CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--A sad and outraged nation is all up in arms and shocked (Shocked, I tell you, just shocked!) that Empire actor Jussie Smollett--an actor and Trump-hater extraordinaire--is guilty of a phony, made-up hoax to either keep his job, get more money, and perhaps just a continuation of a mentally-ill modus operandi that this man has done before.
Who wasn't shocked? Those of us who actually know Trump supporters, and who know they don't normally run around in freezing temperatures in the middle of a Chicago pro-Hillary neighborhood and hunt down actors they know are gay and scream hateful, anti-homosexual, racist epithets while wearing MAGA hats in pro-Hillary Clinton.
Similarly, we don't see or believe that thugs wearing "I'm With Her" shirts hunt down and beat up white heterosexual males in the middle of the night for kicks and giggles, either.
But we sure WANTED to believe that people wearing MAGA hats do so purely out of racist hatred, and beat up minorities and homosexuals, didn't we? And we sure WANTED to believe that America was now a hellhole from the 1950's, with armies of KKK-wannabes raging and doing damage, didn't we?
And the same press that rushed to judgment about a young teen smiling and encouraging his friends to stand down and say NOTHING but smile back at a Native American "professional activist" and a group of racist, homophobic black taunters screaming horrible things, rushed similarly to judgment about Smollett, didn't they?
Has ANYONE read The Ox-Bow Incident that decried vigilante justice and a terrible rush to judgment? Maybe that needs to go back on the "required reading list" of public schools (as with Huckleberry Finn) to discern what horrors true racism has to offer us.
People wearing MAGA hats, "I'm With Her" shirts, and "Hope and Change" clothing? People expressing their beliefs, and usually with inclusivity in their hearts.
Fraudsters like the Nathan Phillips, the Native American "professional activist" who like about his Vietnam veteran status, and got in the face of a quiet, smiling teen saying nothing instead of the African-American thugs screaming horrible things at a group of kids waiting for a bus? He's a horrible creep.
Fraudsters like Jussie Smollett? Horrible creep as well, and perhaps a bit mentally unbalanced, to boot, considering this isn't his first go-round with this kind of publicity stunt. Ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and all the rest of us leaping, jumping, SCREAMING out of virtue signaling-sentiments need to push divisive losers and frauds like Smollett far, far, FAR away.
And the press? With rare exception, they might not be "The Enemy of the People" like the President states, but they sure as hell have proven that they're not the friends we once thought we had, and it appears they're more into division than accuracy. For ratings and virtue-signaling, of course ... and they ain't NO better than our President with regards to inaccuracy and jumping to conclusions.
Our nation needs Justice, not Jussie. We also need journalists...real journalists.
We may not like that Lara Logan, who has paid a terrible price for her journalism, states that the press has gone off the leftie deep end (NOT liberal as in open-minded, but extremist and biased even when they're reporting the news)...but is it true?
But there IS a thing or two we can do to promote Justice, such as tell the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, a Republican named David Ralston, to resign because he's using his political position to delay the prosecution of his clients accused of rape and assault due to his political tenure.
HE (Ralston) is a horrible man, and other Republicans are trying to get this man off his perch so that justice can be served to accused rapists and other accused criminals, and among those screaming the loudest about Ralston are other Republicans.
Here's a thought for all the "Hillary-Haters" and "Trump-Haters": why don't you actually try to get to know these people, and discern where you just disagree rather than disown and discredit them ad hominem? They're probably just like you, but with a different outlook despite very common goals.
Otherwise, we'll have other fraudsters, and more outrage, and more false flags and hoaxes.
We need Justice--anything else, and we have only ourselves to blame.
(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He is also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of both its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure and Planning Committees. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw