough to ignore that truth.
Unless you work for Fox News that recently demanded an apology from the “liberal media” for fueling the fires on discussions of racial injustice through the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative surrounding the Michael Brown case—which was recently determined by the Department of Justice to be untrue. Not only do they demand an apology for causing fear in the American public, they also want us to—in the words of “The Five” host Eric Bolling—“move on” from the topic.
Their point is that the media has used this term to fan the flames and get everyone all riled up over nothing, causing riots and unneeded protests. Basically Obama and Co. used a lie to force everyone to believe that racism and harsh treatment of African American youths is a thing.
That, my friends, deserves not only a dunce hat, but also a pet mule, a special stool in the corner and the complete works of Michael Bay to preoccupy its time.
Sure, the fact that witnesses of Brown’s shooting by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri said Brown had is hands up saying “don’t shoot” before he died have been proven inaccurate, that doesn’t mean the issue itself needs to die.
The phrase has become a symbol for the new age civil rights movement along with “black lives matter”, and “we are the 99 percent” for the Occupy Wall Street movement. It is a call to action that emphasizes a bigger issue, not a fear mongering war cry as Fox News believes.
In fact, the Department of Justice also released a report stating that although “hand’s up, don’t shoot” was never proven, the Ferguson police have indeed exhibited a “pattern of racial bias” towards African Americans and that around 80 percent of their arrestees are black individuals. But of course Fox News had their company-wide picnic that day and couldn’t run that story.
Without bias, yes, Fox News was right about “hand’s up, don’t shoot.” It was never proven to have happened based off much investigation and interviewing supposed witnesses. Regardless, they also believe all the protesting and calls for actions are simply the works of hyperbolic rhetoric by the “liberal media” and they deserve due apology for being the only “sane” ones to see this.
If anything this should grant them a fair amount of egging and their houses to be laced in toilet paper with all the modern cases of racial aggression towards minorities written on it. Racism is not dead, and cases like Brown, Eric Garner and others are a testament to that. We should not “move on” or perceive attempts at justice as rabble-rousing. This is a real issue, and any real journalists should be covering it.
Fox News was not “right” because of their attention to facts. It was a lucky guess in an attempt to sweep the real issue under the rug so that they may get back to the real threats to America (you know, like Benghazi or the War on Christmas or the fact Obama is a Kenyan socialist Muslim). For this they receive no apology, and may God have mercy on their soul (“Billy Madison” reference for the win).
