The demand for white supremacists far outweighs the supply. And since there are literally ZERO consequences for making stories like this up we can expect BS like this to continue.
It just confirms that the press and the left are a bunch of race baiting lowlifes. They don't care who they destroy in their race to prove they aren't racist. Remember when the left said if you don't vote for the messiah, Obama, you were a racist.
It is just as racist to vote for somebody because of their race than it is to vote against someone because of their race.
You might think that Duke - of all places - would have learned their lesson after their pathetic performance selling their lacrosse team down the river as documented in "Fantastic Lies." But, no. Showing, yet again, how craven and cowardly are our universities.
I remember when 60 Minutes did an actual contemporary reporting piece on the Duke lacrosse allegations. They clearly demonstrated that the incident described by the accuser never happened. Note, no one at Duke stood by their student athletes back then, when they were telling the truth, not lies as in the current story. The Liberal Arts department even took out a full page ad repudiating the lacrosse team and all they represented. I'm still waiting for the LA department, Al Sharpton, and all those "news" papers to apologize. The DA not only lost his job but was disbarred for his malpractice. As least someone faced consequences back then. Today, not so much. I doubt the young woman will be punished for race baiting.
The only reporter with the decency to apologize was Ruth Sheehan. The "Fantastic Lies" documentary (I think it was a 30 for 30 piece) is really worth watching for how the press and the usual idiots jumped on the bandwagon without a second's thought or hesitation. As a lifelong lacrosse player this was also deeply personal to me.
I think the DA also went to prison. When he got out, the DNC probably offered him a job or Nancy Pelosi gave him a job as a staff member in her office.
My proposal is that dirty prosecutors, cops and other officials have to spend twice the prison term they sought for the defendants they tried to railroad. That would stop dirty prosecutors in their tracks. Are you listening Merrick Garland?
Why does the author of this piece call these assholes journalists? They're journalists? They are race baiters, just like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and 99% of the left. Al and Jesse have been making big bucks off this for years.
How many of the "journalists" will be fire for being incompetent, racist pigs? Please don't tell me they are not racists. It is just as racist to willingly falsely accuse a white man as it is to willingly falsely accuse a black man.
Let's hope BYU, like Nick Sandmann, sues the leftists propaganda outlets like NYU and the rest of the despicable mob of hard left nitwits. Sandmann settled with CNN and The Washinton Post for millions.
That kid will never have to work a day in his life.
This entire story reveals to me that our press (such as it is) - is not free at all. It is held under the sway and subservient to the pervasive monster staining all of us: social media. Without Twitter fanning the flames, going viral nationally within hours, this (non) story would never have left the field house in Utah. In a loud, raucous crowd, who the hell could have heard anything clearly? It would have been dismissed as unprovable right there and then by the officials present. (I'd like to see that police officer interviewed).
But no. The kid stays quiet for a day or two - and then unleashes her version and labels whatever it was she heard (if anything) as racist abuse.
We clearly have a left leaning media monster in our midst, checking nothing that may counter its stance, I agree.
But social media played a huge role here, as it so often does..
And who runs social media? We live in a world run by totalitarians without a conscience. When innocent people are severely damaged or even killed it no longer matters. Just remember the summer riots of 2020.
I'm afraid you and Mel are correct. There appear to be zero consequences for Big Media for screwing the pooch so badly, and worse, dire consequences for reporters and editors who get beaten filing the first Tweet because they took the time to confirm a story.
Yes, that's the real social harm of reporting news that has no factual basis: people assume it's true, and that furthers the narrative as you suggest: We are so awash in racism that the entire Duke University volleyball team feared for their lives that night thanks to race-baiting from the stands.
I didn't buy it when the story was first reported, and I don't buy it now. This day and age, a video of somebody or somebodies shouting the N-word from the stands would have gone viral on social media.
Exactly! Yet when none of the other players heard what Richardson says she heard, they didn't speak up. To be an accomplice in a lie is just as bad as starting the lie!
How in the world could nothing have been found if it's reported that it was said over and over? I have no doubt the minute that was heard, it would have be quashed.
The whole thing is absolutely maddening and absurd.
It would have absolutely been quashed, by surrounding fans. The iPhone videos would have gone viral. I cannot imagine what compelled Richardson to make this allegation.
hmmm...you just gave me an idea for a new career: racist for hire. The more you pay me, the more sensational will be the racist event that I fabricate.
When demand is high and supply is low, suppliers can set their price really high. I'm gonna get rich!
ugh...I just realized I could not pull this off with zero racist bones in my body. Darn!
I sincerely hope that IF it can be proven that this is a Smollet situation that legal consequences come of this. The last thing our country needs are people who will callously slander with the scarlet letter R.
Just for the sake of argument let’s say that she did make this event entirely up. Her actions (if true) caused an individual to be slandered as a racist, the other fans too get tinged as racist for not saying something, a school gets smeared for breeding and allowing this behavior (and takes a financial hit). It also managed to smear adherents to the faith as the current day members are confronted by the past of other members from nearly 50 years ago in ways that have nothing to do with them. Not to mention that her actions (again if true) are yet another example of someone intentionally causing racial division and we’ve seen the devastating consequences that has caused our country.
My guess is you will not hear about it, but SC basketball will have to pay some big dollars for canceling the game over made-up BS. Hope it is a large cost to them.
There was a time when black athletes faced real racism and endured terrible retribution for daring to advocate for equal treatment. There were also extraordinary black athletes like Muhammad Ali who transcended race and stood alone against government coercion that would soon tear the country apart. In 1967, during the height of the Vietnam war, he was drafted for service in the US military. It’s clear that he would never have faced combat and could have comfortably served as a poster boy for a military industrial complex that needed a constant source of cannon fodder while continuing with his boxing career. Yet he refused induction, saying “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong”. For that conscientious decision, he was stripped of his heavyweight boxing crown and prohibited from fighting by every state athletic commission for three and a half years. In addition, he was criminally indicted, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison although he remained free on bail for four years until the US Supreme court overturned his conviction on a narrow procedural ground. Thankfully he was able to continue his boxing career and soon regained his crown.
Today the most prominent black athlete is a pampered buffoon named Lebron James who willingly parrots the lies of Ms. Richardson and lectures the rest of us about “racism” that in this country while ignoring the documented Uyghur slave labor camps in China so he can sell a few more sneakers.
It also caused the SC coach of women’s volleyball to cancel an upcoming series with BYU because she was supposedly looking out for her girls. She really had no right to do that at a public university. When is this going to end? Sadly, it won’t. We have a soft society who falls for these fake stories time and again without even questioning…just taking the word of the so-called victim. We now have lots of those in our country!
Absolutely and now we also get to be fascists well! The irony is awfully thick but sadly it’s much uglier than just ironic. When Obama smeared some as clinging to guns and the Bible and then Hillary the basket of deplorables slur there was not sufficient pushback. These more recent attacks are sadly just escalations of the same.
Every single election cycle they escalate their dehumanizing terminology. It's on purpose. Their goal is to make Republican viewpoints, along with all the cultural history there, unacceptable in the new USA.
Because the Left controls the Media, Social Media, Academia, Law, Medicine, and the Bureaucracy, along with (currently) two branches of our government. Only a few state governments, a few news organizations and a few pundits remain outside the Left's complete control.
Any kind of uprising or rioting against the Left will be treated the same way Jan6 was. Even if we somehow manage to vote Republicans back into control of the government, every other organization the Left controls will resist.
It wasn’t effective enough to call us extremists racists conservatives now we are fascists. Even Russell Brand and Glenn Greenwald are conservatives and stupid gullible people swallow it hook line and sinker. They go with what works and ignore the moral consequences.
It's all they have. Now, that word means nothing. The sad fact that the young women and her race baiting 'godmother' faces NO retribution or financial consequences is appalling. Using 'White supremacy' is nothing but another dog whistle that we should all start ignoring.
They won’t let us ignore it if we do ignore it we racists if we pushback we racists.I think America has had enough, we need to really stand up in November and vote the Democrats out!🇺🇸🇺🇸
I live someplace where I can ignore it; but it isn't right and it isn't fair to anyone. I'm with you about November; vote en masse and vote the progressives out.
I'll ask You the same question as I asked "Sea Sentry:" What do You mean IF?
Did You read the part about BYU first backing the claim and then doing a *thorough* investigation of it.
Plus, since ZERO, zip, zilch, NADA WITNESSES came forward to support the story?
Those two *facts* seemed to close the loop, to most people who don't have an ingrained bias. Not that You *necessarily* have one, but I think You missed something in *this* case. That's just me.
Have some sympathy for those poor BYU administrators quaking in their shoes over their public disgrace and the possibility of losing alumni support and millions of dollars in revenue. Now they're rightfully condemned for massive lack of spine in handling this outrageous claim. and caving to the lies. How can they possibly recover their public standing? Poor, gutless administrators just trying to go along to get along.
Here's the thing: most BYU alums smelled a rat to start with. But they also would want an investigation, because if the person shouting had been a student, they would expect that student to be ejected from the university.
As far as I know, most of BYU's operating budget comes from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS students pay reduced tuition (after the same pattern as in-state vs out-of-state tuition) because their parents likely pay tithing and they themselves will likely pay tithing on the wages they earn as a result of their education.
Let's not be too harsh. The truly spineless thing would have been to conclude the investigation by pretending they couldn't identify whoever was shouting the slur and reiterating that such behavior is a violation of the university's core values. Rescinding the interim measure on the ejected fan and reporting that the investigation found no evidence to support that the incident even happened required a modicum of honesty and courage.
Yeah, but the story morphed from one person shouting when she served in the 2nd and 4th periods (directly in front of the BYU student section) to a game-long "racial heckling that grew into threats."
The most charitable read is she heard something she thought was a slur (BYU student section known for addressing visiting players by their first names). Then she told her godmother, a politician with a history of race-baiting, and the harassment in the story escalated with the father and then her statement.
Trapped in a lie that was probably a mis-hearing/misunderstanding to begin with. One that will live on. You still get "Something happened" from a large segment of people on the Duke Lacrosse hoax. And no hoax has been as thoroughly debunked.
Supposedly there was a player named Nicky on the team and that is probably what was misheard. I'm tellin' ya.....if people were blatantly saying the "n" word in 2022, you can believe the game would have been stopped!
One of the local stories I read on it stated the mentally challenged individual who was punished has a thing about shots that hit the net. They didn't say what he may have said, but any variation of the word "net" could easily be misheard in a bad way, especially if he has a speech impediment.
Yeah - and when God was parceling out the 'brains' to today's crop of spineless, lazy journalists - they thought He said "train" - so they got out of the way.
And what will happen to the politicians who pour gasoline on the flames. Not only the senile imbecile who purports to lead us who gave currency to the Smollett hoax. But the witless moron who purports to lead Utah, who did the very same to pander before the facts were known.
And how about the presidents of BYU and Duke? No repercussions for them?
Disgusting all around. When facts no longer matter we are no better than monkeys.
IMO this began to be fashionable on the Left with Obama. From the clinging to guns and the Bible to his comments about the Gates police incident, Trayvon Martin, etc, etc it always seemed as if he picked at the scab in regards to race. While racism was certainly not entirely eradicated by the time he ran for office one can look at public opinion (both blacks and whites) and see how much it has deteriorated from its zenith (under W).
Now there are 50 illegal border crossers living in "Sanctuary" Martha's Vineyard. Maybe they can live on the Obama property since he isn't there most of the year.
"DeSantis Sends Some Illegals to Martha's Vineyard and Right-Twitter Can't Stop Laughing"
A couple of years at my daughter's university a couple (who were students) posted a video of themselves on Insta. One of the couple was a lacrosse player the college. The girlfriend used the "n" word. My daughter shared the video with me and they looked totally high. While the "n" word is totally unacceptable, I was more concerned for the fact that this couple was so high on a Wednesday night. A black student saw it, called it out and they were expelled. Just.Like.That.
We went to see Kevin Hart a few weeks back and there were three comedians prior to him coming out. I have NEVER heard the "n" word more in one hour than I did that night. It was horrible....but there is was over and over and over!
No consequences, and a huge reward for being a perceived victim, when it becomes your “lived experience” regardless of whether it really happened. BLM said as much to Jussie Smullet - they still believe him… truth is just incidental to the Narrative.
You hit the nail on the head. Racism has been on the decline for many decades, thankfully. But organizations like BLM and all the highly paid DEI administrators at schools need racism to grow again to keep their jobs. It's always about the money.
"The demand for white supremacists far outweighs the supply".
Unfortunately, there has always been a cadre of race baiters like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson willing to satiate the left’s need for a “racist” boogeyman to demonize. Funny how the claims more often than not appeared in the run up to elections or impending votes on socialist spending bills. It’s no coincidence that democratic patrons have enriched them for their efforts. It looks like there’s a new generation of wannabes more than eager to get in on the scam. Too bad for the likes of Ms. Richardson, it seems like the supply far exceeds the demand.
"I am afraid that there is a certain class of race problem solvers don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out, they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public." Bokker T. Washington.
Essentially the same facts as George Floyd except Timpa was white. No outrage, no prison time and no huge settlement for the family. Another example of all that white privilege I suppose…
You are spot on, the Sharpton’s, BLM’s and Crumpler’s of the world NEED to keep the BS idea of massive racism still being a thing, it’s a huge industry at this point.
The desperation for clicks actually encourages it. The more outrageous the better. The fact this girl had very successful parents also just shows how insane the victim complex has become. Why is she not harassed like the people she’s accused would be. It’s all backwards.
In this case, BYU should consider demanding Duke take disciplinary action against the player (at the university level, our police and courts have better things to spend their time on). If they decline to do so (which they will), publicly announce that BYU doesn't share Duke's values and cancel any future games with Duke, all sports. It is absolutely what would have happened if the shoe were on the other foot.
Just imagine that a white person would claim that they were insulted with racial slurs. At first, nobody would care - what’s wrong with insulting white people? - then, if the accusation will prove to be a lie, that person would be destroyed. Apparently, the best that can be done in this case is to state that BYU is not guilty, but no way to even talk about the forged accusations. The NYT article seems to put the burden on BYU to explain WHY would the black volleyball player make a fake accusation. It’s like living in a hallucination.
I don't think BYU has to explain why a person might invent a racial slur hoax. At this point, it's such a well-known phenomenon that everyone understands it happens, even if reasonable people still debate the percentages (it is probably most in some settings, less than most in others).
So…at the gym chatting with a friend of mine, who had been in a water aerobics class that morning while I was swimming. She said, ‘so…can you believe they played ‘Play That Funky Music (White Boy)’ (by Wild Cherry, 1976, if you need a reference)? What’s the sentiment towards ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ by Lou Reed? If there wasn't a double standard, there’d be no standard at all.
What Richardson did was not a crime so the only possible consequences are expulsion from her school or public shame. And the people with the power to impose either consequence support her lies.
I would suspend her participation in college sports. Kids are stupid, make up stupid lies. Expulsion is a harsh penalty. But you cannot have someone that treated their competitor (and host) so shabbily continue to represent the school at future events.
While not a crime, it could lead to personal damages against a person, leading to loss of livelihood or societal exile. This is real and has happened. The common reply from the enlightened woke as to why that is just ok is ‘but that’s different’.
I was just speechless reading this story and just not certain what to say and this statement you have written here captures exactly what needs to be said.
The religion of social justice has seized control of our society, just like many past religions and has no value for truth, justice and most importantly: honesty
Exactly what I was going to post. I'll add this: When we've got the POTUS going all First Order talking about how "MAGA Republicans are a threat to democracy," it's unsurprising that the mainstream media wants to hype Racism Everywhere. They want the public to buy in to the idea of Racism Everywhere so they can vilify dissenters. They want to be able to deplatform, freeze bank accounts and even jail dissenters, and what better way to do that than by calling them white supremecists so that no one objects? That's also why they doggedly pretend black dissenters don't exist.
I don’t mean to exaggerate, but my opinion is that New York Times in particular has not practiced “real” journalism for many years now. As such, it’s difficult for me to be surprised that they once again have presented only what they would like the news to be. I know many writers here and around have friends and colleagues there, and you hope for the best, but the truth is, there’s no there there anymore. It’s been reduced to a mere mouthpiece of the crazy left.
The NYT knows their audience and this is the kind of story they want to read. Truth is irrelevant. But why do they want these lies? The message of this story, and many others like it, really is about good and evil. There are the good people, NYT readers, and bad people. The bad people can be Mormons, or religious people generally, or Southerners, or Republicans, etc. Isn’t it fun to feel superior to the racist masses?
There is another motivation in addition to the "feel good" aspect you describe. Whether true or untrue is irrelevant. The story is part of left wing propaganda that things like this happen every day and this story is just a reinforcement of that narrative. It's as old as AL Sharpton and Tawana Brawley so nothing new to see here!
Straight up reporting? Did Vimal Patel, author of the original story, travel to Provo to interview even a single person? He's based in Washington, DC. Did anyone from one of the Times' western bureaus go to Provo? I doubt it. The Times is nothing more than a Twitter megaphone, and, as one of the few major media outlets supported primarily by subscription revenue rather than advertising, they know what their audience wants.
When I read an article in the Times, I assumed they followed their journalistic process before their sports editors decide to publish online. I also see McKenna Oxenden contributed to reporting and Jack Begg contributed research.
“assumed they followed their journalistic process”. That pretty much sums it up. There is far too much assuming in reporting and far too much believing in reading.
I’m curious, even though I think you’re likely trolling people. Do you still believe there were racial slurs hurled at the black player at the game then?
No, I don't believe racial slurs were hurled at a black player at the game.
I this all this bemoaning about "the media" being for/against some aggrieved group is a waste of time and has become a sport.
I also don't care much about what's posted on Twitter and carried forward as click-bait in other cable media channels. The endless pursuit of ad dollars in this industry is tearing our country apart as evidenced by all the grievances aired here.
Imagine being savvy enough to know about and read Substack but *still* believing the NYT practices actual journalism rather than just manufacturing consent for whatever the corporatocrats and oligarchs want to do next.
BS is rich! What alternative is rich! Straight up reporting is rich. It appears your standard for reporting is they wouldn’t print/say it if it wasn’t true.
The 1,300 Times employees who want to stay home get their news headlines from Twitter left. Their "journalists" are no longer hitting the road to find or follow real news stories, like the scary daily crime taking place in their own city. I don't know why anyone would give the NYT a dime to pay for a bunch of activists in their pajamas reporting on Twitter trends.
During the George Floyd protests and riots, the only actual reporting that was done by the Times was done by Nellie Bowles, who caught a plane to Seattle, and went out and got the story by talking to people there, the old fashioned way. You know, like an actual reporter. I'm eager for more high-quality reporting in the Times from her - but wait . . . she isn't there anymore, is she?
The crossword has gone downhill under Will Shortz and the Wordplay comments section is unreadable. Not long ago, people were protesting the inclusion of “NRA”—the FDR program, not the gun lobby—as an answer because it was upsetting. There are regularly heated comments if someone criticizes puzzle quality as being “hurtful” or “unkind” to the creator. Many former commenters, myself included, don’t even bother anymore.
Spelling Bee is fun, but even there, idiot millennial editors censor perfectly legitimate words the eighth meanings of which could possibly be considered offensive.
As for the paper itself, I cancelled my subscription years ago.
it is definitely more 'woke' than it used to be. I don't mind variety as puzzles tend to get stuck in loops of reused clues (which is the fault of the editors more than the authors) so hilighting minority stars and the like is fine by me and if it gets more people puzzling, that's cool! But the inclusion of frequent references to Marx and Engels is just obnoxious over the last few years.
If you have just realized, the Internet killed the news industry. It's just another entertainment medium with a small group of diehards trying to report: everyone makes money off the work of whoever is left, including Common Sense.
The problem is on both sides: left and right. They are ALL owned by the same investment companies and each unit has created a niche market that panders to its audience—rather than reporting real news. Toxic but lucrative business models. There is no real news anymore in any consistent way.
Furthermore there is a direct relationship between the Democratic Party and the corporate media outlets, which represents a necessary foundation for fascism. When we learned that the NYT is getting approval for messaging directly from the leadership of the Democratic Party, that's the nail in the coffin of any credibility the paper had left.
Yeah, clearly Bruce had not read ANY Fox News articles, like, ever. Both traditionally conservative and liberal mainstream outlets peddle stories tailored to their audiences. I see both everyday delivered to my iPhone, and I digest them both, with discernment of course.
I am not at all disagreeing with the point that the majority of the mainstream is liberal (very good point actually), just that both put out “news” tailored to their respective audiences and both require reading with discernment and should be taken with a grain of salt. It is a main reason I now subscribe to Common Sense.
Well said. It's become a sport now. I am willing to bet 99% of subscribers never heard of this incident until they read it here. And then, immediately, all grievances are freely aired.
I dunno about others, but this is both old news and standard fair from the left. Everything I've read from You today indicates You're likely a delusional leftist Yourself.
Not true. USA Today ran a headline calling the Clay & Buck Show “white supremacists” for doubting the story and low and behold they were right. You can’t even suggest we take a second without getting labeled. Her dad who works for the government needs to answer for his race baiting behavior as well. It’s more than the pursuit of clicks. It’s the ideology promoting the idea that this happens all the time when it doesn’t.
This was national news. It reflects a very real, serious shift in the national zeitgeist. I agree with your assertion in other comments that social media (and big tech in general) shifts the way that people consume news and it is all for the negative. But the desire to push back against a false narrative not just in one case or another but writ large is really important. America, and the west in general, is not irredeemable and for many, the 'fact' that it is colors how they see just about everything lately. We need to be able to look forward to the future, work toward the positive future now, and learn from and appreciate our past. Not burn it all down
This has been true since the late 1990's. I came to be aware of this when DOE was establishing a high school in the neighborhood, that our kids could actually use without being bused to far away overcrowded schools where they were not welcome. The Times sent a cub reporter, who did not bother to report on what the participants were actually saying, called us all racists, and went home to file the story, apparently without adult editorial supervision. At the time I thought of it as a perfect example of Manhattan contempt for "outer-borough-racist-oafs," laid with a trowel on our middle-class, politically liberal, mixed-race neighborhood. Since then this has morphed into something much worse.
Over the last couple of month, the New York Times has run articles on two different subjects with which I am deeply familiar. In both cases, they missed important details. Sad to say, they are no longer the paper of record. I'll look forward to the day I see thorough research and nuance.
I would think that BYU would and should sue the Duke player, her family, and Duke U itself for slander. Obviously, Duke’s team players knew that the story was false. They were in attendance after all.
They won’t, though. Because BYU (and Mormons generally) are not vindictive or litigious. That’s what makes this story extra horrible. This girl and her spotlight-seeking family and spineless university couldn’t have picked a kinder, more forgiving group to slander. Just look at the Book fo Mormon musical—imagine any other church/religion tolerating that. Mormons are everyone’s punching bag.
My best friend growing up along with a number of other friends were Mormon and this is spot on. We disagreed on matters of faith but some really kind, decent folks from all I ever observed.
You’re right on this. I went to BYU and am a Mormon/member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the church or BYU definitely won’t take action, which I think is good. This thing will play out and we’ll just turn the other cheek. Thanks for the positive comment.
I thought that it was odd that no Duke players confirmed or denied the accusations. Surely they would have heard what Robinson heard if the story was true.
Maybe they’re afraid if they tell the truth that nothing happened she’ll come after them with accusations. Anyone who’d make up this incident or who actually believes this happened is someone to avoid.
This is why this sort of thing cannot be fought against and the left knows it. You will be labeled a racist for the rest of your life, even if you are right. This sort of thing is never going away.
I don't think a lawsuit would do much good. The fact that 5,000 other people in the stadium did not hear the insult does not "prove" the player did not hear it. Proof in court is different from a logical conclusion.
What stands out to me is that the first reaction wasn’t skepticism and questions. The idea that a racial slur was yelled loud enough and multiple times in at a college volleyball game and nobody did or said anything to that vile person should, at the very least, have raised doubt For this to be true one would have to believe that nearly everyone in the crowd was either a racist or an absolute coward. I can’t imagine anyone hearing this -let alone many college students - and not either saying something directly, reporting it to security, speaking to media outlets or ebb taking a photo of the person and posting on social media to embarrass the person. Yet, major media outlets, celebrities, administrators etc.didn’t even question it. Clearly the fear of being labeled racist by not 100% believing the accusation holds far more influence than the desire to seek the truth. And yet silence from those who chose to perpetuate, at the very least, a questionable story.
I haven't been a student at BYU since 1987, but the idea that no one in an audience of BYU students would do anything about someone yelling racial slurs is 100% counter to everything I know of the university and the LDS religion.
The kids there are not cowards. Recall that many of them have gone or intend to go on church proselytizing missions. They aren't people who would keep quiet if they saw a wrong being done.
Also note that, as a consequence of the long-term effects of Brigham Young's personal views on race (which were entirely counter to Joseph Smith's), which were only corrected in the 1970s, LDS people tend to be hypersensitive about accusations of racism. The low percentage of black students at BYU is a result of a low percentage of LDS blacks in the U.S. The football niche normally filled by black players is, at BYU, filled by Polynesians, usually Tongans.
But as Duke so sneeringly suggested, many people in the U.S. make the assumption that LDS people are inherently racist. BYU is automatically guilty in the minds of those people.
This athlete could not have chosen a more "believable" target for her slander. Which, frankly, makes me wonder if she did, in fact, make a intentional choice.
They go on missions wearing dress shirts and ties. The look professional and clean cut. They wave and greet the multitude of non Mormons. Polite, and quiet they spread their message of faith and this atheist praises and respects their efforts. I’ve never met a rude or lazy Mormon and wish there were more of them.
I tend to believe her 'godmother' ratcheted up this mess. That's her 'one trick pony' go to from what has been written about her. It's not like there are not enough issues we must address; this kind of behavior should be put on 'high ignore' and not given any oxygen by those of us who see this for what it is.
I always enjoy your perspective and gifted writing abilities. Never knew of your BYU connection, so this Saturday please forgive me if my boys beat the Cougars haha.
I didn't graduate, although it took me five years of only intermittently successful struggles with my clinical depression to finally flunk out. When I went back to college in my 30s at Washburn University in Topeka, it only took a year for me to finish my B.A. Then it was on to Kansas State for grad school. So I am as much an Icabod as a Cougar, and a lot more of a Wildcat overall.
EXACTLY this. As I said in a different comment, I could see some drunk idiot shouting a racial slur. However, we've (thankfully!) reached the point in society where that person would be told to shut up or escorted out.
At BYU, a drunk spectator would not have been allowed into the venue, and if they somehow got in, they would be immediately escorted out the moment that anyone realized they were drunk. Drinking is not allowed on BYU campus.
It's really pretty simple to see what the failure of what journalism has become.
Journalists today appear to be trained to be activists, not traditional journalists, and "narrative news" replaced investigative news. If it fits the narrative, it's reported on—endlessly. If not, you'll hear the crickets.
Any dissenting perspective would obviously come from heretics, and the media pundits make up the new inquisition.
And remember when Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) reported a story that a hospital couldn’t treat sick patients because too many people were coming in sick from taking horse/animal versions of ivermectin—and the whole story was a total lie—and that truth would have instantly appeared with ONE PHONE CALL to the hospital. News isn’t news any more. It’s all a very toxic business model that is spewing hatred and division and feeding it to people who want to hear it. I used to watch Maddow in the Trump years. No more.
No, it was a story claiming that a hospital in Oklahoma couldn’t treat gunshot victims because their ER was full of ivermectin overdoses that those moron Trumpers had been mainlining.
Obvious bullshit to anyone not currently housed in a state facility for the mentally disabled but the Blue Church people swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Phone isn’t cooperating with pasting a link but it’s easily googled. It’s as absurd as it sounds.
My dermatologist gave me a couple of free samples last time I saw her; I have Rosacea. I looked at them more carefully when I got home- and they are tubes of Ivermectin. And it works great!
Try to keep your face out of the sun and wear a big hat. UV rays are one of the biggest triggers for rosacea. Sun exposure worsens and rapidly progresses rosacea over time. sun exposure will make rosacea get worse and worse.
If you have any younger females in the family who are prone to blushing/flushing, especially kids, make sure to tell them to wear a big hat and avoid sun exposure on the face. if they avoid sun exposure on the face, they may be able to avoid a diagnosis of rosacea in the future.
My 3-year-old daughter is prone to red cheeks and I always have a sun hat on her and sunscreen on the face, even on cloudy days
I grew up in the baby oil/blistering sunburn times, but luckily by the time I was 19 I gave in to my Irish skin and kept out of the sun for the next 40 years. The good new is that at 55 I barely have any wrinkles! Bad news is the rosacea makes me break out sometimes.
I did follow your procedure for my oldest child who inherited my Irish complexion- she's really careful about sun exposure. So far so good with her. My younger two love the sun- but they got their dad's good Italian genes and never burn.
People don’t realize how devastating the effects of an entire generation without work ethic but dedicated to social media praise is to our society. Sure, it’s embarrassing and public when it happens in journalism, but it’s deadly when it happens in medicine, it’s devastating when it becomes the norm in education, and soon, we’ll all feel how truly painful it is when it happens in stock and bond markets.
When it’s more rewarding to follow the crowd than it is to do good work - all across there board and all across industries - society pays the price
And has been a world-changing in the political arena. Turns out the source of the Steele dossier, bought and paid for by HRC, was on the FBIs payroll. Just think of the FBI raids, FISA warrants and a Presidential candidate defamed. Repeatedly.
The debate over ESG investing is only the latest example of “social justice” warriors violating established legal norms, I.e. fiduciary responsibility.
Alex Berenson just did a stack on university covid vaccine mandates and how confusing they are in the face of medical evidence. But what’s confusing is why he thinks medical evidence matters. Vaccine mandates exist at universities because universities depend on NIH grants to do research and the NIH requires vaccine mandates (because they collect royalties on vaccine sales) to be eligible for grants.
ESG is exactly the same thing. The US is a banana republic - and our banana is debt. Debt is the only thing we produce and the only positive trade balance we have. So, when a bank needs free money (and they ALL need free money), they will follow whatever guidance the FED has produced in order to secure that loan. If those guidelines include nonsense like ESG that’s a small price to pay for what has been unlimited access to free money for almost 15 straight years.
You get bored later go checkout how much money Uber has burned through without even a pathway to profitability and then go check it’s investors. You’ll see why these investment firms and banks are SOOOO committed to ESG. It’s because borrowing money - rather than running successful businesses - is the ONLY thing they know how to do…
The US economy is the largest GDP in the world though. That’s real money even if some like Uber are losing billions they’re wasting mostly saudi sovereign wealth funds money. Uber is a Ponzi scheme and always has been. That’s the beauty of markets like the USA though you can pick and choose.
Modern GDP is a joke. It includes government spending and our government literally prints money whenever and however it wants and then “spends” it and calls it GDP. We have the largest trade deficit in human history. That tells you all you need to know. Other countries create value, we create debt. That bubble ALWAYS bursts
This was fun, thanks. To be fair, though, I would expect the "debunking" journalists to contact Rachel Richardson and ask whether she can explain how nobody else seems to have experienced what she reported, or whether perhaps she'd like to revise her story.
So true. They should release all the video and interviews they collected to the public. There are many who believe the fix was in from the start. But in this day and age where Twitter and TikTok reign supreme, the absence of any corroborating evidence on these platforms doesn’t bode well for Duke.
Absolutely they should stand up for who they are and what they teach. They should release all of it and dare the media to either look at it or dispute it, which you can't do without looking at it.
If people/entities don't start fighting back, everyone loses, including people like Rachel Richardson.
That’s what I want to know! What does she have to say for herself now? What do her teammates have to say? This is dangerous business, lying about stuff like this. Half the country believes the other half is racist because of shit like this.
BYU reviewed every scrap of video and audio footage of the game that they could get their hands on. One thing particularly of note that they discovered was that the disabled young man the player specifically accused was not speaking at all during the serves when she said she heard slurs being yelled.
And yet the Duke player made her accusation. The essay here is about the proper conduct of journalism and I believe the author would agree that what's required is not simply that the journalist is convinced he has the truth of the matter, but that all the relevant parties have been heard from and the relevant angles examined. It's hard to imagine the kind of editor the author lauds not asking this reporter "Well, have you spoken with the Duke player?"
This isn't a court proceeding and I'm not grasping at anything. My preferred outcome is that BYU is cleared, but precisely for that reason, and because when I read a news story I don't like to come away with obvious questions that the reporter should have asked, someone should have gone back to her with this evidence and asked her to explain it.
And that’s exactly where the bakery example went. Listening to an Oberlin college student explain how it didn’t matter if the bakery committed racism, all that mattered was now the perception that they did…. That now it was essentially more about virtue signaling than finding the truth and the family receiving justice for the harm done to them. I don’t have words for that, only a nearly uncontrollable urge to vomit.
Please call me Michael. And if I may: Parodies like that, while they capture certain truths, don't further the conversation. That's not criticism, just advice.
Ironically, you posted and thereby furthered the conversation.
I appreciate that and your response is reasonable. But my moment of glib indulgence serves the purpose of the court jester. This rhetoric must be robbed of its power, and to do so I use the rhetoric to highlight its own absurdity.
Plenty of people here have seen the unironic version of my comment on Twitter. The comment is for them.
Thirty years ago, I was a reporter for a mid-sized southern paper owned by the New York Times. As such we were part of the organization’s news wire. The company relied on us reporters to feed it stories, which the Times printed — regularly. In short, the NYT trusted our competence.
That is until a couple of stupid kids drove to high school with a Confederate Flag hanging in the truck’s rear window. Suddenly, we locals, including our African-American education reporter, weren’t up to the job. The NYT flew down at least one reporter and a photographer. A colleague had to give up his desk for a couple of days as the “pros” dug into “the incident.” Voila, a local school disciplinary issue turned into a national story because, of course, the South is a cesspool of racists.
I grew up in Connecticut, left, and returned nine years ago. In my life I’ve seen more racism in this bastion of tolerance than I ever saw in my five years down south. Mostly it was and is manifested in the racism of the lowest of expectations. As goes Connecticut, so goes New York.
I throw this out to echo other comments here that the NYT on the issue of race hasn’t been doing its job for decades. A newspaper’s job is to report news as it is. We all know that, or should. Yet the Times does nothing to explore and report on the daily interactions of those of us who live in this melting pot called the United States. It and its wannabes — the Washington Post, NPR, and the other dying metro dailies — want to keep the activists’ America-is-racist trope alive to sell papers and herald to the world their profound compassion for the lessers in our society. Gee, who are the real racists here?
I know that you are speaking about reporting, and the following quote is made in reference to fiction, but your post still reminded me of this statement from Flannery O’Connor:
“Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.”
Most of us are just fly-over country to the folks at the big publications.
Why I love the Common Sense comment section. It causes us to reach.
What a great quote, Cal. I’m in awe of and humbled by your knowledge of Flannery O’Connor and ability to apply her genius to our reality. Thank you, because you prompted me to look up the REAL meaning of grotesque. Here it is.
“: a style of decorative art characterized by fanciful or fantastic human and animal forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the natural into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature”
Thanks. That’s why I love the comment section as well. I always learn something and everyone is usually civil. Its really the only place I ever comment about anything online.
Flannery O’Connor was nothing if not witty. She and I share the same alma mater (though it was an all-girls’ school in her time). The definition you provided makes O’Connor’s quip even more incisive. Thanks for sharing it.
"Falsehoods travel on a swift horse, while the Truth walks." What is so striking is the these supposedly intelligent people in many of the major outlets don't seem to learn basic lessons.
This has to be a failure of leadership at those outlets. Imagine anyone trying to write this story 50 years ago without so much as picking up the phone to get quotes from players, coaches, and fans who were at the game, plus the school administration. They would have been chewed out, and the story would not run until it was fixed. Today, it flies onto the internet so it can get clicks and be tweeted.
Is it just me or did anyone else think about Oberlin and Jussie when they read this? The notion and pursuit of truth appears to have been canceled by the gray lady. What to conclude about those who continue to swear by the NYT as the paper of record? And silly me as I thought NYT AND WAPO had FACT checkers
Oberlin & Jussie & Duke & nooses & swatzikas & the Muslim girl on the train & 30 other stories made up from whole cloth. AKA, lies.
The press quickly knew that all those "outrages" were lies but if they can further divide the populace they've done their job. Tell 10 million the lie & eventually 2 million may learn the truth but, hey, you are still left with 8 million who fear those evil white supremacists.
Fact checkers check & then lie about everything from the Right & inconsequential statements from the Left. See, they're balanced.
The Babylon Bee has far more journalistic integrity than The New York Times & I say that as a native New Yorker who read the times for over 50 years. What has happened to that once great newspaper is tragic.
These faux incidents have become so prevalent one must think there is BIG money in this stunt. I feel sorry for BYU; of all the universities that something like this could happen I would posit BYU would be way down on the list.
Sadly I kept the $$ flowing their way for way too long because I enjoyed the fashion, recipes etc. Finally realized I couldn’t support and reward them anymore because of their blatant bias.
Maybe five years ago, I was snarking to my husband in the gym about how you can't trust a word the NYTimes tells you, and the woman next to me said, "I've written for the Times, and I had to go through 5 layers of fact-checking! Five! They're very thorough." I said, "Really? I don't know about other topics, but they are constantly wrong about Israel." And she said, "Well, yeah, Israel... But otherwise...!".
No recognition that if you can be so entirely wrong about one topic, you can easily be wrong about others. I'm guessing that they still do semi-decent journalism when there's no principle involved, no controversy, and they don't know or care much about the topic. So... the stories that end up on page A12 or whatever.
".” It also included a statement from Duke’s athletic director saying the university stood by the volleyball team. The story ends with a reminder that at the overwhelmingly Mormon school, less than 1 percent of students are black, and that a recent report highlighted the university’s diversity issues." - Maybe the New York Times could address this by providing a full ride scholarship for any black student who wishes to attend there and study journalism. NYT should put their money where their mouth is.
It goes back farther than just a few years. Look up Walter Duranty's reporting on the Holodomor. The Russia Russia Russia hoax was not the first time the NYT won a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting.
It would be easier compiling truthful articles. Every single time I glace at a NYT in the convenience store, I can spot glaringly obvious lies on the front page. And no, that's not an exaggeration.
Think about the way they were treated in the days following. They were victims and showered with sympathy and attention. Major media outlets wanted to speak to the family and share in their grief and anger. Celebrities mentioned them and shared their love and support. That is a powerful drug for those who seek it.
The Duke team got pantsed by the BYU squad which is currently ranked #10 while Duke is unranked. Some poking around Google indicates Duke has a reputation as a 'volleyball school'. BYU, not so much.
Spot on; they started this debacle. Of course the NYT took it and ran with it, with no real journalism taking place. But this young woman, her 'godmother, and her dad are the perpetrators. They should be roundly criticized for this vicious hoax, if not worse.
If the player in question has a cluster B personality disorder such as narcissistic personality disorder, then she would be unable to distinguish facts from her feelings. So, if she felt that the crowd was racist, then she would actually believe that they were yelling racist slurs at her. I’m not saying that she has NPD, but it would explain her behavior. If you have never met anyone with this, it is hard to believe that anyone would act this way, but they are out there.
Her father cannot be trusted to fulfill his duty with integrity, given the publicity of this embarrassment. Hopefully he is removed or reassigned, lest this behavior continue to worsen.
In the real world (where I live) nothing happens at the right place at the right time to satisfy journalists quest for cosmic justice, so they simply change events, ignore contradictory evidence and carnival bark - a chorus of dunces.
One key trait of the malignant narcissist is to distort interactions to make the other person look nasty. It's the narcissist's nastiness projected onto the real victim. The real racists are Rachel Richardson and the family members who projected this onto innocent people. And they are toxic narcissists. I can use their actual actions to support this assertion. AND I FOR ONE AM SICK OF BLACK NARCISSISTS DERIVING POWER AND CONTROL OVER WHITE PEOPLE BY MAKING FALSE ACCUSATIONS. We, as a society, have to stop enabling this card-carrying BULLSHIT. It is an ASSAULT.
Last year, I tried to discuss this seriously harmful narrative with my nephew. The "anti-Asian hate?" Most of that was schizophrenic black people, incapable of impulse control, punching Asians and pushing them onto subway tracks. My nephew, apparently, NEEDED TO BELIEVE that WHITE PEOPLE are doing this. WHY? What purpose does this serve? HE'S WHITE.
I presented my experience, now some twenty years old, of a black student not only accusing me of racism, but threatening to knife my face in front of a roomful of people -- and an administration (composed mainly of people of color) refusing to do anything about it until a BLACK STUDENT COMPLAINED. THEN I was vindicated. Is this the world we (WHITE) people want to live in?
I'm in my early 60s and never in my experience have I ever heard a white person say anything "racist" and anything that was said was TRUE, e.g. Don't go in that neighborhood, because....and for anyone who was around in the 70s, the looks of those neighborhoods was NOT GOOD. (Thanks to the War on Poverty, we have a black underclass that expects to be supported and when not supported somehow the 'man' is responsible).
Last spring, I had to go through a kangaroo trial at the university where I teach for volunteering a student of color to co-teach a lesson. This student had been complaining (in a nasty way, by the way, totally unacceptable the way this person treated ME) about having to take my writing class. This student's work, by all objective measures, was not exempt. She wouldn't listen as I tried to go over a poorly written summary with her. No -- I didn't know what I was doing --yes she said this to me. What was my "racism"? I partnered her with a stronger student to give a lesson, thus 'empowering' them. No-- that was "racist" -- it made her feel 'unsafe.' When I asked the HR person what evidence of racism the student provided, she responded:
"She doesn't have to provide evidence. All that matters is the way you made her feel."
THIS HAS TO STOP. It does not help anyone, especially not the aggrieved, narcissistic people of color wielding this insane weapon at innocent people. STOP TAKING THE BAIT.
The sad result of this type of behavior is many white people who were never racist will be turned into one based on these kinds of experiences. Thanks Barack.
The demand for white supremacists far outweighs the supply. And since there are literally ZERO consequences for making stories like this up we can expect BS like this to continue.
Yeah, ZERO consequences. That's the problem right there.
Is anyone surprised? I'm not. This is Oberlin Bakery, the Duke lacrosse team, Tawana Brawley, and https://news.yahoo.com/cnn-settles-defamation-lawsuit-kentucky-031509289.html all over again.
It just confirms that the press and the left are a bunch of race baiting lowlifes. They don't care who they destroy in their race to prove they aren't racist. Remember when the left said if you don't vote for the messiah, Obama, you were a racist.
It is just as racist to vote for somebody because of their race than it is to vote against someone because of their race.
The left disgusts me.
You might think that Duke - of all places - would have learned their lesson after their pathetic performance selling their lacrosse team down the river as documented in "Fantastic Lies." But, no. Showing, yet again, how craven and cowardly are our universities.
I remember when 60 Minutes did an actual contemporary reporting piece on the Duke lacrosse allegations. They clearly demonstrated that the incident described by the accuser never happened. Note, no one at Duke stood by their student athletes back then, when they were telling the truth, not lies as in the current story. The Liberal Arts department even took out a full page ad repudiating the lacrosse team and all they represented. I'm still waiting for the LA department, Al Sharpton, and all those "news" papers to apologize. The DA not only lost his job but was disbarred for his malpractice. As least someone faced consequences back then. Today, not so much. I doubt the young woman will be punished for race baiting.
The only reporter with the decency to apologize was Ruth Sheehan. The "Fantastic Lies" documentary (I think it was a 30 for 30 piece) is really worth watching for how the press and the usual idiots jumped on the bandwagon without a second's thought or hesitation. As a lifelong lacrosse player this was also deeply personal to me.
I think the DA also went to prison. When he got out, the DNC probably offered him a job or Nancy Pelosi gave him a job as a staff member in her office.
Sadly, Nifong spent only one day in jail.
My proposal is that dirty prosecutors, cops and other officials have to spend twice the prison term they sought for the defendants they tried to railroad. That would stop dirty prosecutors in their tracks. Are you listening Merrick Garland?
For real!
You are right many people have a very short memory
The NYT few days ago did a fluff piece on Rolling Stone founder called
" Jann Wenner Wants to Reveal It All. ( basically a article to promote his new book"
NO where is this NYT piece was mentioned, talked about the Duke Lacrosse story and this was the reason Jann Wenner stepped down in 2017.
And if you call MSM on their bias you are MAGA aka fascist!!!
*semi facist
just picking nits
Why does the author of this piece call these assholes journalists? They're journalists? They are race baiters, just like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and 99% of the left. Al and Jesse have been making big bucks off this for years.
How many of the "journalists" will be fire for being incompetent, racist pigs? Please don't tell me they are not racists. It is just as racist to willingly falsely accuse a white man as it is to willingly falsely accuse a black man.
Let's hope BYU, like Nick Sandmann, sues the leftists propaganda outlets like NYU and the rest of the despicable mob of hard left nitwits. Sandmann settled with CNN and The Washinton Post for millions.
That kid will never have to work a day in his life.
Isn't it interesting that while freedom of speech is under attack freedom of the press is deemed sacrosanct?
This entire story reveals to me that our press (such as it is) - is not free at all. It is held under the sway and subservient to the pervasive monster staining all of us: social media. Without Twitter fanning the flames, going viral nationally within hours, this (non) story would never have left the field house in Utah. In a loud, raucous crowd, who the hell could have heard anything clearly? It would have been dismissed as unprovable right there and then by the officials present. (I'd like to see that police officer interviewed).
But no. The kid stays quiet for a day or two - and then unleashes her version and labels whatever it was she heard (if anything) as racist abuse.
We clearly have a left leaning media monster in our midst, checking nothing that may counter its stance, I agree.
But social media played a huge role here, as it so often does..
And who runs social media? We live in a world run by totalitarians without a conscience. When innocent people are severely damaged or even killed it no longer matters. Just remember the summer riots of 2020.
Cant agree with you enough on identifying social media as the primary culprit in all of this
Only left wing press. Libsoftiktok just rebroadcasts what the lib posters PUBLICLY post themselves and they get shut down and vilified on the regular.
You can be sure that if the right dominated the press (as the left does today), the reverse would be true.
That is why the news press is supposed to be objective and not controlled by either side of politics. Otherwise, all you have is TASS
The freedom by the conventional media to perpetrate fraud, in both fact and interpretation.
TYTY. You couldn't be more right.
I'm afraid you and Mel are correct. There appear to be zero consequences for Big Media for screwing the pooch so badly, and worse, dire consequences for reporters and editors who get beaten filing the first Tweet because they took the time to confirm a story.
Yes, that's the real social harm of reporting news that has no factual basis: people assume it's true, and that furthers the narrative as you suggest: We are so awash in racism that the entire Duke University volleyball team feared for their lives that night thanks to race-baiting from the stands.
I didn't buy it when the story was first reported, and I don't buy it now. This day and age, a video of somebody or somebodies shouting the N-word from the stands would have gone viral on social media.
Exactly! Yet when none of the other players heard what Richardson says she heard, they didn't speak up. To be an accomplice in a lie is just as bad as starting the lie!
How in the world could nothing have been found if it's reported that it was said over and over? I have no doubt the minute that was heard, it would have be quashed.
The whole thing is absolutely maddening and absurd.
It would have absolutely been quashed, by surrounding fans. The iPhone videos would have gone viral. I cannot imagine what compelled Richardson to make this allegation.
Honestly!
My thoughts as well. I have said for a long time that the demand for racism in our country far exceeds the supply.
Jussie Smollett vibes all over again.
hmmm...you just gave me an idea for a new career: racist for hire. The more you pay me, the more sensational will be the racist event that I fabricate.
When demand is high and supply is low, suppliers can set their price really high. I'm gonna get rich!
ugh...I just realized I could not pull this off with zero racist bones in my body. Darn!
I sincerely hope that IF it can be proven that this is a Smollet situation that legal consequences come of this. The last thing our country needs are people who will callously slander with the scarlet letter R.
Just for the sake of argument let’s say that she did make this event entirely up. Her actions (if true) caused an individual to be slandered as a racist, the other fans too get tinged as racist for not saying something, a school gets smeared for breeding and allowing this behavior (and takes a financial hit). It also managed to smear adherents to the faith as the current day members are confronted by the past of other members from nearly 50 years ago in ways that have nothing to do with them. Not to mention that her actions (again if true) are yet another example of someone intentionally causing racial division and we’ve seen the devastating consequences that has caused our country.
My guess is you will not hear about it, but SC basketball will have to pay some big dollars for canceling the game over made-up BS. Hope it is a large cost to them.
There was a time when black athletes faced real racism and endured terrible retribution for daring to advocate for equal treatment. There were also extraordinary black athletes like Muhammad Ali who transcended race and stood alone against government coercion that would soon tear the country apart. In 1967, during the height of the Vietnam war, he was drafted for service in the US military. It’s clear that he would never have faced combat and could have comfortably served as a poster boy for a military industrial complex that needed a constant source of cannon fodder while continuing with his boxing career. Yet he refused induction, saying “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong”. For that conscientious decision, he was stripped of his heavyweight boxing crown and prohibited from fighting by every state athletic commission for three and a half years. In addition, he was criminally indicted, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison although he remained free on bail for four years until the US Supreme court overturned his conviction on a narrow procedural ground. Thankfully he was able to continue his boxing career and soon regained his crown.
Today the most prominent black athlete is a pampered buffoon named Lebron James who willingly parrots the lies of Ms. Richardson and lectures the rest of us about “racism” that in this country while ignoring the documented Uyghur slave labor camps in China so he can sell a few more sneakers.
It also caused the SC coach of women’s volleyball to cancel an upcoming series with BYU because she was supposedly looking out for her girls. She really had no right to do that at a public university. When is this going to end? Sadly, it won’t. We have a soft society who falls for these fake stories time and again without even questioning…just taking the word of the so-called victim. We now have lots of those in our country!
Fully agree with your take and it needs to be gone but unfortunately the press continues the sherade.
Ummm have you noticed that the left continually “callously” uses the “scarlet letter” R on all their opponents????
Absolutely and now we also get to be fascists well! The irony is awfully thick but sadly it’s much uglier than just ironic. When Obama smeared some as clinging to guns and the Bible and then Hillary the basket of deplorables slur there was not sufficient pushback. These more recent attacks are sadly just escalations of the same.
Every single election cycle they escalate their dehumanizing terminology. It's on purpose. Their goal is to make Republican viewpoints, along with all the cultural history there, unacceptable in the new USA.
Why do we keep on allowing it?
Because the Left controls the Media, Social Media, Academia, Law, Medicine, and the Bureaucracy, along with (currently) two branches of our government. Only a few state governments, a few news organizations and a few pundits remain outside the Left's complete control.
Any kind of uprising or rioting against the Left will be treated the same way Jan6 was. Even if we somehow manage to vote Republicans back into control of the government, every other organization the Left controls will resist.
It wasn’t effective enough to call us extremists racists conservatives now we are fascists. Even Russell Brand and Glenn Greenwald are conservatives and stupid gullible people swallow it hook line and sinker. They go with what works and ignore the moral consequences.
It's all they have. Now, that word means nothing. The sad fact that the young women and her race baiting 'godmother' faces NO retribution or financial consequences is appalling. Using 'White supremacy' is nothing but another dog whistle that we should all start ignoring.
They won’t let us ignore it if we do ignore it we racists if we pushback we racists.I think America has had enough, we need to really stand up in November and vote the Democrats out!🇺🇸🇺🇸
I live someplace where I can ignore it; but it isn't right and it isn't fair to anyone. I'm with you about November; vote en masse and vote the progressives out.
Even calling Larry Elder, a Black man, the Black face of white supremacy.
I don't know what's worse, the people calling him that or the idiots who believe it.
I'll ask You the same question as I asked "Sea Sentry:" What do You mean IF?
Did You read the part about BYU first backing the claim and then doing a *thorough* investigation of it.
Plus, since ZERO, zip, zilch, NADA WITNESSES came forward to support the story?
Those two *facts* seemed to close the loop, to most people who don't have an ingrained bias. Not that You *necessarily* have one, but I think You missed something in *this* case. That's just me.
Have some sympathy for those poor BYU administrators quaking in their shoes over their public disgrace and the possibility of losing alumni support and millions of dollars in revenue. Now they're rightfully condemned for massive lack of spine in handling this outrageous claim. and caving to the lies. How can they possibly recover their public standing? Poor, gutless administrators just trying to go along to get along.
Here's the thing: most BYU alums smelled a rat to start with. But they also would want an investigation, because if the person shouting had been a student, they would expect that student to be ejected from the university.
As far as I know, most of BYU's operating budget comes from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS students pay reduced tuition (after the same pattern as in-state vs out-of-state tuition) because their parents likely pay tithing and they themselves will likely pay tithing on the wages they earn as a result of their education.
Like button not working again.
Great comment.
And "smelled a rat" is perfect.
Because we are dealing with rats.
Bruce, if you hit the like and it doesn't turn red, hit the refresh button and then it turns red. There is a delay.
Let's not be too harsh. The truly spineless thing would have been to conclude the investigation by pretending they couldn't identify whoever was shouting the slur and reiterating that such behavior is a violation of the university's core values. Rescinding the interim measure on the ejected fan and reporting that the investigation found no evidence to support that the incident even happened required a modicum of honesty and courage.
The only IF I’m willing to entertain is that perhaps she mistook something that was said. Not likely IMO but possible.
Yeah, but the story morphed from one person shouting when she served in the 2nd and 4th periods (directly in front of the BYU student section) to a game-long "racial heckling that grew into threats."
The most charitable read is she heard something she thought was a slur (BYU student section known for addressing visiting players by their first names). Then she told her godmother, a politician with a history of race-baiting, and the harassment in the story escalated with the father and then her statement.
Trapped in a lie that was probably a mis-hearing/misunderstanding to begin with. One that will live on. You still get "Something happened" from a large segment of people on the Duke Lacrosse hoax. And no hoax has been as thoroughly debunked.
Supposedly there was a player named Nicky on the team and that is probably what was misheard. I'm tellin' ya.....if people were blatantly saying the "n" word in 2022, you can believe the game would have been stopped!
This is absurd on its face!
Why hasn’t the accuser come forward to point the finger of the MAGA hat wearing perp?
Ah. Weeeel, there's always that *possibility.* Me? I go by the odds, and I judge them to be decidedly in favor of BYU.
Yeah truthfully I’m virtually sure you are correct but I’m entertaining the possibility some misinterpretation could be at play here.
You could be right, so there is that.
One of the local stories I read on it stated the mentally challenged individual who was punished has a thing about shots that hit the net. They didn't say what he may have said, but any variation of the word "net" could easily be misheard in a bad way, especially if he has a speech impediment.
Yeah - and when God was parceling out the 'brains' to today's crop of spineless, lazy journalists - they thought He said "train" - so they got out of the way.
Toxic business model that is lucrative.
It's worse than zero consequences - it gets praised and exalted. Victimhood is currency in the leftwing media climate
Someone needs to tell this young lady that 'victimhood' is NOT a career choice.
but it is.
Seems you are right; but we don't have to enable it, do we?
At the moment we have to pushback real hard
And what will happen to the politicians who pour gasoline on the flames. Not only the senile imbecile who purports to lead us who gave currency to the Smollett hoax. But the witless moron who purports to lead Utah, who did the very same to pander before the facts were known.
And how about the presidents of BYU and Duke? No repercussions for them?
Disgusting all around. When facts no longer matter we are no better than monkeys.
IMO this began to be fashionable on the Left with Obama. From the clinging to guns and the Bible to his comments about the Gates police incident, Trayvon Martin, etc, etc it always seemed as if he picked at the scab in regards to race. While racism was certainly not entirely eradicated by the time he ran for office one can look at public opinion (both blacks and whites) and see how much it has deteriorated from its zenith (under W).
Obama was the most successful racist opportunist who now lives in Martha’s Vineyard which says it all.
Now there are 50 illegal border crossers living in "Sanctuary" Martha's Vineyard. Maybe they can live on the Obama property since he isn't there most of the year.
"DeSantis Sends Some Illegals to Martha's Vineyard and Right-Twitter Can't Stop Laughing"
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2022/09/15/desantis-sends-some-illegals-to-marthas-vineyard-and-right-twitter-cant-stop-laughing-n1629725
She should get mauled by the media for this. Another Juicy Smuliet.
Question is - will Richardson be expelled from Duke?
You know the answer to that, too.
She should be shamed for her racism.
Should be expelled, but it never will happen. Member of a protected class
Question is "who won the Game"?...gee
Imagine if it was the other way around!
A couple of years at my daughter's university a couple (who were students) posted a video of themselves on Insta. One of the couple was a lacrosse player the college. The girlfriend used the "n" word. My daughter shared the video with me and they looked totally high. While the "n" word is totally unacceptable, I was more concerned for the fact that this couple was so high on a Wednesday night. A black student saw it, called it out and they were expelled. Just.Like.That.
We went to see Kevin Hart a few weeks back and there were three comedians prior to him coming out. I have NEVER heard the "n" word more in one hour than I did that night. It was horrible....but there is was over and over and over!
Exactly. If a word is a bad word, a degrading and insulting word, it is so no matter from whose mouth it issues.
No consequences, and a huge reward for being a perceived victim, when it becomes your “lived experience” regardless of whether it really happened. BLM said as much to Jussie Smullet - they still believe him… truth is just incidental to the Narrative.
You hit the nail on the head. Racism has been on the decline for many decades, thankfully. But organizations like BLM and all the highly paid DEI administrators at schools need racism to grow again to keep their jobs. It's always about the money.
"The demand for white supremacists far outweighs the supply".
Unfortunately, there has always been a cadre of race baiters like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson willing to satiate the left’s need for a “racist” boogeyman to demonize. Funny how the claims more often than not appeared in the run up to elections or impending votes on socialist spending bills. It’s no coincidence that democratic patrons have enriched them for their efforts. It looks like there’s a new generation of wannabes more than eager to get in on the scam. Too bad for the likes of Ms. Richardson, it seems like the supply far exceeds the demand.
Never been prouder of my town that when Reverend Al came here last year during the Haitian invasion.
He was shouted down after about two minutes and left town
"I am afraid that there is a certain class of race problem solvers don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out, they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public." Bokker T. Washington.
And Ben Crump is the new generation of race baiting attorneys.
I encourage folks who have not heard of this story to read about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tony_Timpa.
Essentially the same facts as George Floyd except Timpa was white. No outrage, no prison time and no huge settlement for the family. Another example of all that white privilege I suppose…
You are spot on, the Sharpton’s, BLM’s and Crumpler’s of the world NEED to keep the BS idea of massive racism still being a thing, it’s a huge industry at this point.
Huge industry I can think of a lot around the world.
Especially Federal dollars! You never want to give up the federal money!!
The desperation for clicks actually encourages it. The more outrageous the better. The fact this girl had very successful parents also just shows how insane the victim complex has become. Why is she not harassed like the people she’s accused would be. It’s all backwards.
In this case, BYU should consider demanding Duke take disciplinary action against the player (at the university level, our police and courts have better things to spend their time on). If they decline to do so (which they will), publicly announce that BYU doesn't share Duke's values and cancel any future games with Duke, all sports. It is absolutely what would have happened if the shoe were on the other foot.
Here's an article from Spiked published today that has a nice take on all of this hate hoax bullshit.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/15/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-hate-crime-hoax/
And there's Will Reilly's book, too. https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Crime-Hoax-Lefts-Campaign/dp/1621577783?asin=B07F6RN7Y4&revisionId=877d9a57&format=1&depth=1
That was good
unfortunately, sources and appeals to authority are king for the SJW crowd and "spiked-online" is right wing trash, dontchaknow.
Yeah, that was good. TYTY.
Just imagine that a white person would claim that they were insulted with racial slurs. At first, nobody would care - what’s wrong with insulting white people? - then, if the accusation will prove to be a lie, that person would be destroyed. Apparently, the best that can be done in this case is to state that BYU is not guilty, but no way to even talk about the forged accusations. The NYT article seems to put the burden on BYU to explain WHY would the black volleyball player make a fake accusation. It’s like living in a hallucination.
I don't think BYU has to explain why a person might invent a racial slur hoax. At this point, it's such a well-known phenomenon that everyone understands it happens, even if reasonable people still debate the percentages (it is probably most in some settings, less than most in others).
So…at the gym chatting with a friend of mine, who had been in a water aerobics class that morning while I was swimming. She said, ‘so…can you believe they played ‘Play That Funky Music (White Boy)’ (by Wild Cherry, 1976, if you need a reference)? What’s the sentiment towards ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ by Lou Reed? If there wasn't a double standard, there’d be no standard at all.
What Richardson did was not a crime so the only possible consequences are expulsion from her school or public shame. And the people with the power to impose either consequence support her lies.
I would suspend her participation in college sports. Kids are stupid, make up stupid lies. Expulsion is a harsh penalty. But you cannot have someone that treated their competitor (and host) so shabbily continue to represent the school at future events.
While not a crime, it could lead to personal damages against a person, leading to loss of livelihood or societal exile. This is real and has happened. The common reply from the enlightened woke as to why that is just ok is ‘but that’s different’.
BANG ON!!!!
I was just speechless reading this story and just not certain what to say and this statement you have written here captures exactly what needs to be said.
The religion of social justice has seized control of our society, just like many past religions and has no value for truth, justice and most importantly: honesty
Exactly what I was going to post. I'll add this: When we've got the POTUS going all First Order talking about how "MAGA Republicans are a threat to democracy," it's unsurprising that the mainstream media wants to hype Racism Everywhere. They want the public to buy in to the idea of Racism Everywhere so they can vilify dissenters. They want to be able to deplatform, freeze bank accounts and even jail dissenters, and what better way to do that than by calling them white supremecists so that no one objects? That's also why they doggedly pretend black dissenters don't exist.
well, the mid-terms are coming up, they have to have a distraction from actual policy outcomes.
I don’t mean to exaggerate, but my opinion is that New York Times in particular has not practiced “real” journalism for many years now. As such, it’s difficult for me to be surprised that they once again have presented only what they would like the news to be. I know many writers here and around have friends and colleagues there, and you hope for the best, but the truth is, there’s no there there anymore. It’s been reduced to a mere mouthpiece of the crazy left.
The NYT knows their audience and this is the kind of story they want to read. Truth is irrelevant. But why do they want these lies? The message of this story, and many others like it, really is about good and evil. There are the good people, NYT readers, and bad people. The bad people can be Mormons, or religious people generally, or Southerners, or Republicans, etc. Isn’t it fun to feel superior to the racist masses?
There is another motivation in addition to the "feel good" aspect you describe. Whether true or untrue is irrelevant. The story is part of left wing propaganda that things like this happen every day and this story is just a reinforcement of that narrative. It's as old as AL Sharpton and Tawana Brawley so nothing new to see here!
Well said! 👍
BS. What alternative do you think exists? I read The NY Times article and it is simply straight up reporting. You are simply projecting your biases.
Straight up reporting? Did Vimal Patel, author of the original story, travel to Provo to interview even a single person? He's based in Washington, DC. Did anyone from one of the Times' western bureaus go to Provo? I doubt it. The Times is nothing more than a Twitter megaphone, and, as one of the few major media outlets supported primarily by subscription revenue rather than advertising, they know what their audience wants.
When I read an article in the Times, I assumed they followed their journalistic process before their sports editors decide to publish online. I also see McKenna Oxenden contributed to reporting and Jack Begg contributed research.
Good to know the specific list of names and people who failed to put in any basic effort to learn the truth.
Their work is specifically for people like you, who choose to defend them as they choose to deceive you.
“assumed they followed their journalistic process”. That pretty much sums it up. There is far too much assuming in reporting and far too much believing in reading.
Wow. The only conclusion one can draw from this comment is that either you are not all there upstairs or that you are just another troll. Or both.
Great. The inmates surely are running the asylum!
I’m curious, even though I think you’re likely trolling people. Do you still believe there were racial slurs hurled at the black player at the game then?
No, I don't believe racial slurs were hurled at a black player at the game.
I this all this bemoaning about "the media" being for/against some aggrieved group is a waste of time and has become a sport.
I also don't care much about what's posted on Twitter and carried forward as click-bait in other cable media channels. The endless pursuit of ad dollars in this industry is tearing our country apart as evidenced by all the grievances aired here.
Trolling I assume? If not I encourage you to read about the founder of this site and learn about how bad their journalism has become.
Good thing You and the NYT don't have any biases. /sarc
Imagine being savvy enough to know about and read Substack but *still* believing the NYT practices actual journalism rather than just manufacturing consent for whatever the corporatocrats and oligarchs want to do next.
Please explain how is it possible that “straight up reporting” by a national newspaper be proved to be dead wrong by a college newspaper?
Rod Serling couldn't explain it!
BS is rich! What alternative is rich! Straight up reporting is rich. It appears your standard for reporting is they wouldn’t print/say it if it wasn’t true.
What exactly are you defending 😂
The 1,300 Times employees who want to stay home get their news headlines from Twitter left. Their "journalists" are no longer hitting the road to find or follow real news stories, like the scary daily crime taking place in their own city. I don't know why anyone would give the NYT a dime to pay for a bunch of activists in their pajamas reporting on Twitter trends.
During the George Floyd protests and riots, the only actual reporting that was done by the Times was done by Nellie Bowles, who caught a plane to Seattle, and went out and got the story by talking to people there, the old fashioned way. You know, like an actual reporter. I'm eager for more high-quality reporting in the Times from her - but wait . . . she isn't there anymore, is she?
The crossword puzzle is pretty good. That’s it.
The crossword has gone downhill under Will Shortz and the Wordplay comments section is unreadable. Not long ago, people were protesting the inclusion of “NRA”—the FDR program, not the gun lobby—as an answer because it was upsetting. There are regularly heated comments if someone criticizes puzzle quality as being “hurtful” or “unkind” to the creator. Many former commenters, myself included, don’t even bother anymore.
Spelling Bee is fun, but even there, idiot millennial editors censor perfectly legitimate words the eighth meanings of which could possibly be considered offensive.
As for the paper itself, I cancelled my subscription years ago.
it is definitely more 'woke' than it used to be. I don't mind variety as puzzles tend to get stuck in loops of reused clues (which is the fault of the editors more than the authors) so hilighting minority stars and the like is fine by me and if it gets more people puzzling, that's cool! But the inclusion of frequent references to Marx and Engels is just obnoxious over the last few years.
And Wordle.
If you have just realized, the Internet killed the news industry. It's just another entertainment medium with a small group of diehards trying to report: everyone makes money off the work of whoever is left, including Common Sense.
The problem is on both sides: left and right. They are ALL owned by the same investment companies and each unit has created a niche market that panders to its audience—rather than reporting real news. Toxic but lucrative business models. There is no real news anymore in any consistent way.
Nonsense. The media is overwhelming leftist. This is not to say that there aren't equally lurid right-wing news outlets but they are not mainstream.
Furthermore there is a direct relationship between the Democratic Party and the corporate media outlets, which represents a necessary foundation for fascism. When we learned that the NYT is getting approval for messaging directly from the leadership of the Democratic Party, that's the nail in the coffin of any credibility the paper had left.
The Gray Lady is dead. Long Live Common Sense!!
Fox is pretty mainstream. So is WSJ (though their reporting is at least generally accurate and they print retractions when they're wrong).
You've just nailed exactly why the WSJ is the only major news outlets I pay for.
Honest people apologize when they get things wrong, and know that it's not only ok but our moral duty to do so.
Correct. Fox IS considered mainstream, and it’s news and sensationalist headlines are also tailored to its more conservative audience.
Nonsense. The media is overwhelmingly for the rich and neither right or left.
Now that's truly funny.
Yeah, clearly Bruce had not read ANY Fox News articles, like, ever. Both traditionally conservative and liberal mainstream outlets peddle stories tailored to their audiences. I see both everyday delivered to my iPhone, and I digest them both, with discernment of course.
Let's see........
Mainstream liberal broadcast or cable outlets - CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, NPR, MSNBC.
Conservative - FOX.
I am not at all disagreeing with the point that the majority of the mainstream is liberal (very good point actually), just that both put out “news” tailored to their respective audiences and both require reading with discernment and should be taken with a grain of salt. It is a main reason I now subscribe to Common Sense.
Well said. It's become a sport now. I am willing to bet 99% of subscribers never heard of this incident until they read it here. And then, immediately, all grievances are freely aired.
I dunno about others, but this is both old news and standard fair from the left. Everything I've read from You today indicates You're likely a delusional leftist Yourself.
The red flag is the change of subject to character attacks on "what I think they are like"
Not true. USA Today ran a headline calling the Clay & Buck Show “white supremacists” for doubting the story and low and behold they were right. You can’t even suggest we take a second without getting labeled. Her dad who works for the government needs to answer for his race baiting behavior as well. It’s more than the pursuit of clicks. It’s the ideology promoting the idea that this happens all the time when it doesn’t.
This was national news. It reflects a very real, serious shift in the national zeitgeist. I agree with your assertion in other comments that social media (and big tech in general) shifts the way that people consume news and it is all for the negative. But the desire to push back against a false narrative not just in one case or another but writ large is really important. America, and the west in general, is not irredeemable and for many, the 'fact' that it is colors how they see just about everything lately. We need to be able to look forward to the future, work toward the positive future now, and learn from and appreciate our past. Not burn it all down
This has been true since the late 1990's. I came to be aware of this when DOE was establishing a high school in the neighborhood, that our kids could actually use without being bused to far away overcrowded schools where they were not welcome. The Times sent a cub reporter, who did not bother to report on what the participants were actually saying, called us all racists, and went home to file the story, apparently without adult editorial supervision. At the time I thought of it as a perfect example of Manhattan contempt for "outer-borough-racist-oafs," laid with a trowel on our middle-class, politically liberal, mixed-race neighborhood. Since then this has morphed into something much worse.
Over the last couple of month, the New York Times has run articles on two different subjects with which I am deeply familiar. In both cases, they missed important details. Sad to say, they are no longer the paper of record. I'll look forward to the day I see thorough research and nuance.
All the narrative that's fit to print.
But very little in the Times is fit to print. The motto should probably be changed to "All we print is narrative."
Our high school quote was “all the news that fits we print”
I would think that BYU would and should sue the Duke player, her family, and Duke U itself for slander. Obviously, Duke’s team players knew that the story was false. They were in attendance after all.
They won’t, though. Because BYU (and Mormons generally) are not vindictive or litigious. That’s what makes this story extra horrible. This girl and her spotlight-seeking family and spineless university couldn’t have picked a kinder, more forgiving group to slander. Just look at the Book fo Mormon musical—imagine any other church/religion tolerating that. Mormons are everyone’s punching bag.
Thank you for this-
I have found Mormons in general to be very kind and unassuming and have lovely manners. That's why I found the story hard to believe from the first.
My best friend growing up along with a number of other friends were Mormon and this is spot on. We disagreed on matters of faith but some really kind, decent folks from all I ever observed.
You’re right on this. I went to BYU and am a Mormon/member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the church or BYU definitely won’t take action, which I think is good. This thing will play out and we’ll just turn the other cheek. Thanks for the positive comment.
Beautiful comment
I thought that it was odd that no Duke players confirmed or denied the accusations. Surely they would have heard what Robinson heard if the story was true.
Maybe they’re afraid if they tell the truth that nothing happened she’ll come after them with accusations. Anyone who’d make up this incident or who actually believes this happened is someone to avoid.
This is why this sort of thing cannot be fought against and the left knows it. You will be labeled a racist for the rest of your life, even if you are right. This sort of thing is never going away.
At this point, I don’t care. They have abused the word beyond any meaning.
I don't think a lawsuit would do much good. The fact that 5,000 other people in the stadium did not hear the insult does not "prove" the player did not hear it. Proof in court is different from a logical conclusion.
What stands out to me is that the first reaction wasn’t skepticism and questions. The idea that a racial slur was yelled loud enough and multiple times in at a college volleyball game and nobody did or said anything to that vile person should, at the very least, have raised doubt For this to be true one would have to believe that nearly everyone in the crowd was either a racist or an absolute coward. I can’t imagine anyone hearing this -let alone many college students - and not either saying something directly, reporting it to security, speaking to media outlets or ebb taking a photo of the person and posting on social media to embarrass the person. Yet, major media outlets, celebrities, administrators etc.didn’t even question it. Clearly the fear of being labeled racist by not 100% believing the accusation holds far more influence than the desire to seek the truth. And yet silence from those who chose to perpetuate, at the very least, a questionable story.
I haven't been a student at BYU since 1987, but the idea that no one in an audience of BYU students would do anything about someone yelling racial slurs is 100% counter to everything I know of the university and the LDS religion.
The kids there are not cowards. Recall that many of them have gone or intend to go on church proselytizing missions. They aren't people who would keep quiet if they saw a wrong being done.
Also note that, as a consequence of the long-term effects of Brigham Young's personal views on race (which were entirely counter to Joseph Smith's), which were only corrected in the 1970s, LDS people tend to be hypersensitive about accusations of racism. The low percentage of black students at BYU is a result of a low percentage of LDS blacks in the U.S. The football niche normally filled by black players is, at BYU, filled by Polynesians, usually Tongans.
But as Duke so sneeringly suggested, many people in the U.S. make the assumption that LDS people are inherently racist. BYU is automatically guilty in the minds of those people.
This athlete could not have chosen a more "believable" target for her slander. Which, frankly, makes me wonder if she did, in fact, make a intentional choice.
They go on missions wearing dress shirts and ties. The look professional and clean cut. They wave and greet the multitude of non Mormons. Polite, and quiet they spread their message of faith and this atheist praises and respects their efforts. I’ve never met a rude or lazy Mormon and wish there were more of them.
I tend to believe her 'godmother' ratcheted up this mess. That's her 'one trick pony' go to from what has been written about her. It's not like there are not enough issues we must address; this kind of behavior should be put on 'high ignore' and not given any oxygen by those of us who see this for what it is.
I bet that’s exactly what she did. First rule of being a bully.
I always enjoy your perspective and gifted writing abilities. Never knew of your BYU connection, so this Saturday please forgive me if my boys beat the Cougars haha.
I didn't graduate, although it took me five years of only intermittently successful struggles with my clinical depression to finally flunk out. When I went back to college in my 30s at Washburn University in Topeka, it only took a year for me to finish my B.A. Then it was on to Kansas State for grad school. So I am as much an Icabod as a Cougar, and a lot more of a Wildcat overall.
Let me just add thank you to the Cougars for beating Baylor.
God knows her heart. She will have to reconcile that at some point.
The audience for these grievance stories literally believes that every single white person is racist.
So yes, they accept it immediately because it's presupposed in their racist worldview.
If only the president would call for calm. Oh wait...
EXACTLY this. As I said in a different comment, I could see some drunk idiot shouting a racial slur. However, we've (thankfully!) reached the point in society where that person would be told to shut up or escorted out.
At BYU, a drunk spectator would not have been allowed into the venue, and if they somehow got in, they would be immediately escorted out the moment that anyone realized they were drunk. Drinking is not allowed on BYU campus.
It's really pretty simple to see what the failure of what journalism has become.
Journalists today appear to be trained to be activists, not traditional journalists, and "narrative news" replaced investigative news. If it fits the narrative, it's reported on—endlessly. If not, you'll hear the crickets.
Any dissenting perspective would obviously come from heretics, and the media pundits make up the new inquisition.
"narrative news" replaced investigative news. If it fits the narrative, it's reported on—endlessly. If not, you'll hear the crickets.”
Quote of the day!
Sorta like teachers.
You can expand that to most every university major now.
And remember when Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) reported a story that a hospital couldn’t treat sick patients because too many people were coming in sick from taking horse/animal versions of ivermectin—and the whole story was a total lie—and that truth would have instantly appeared with ONE PHONE CALL to the hospital. News isn’t news any more. It’s all a very toxic business model that is spewing hatred and division and feeding it to people who want to hear it. I used to watch Maddow in the Trump years. No more.
Thank you for seeing the light. You give me hope.
I thought it was because of the unvaccinated people with Covid filling up the ER? Not Ivermectin related overdoses/adverse effects.
No, it was a story claiming that a hospital in Oklahoma couldn’t treat gunshot victims because their ER was full of ivermectin overdoses that those moron Trumpers had been mainlining.
Obvious bullshit to anyone not currently housed in a state facility for the mentally disabled but the Blue Church people swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Phone isn’t cooperating with pasting a link but it’s easily googled. It’s as absurd as it sounds.
Ugh- that's so stupid!!
My dermatologist gave me a couple of free samples last time I saw her; I have Rosacea. I looked at them more carefully when I got home- and they are tubes of Ivermectin. And it works great!
Me too MW! I was surprised to see that on the ingredient list of the compound.
Try to keep your face out of the sun and wear a big hat. UV rays are one of the biggest triggers for rosacea. Sun exposure worsens and rapidly progresses rosacea over time. sun exposure will make rosacea get worse and worse.
If you have any younger females in the family who are prone to blushing/flushing, especially kids, make sure to tell them to wear a big hat and avoid sun exposure on the face. if they avoid sun exposure on the face, they may be able to avoid a diagnosis of rosacea in the future.
My 3-year-old daughter is prone to red cheeks and I always have a sun hat on her and sunscreen on the face, even on cloudy days
I grew up in the baby oil/blistering sunburn times, but luckily by the time I was 19 I gave in to my Irish skin and kept out of the sun for the next 40 years. The good new is that at 55 I barely have any wrinkles! Bad news is the rosacea makes me break out sometimes.
I did follow your procedure for my oldest child who inherited my Irish complexion- she's really careful about sun exposure. So far so good with her. My younger two love the sun- but they got their dad's good Italian genes and never burn.
that hospital is in a low populated county that "might" have one gunshot victim in a year.
Correct. I remember that.
Good catch! This is very similar but we’ve mostly forgotten.
People don’t realize how devastating the effects of an entire generation without work ethic but dedicated to social media praise is to our society. Sure, it’s embarrassing and public when it happens in journalism, but it’s deadly when it happens in medicine, it’s devastating when it becomes the norm in education, and soon, we’ll all feel how truly painful it is when it happens in stock and bond markets.
When it’s more rewarding to follow the crowd than it is to do good work - all across there board and all across industries - society pays the price
And has been a world-changing in the political arena. Turns out the source of the Steele dossier, bought and paid for by HRC, was on the FBIs payroll. Just think of the FBI raids, FISA warrants and a Presidential candidate defamed. Repeatedly.
While they accuse the other side of fascism, authoritarianism, misinformation and conspiracy theories.
At this point, anyone who doesn't see it is choosing blindness.
100%
The debate over ESG investing is only the latest example of “social justice” warriors violating established legal norms, I.e. fiduciary responsibility.
Alex Berenson just did a stack on university covid vaccine mandates and how confusing they are in the face of medical evidence. But what’s confusing is why he thinks medical evidence matters. Vaccine mandates exist at universities because universities depend on NIH grants to do research and the NIH requires vaccine mandates (because they collect royalties on vaccine sales) to be eligible for grants.
ESG is exactly the same thing. The US is a banana republic - and our banana is debt. Debt is the only thing we produce and the only positive trade balance we have. So, when a bank needs free money (and they ALL need free money), they will follow whatever guidance the FED has produced in order to secure that loan. If those guidelines include nonsense like ESG that’s a small price to pay for what has been unlimited access to free money for almost 15 straight years.
You get bored later go checkout how much money Uber has burned through without even a pathway to profitability and then go check it’s investors. You’ll see why these investment firms and banks are SOOOO committed to ESG. It’s because borrowing money - rather than running successful businesses - is the ONLY thing they know how to do…
Holy cow, this is a severely underrated comment. Hammer meet nail.
Yeah, *all-a* it too true. And, yeah, Uber is a classic case.
I’d love to see a story here about this Uber angle. Very interesting.
The US economy is the largest GDP in the world though. That’s real money even if some like Uber are losing billions they’re wasting mostly saudi sovereign wealth funds money. Uber is a Ponzi scheme and always has been. That’s the beauty of markets like the USA though you can pick and choose.
Modern GDP is a joke. It includes government spending and our government literally prints money whenever and however it wants and then “spends” it and calls it GDP. We have the largest trade deficit in human history. That tells you all you need to know. Other countries create value, we create debt. That bubble ALWAYS bursts
This was fun, thanks. To be fair, though, I would expect the "debunking" journalists to contact Rachel Richardson and ask whether she can explain how nobody else seems to have experienced what she reported, or whether perhaps she'd like to revise her story.
As far as I call tell, everyone is sure that BYU is lying about its investigation into the incident.
So true. They should release all the video and interviews they collected to the public. There are many who believe the fix was in from the start. But in this day and age where Twitter and TikTok reign supreme, the absence of any corroborating evidence on these platforms doesn’t bode well for Duke.
Duke has had a problem with athletes and lies told about them but I guess they didn’t learn anything from that experience.
Absolutely they should stand up for who they are and what they teach. They should release all of it and dare the media to either look at it or dispute it, which you can't do without looking at it.
If people/entities don't start fighting back, everyone loses, including people like Rachel Richardson.
Particularly in the context of this essay, I think that "everyone is sure" shouldn't affect anyone's opinion.
Revise "everyone is sure" to "those with discernment and wisdom can see"
😁
That’s what I want to know! What does she have to say for herself now? What do her teammates have to say? This is dangerous business, lying about stuff like this. Half the country believes the other half is racist because of shit like this.
I'm open to the possibility that she's in the right, which is why I'm asking the extent to which that was investigated.
BYU reviewed every scrap of video and audio footage of the game that they could get their hands on. One thing particularly of note that they discovered was that the disabled young man the player specifically accused was not speaking at all during the serves when she said she heard slurs being yelled.
And yet the Duke player made her accusation. The essay here is about the proper conduct of journalism and I believe the author would agree that what's required is not simply that the journalist is convinced he has the truth of the matter, but that all the relevant parties have been heard from and the relevant angles examined. It's hard to imagine the kind of editor the author lauds not asking this reporter "Well, have you spoken with the Duke player?"
I'm sorry, but the Duke player *had* her say. I think You're grasping at straws.
This isn't a court proceeding and I'm not grasping at anything. My preferred outcome is that BYU is cleared, but precisely for that reason, and because when I read a news story I don't like to come away with obvious questions that the reporter should have asked, someone should have gone back to her with this evidence and asked her to explain it.
Correct, he was scrolling through his phone!
You can’t question it because it is “her truth”, even if it is not BYU’s truth or (for the systemic racist transphobes out there) the actual truth.
And that’s exactly where the bakery example went. Listening to an Oberlin college student explain how it didn’t matter if the bakery committed racism, all that mattered was now the perception that they did…. That now it was essentially more about virtue signaling than finding the truth and the family receiving justice for the harm done to them. I don’t have words for that, only a nearly uncontrollable urge to vomit.
Exact same thing they said about George Floyd.
Omg did Mr. Berkowitz suggest that it's acceptable for good people to question the lived experience of a woman of color??
How is he not banned? Where are the content moderators, my god!
Please call me Michael. And if I may: Parodies like that, while they capture certain truths, don't further the conversation. That's not criticism, just advice.
Ironically, you posted and thereby furthered the conversation.
I appreciate that and your response is reasonable. But my moment of glib indulgence serves the purpose of the court jester. This rhetoric must be robbed of its power, and to do so I use the rhetoric to highlight its own absurdity.
Plenty of people here have seen the unironic version of my comment on Twitter. The comment is for them.
I'm not asking about those journalists who might actually buy that. I'm asking about the ones touted as the "good" journalists. Did 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 contact her?
Thirty years ago, I was a reporter for a mid-sized southern paper owned by the New York Times. As such we were part of the organization’s news wire. The company relied on us reporters to feed it stories, which the Times printed — regularly. In short, the NYT trusted our competence.
That is until a couple of stupid kids drove to high school with a Confederate Flag hanging in the truck’s rear window. Suddenly, we locals, including our African-American education reporter, weren’t up to the job. The NYT flew down at least one reporter and a photographer. A colleague had to give up his desk for a couple of days as the “pros” dug into “the incident.” Voila, a local school disciplinary issue turned into a national story because, of course, the South is a cesspool of racists.
I grew up in Connecticut, left, and returned nine years ago. In my life I’ve seen more racism in this bastion of tolerance than I ever saw in my five years down south. Mostly it was and is manifested in the racism of the lowest of expectations. As goes Connecticut, so goes New York.
I throw this out to echo other comments here that the NYT on the issue of race hasn’t been doing its job for decades. A newspaper’s job is to report news as it is. We all know that, or should. Yet the Times does nothing to explore and report on the daily interactions of those of us who live in this melting pot called the United States. It and its wannabes — the Washington Post, NPR, and the other dying metro dailies — want to keep the activists’ America-is-racist trope alive to sell papers and herald to the world their profound compassion for the lessers in our society. Gee, who are the real racists here?
I know that you are speaking about reporting, and the following quote is made in reference to fiction, but your post still reminded me of this statement from Flannery O’Connor:
“Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.”
Most of us are just fly-over country to the folks at the big publications.
Why I love the Common Sense comment section. It causes us to reach.
What a great quote, Cal. I’m in awe of and humbled by your knowledge of Flannery O’Connor and ability to apply her genius to our reality. Thank you, because you prompted me to look up the REAL meaning of grotesque. Here it is.
“: a style of decorative art characterized by fanciful or fantastic human and animal forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the natural into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature”
Thanks. That’s why I love the comment section as well. I always learn something and everyone is usually civil. Its really the only place I ever comment about anything online.
Flannery O’Connor was nothing if not witty. She and I share the same alma mater (though it was an all-girls’ school in her time). The definition you provided makes O’Connor’s quip even more incisive. Thanks for sharing it.
I am from the South (Texas), and the most racist town I have ever visited was Boston.
"Falsehoods travel on a swift horse, while the Truth walks." What is so striking is the these supposedly intelligent people in many of the major outlets don't seem to learn basic lessons.
This has to be a failure of leadership at those outlets. Imagine anyone trying to write this story 50 years ago without so much as picking up the phone to get quotes from players, coaches, and fans who were at the game, plus the school administration. They would have been chewed out, and the story would not run until it was fixed. Today, it flies onto the internet so it can get clicks and be tweeted.
But truth is the friend of time…
Is it just me or did anyone else think about Oberlin and Jussie when they read this? The notion and pursuit of truth appears to have been canceled by the gray lady. What to conclude about those who continue to swear by the NYT as the paper of record? And silly me as I thought NYT AND WAPO had FACT checkers
Oberlin & Jussie & Duke & nooses & swatzikas & the Muslim girl on the train & 30 other stories made up from whole cloth. AKA, lies.
The press quickly knew that all those "outrages" were lies but if they can further divide the populace they've done their job. Tell 10 million the lie & eventually 2 million may learn the truth but, hey, you are still left with 8 million who fear those evil white supremacists.
Fact checkers check & then lie about everything from the Right & inconsequential statements from the Left. See, they're balanced.
The Babylon Bee has far more journalistic integrity than The New York Times & I say that as a native New Yorker who read the times for over 50 years. What has happened to that once great newspaper is tragic.
Once great? Did you forget Walter Duranty and Jayson Blair?
These faux incidents have become so prevalent one must think there is BIG money in this stunt. I feel sorry for BYU; of all the universities that something like this could happen I would posit BYU would be way down on the list.
I hope you are no longer a subscriber
Threw in the towel 20 years ago, the writing was on the wall.
Sadly I kept the $$ flowing their way for way too long because I enjoyed the fashion, recipes etc. Finally realized I couldn’t support and reward them anymore because of their blatant bias.
I still like to go to their Opinion pages and see just how wrong I am.
The typical commenter on the NYT is certifiable.
Maybe five years ago, I was snarking to my husband in the gym about how you can't trust a word the NYTimes tells you, and the woman next to me said, "I've written for the Times, and I had to go through 5 layers of fact-checking! Five! They're very thorough." I said, "Really? I don't know about other topics, but they are constantly wrong about Israel." And she said, "Well, yeah, Israel... But otherwise...!".
No recognition that if you can be so entirely wrong about one topic, you can easily be wrong about others. I'm guessing that they still do semi-decent journalism when there's no principle involved, no controversy, and they don't know or care much about the topic. So... the stories that end up on page A12 or whatever.
They have been seriously wrong about my area also.. forests..so that’s two topics.
Don’t forget Tawana Brawley. The epithets found written in her were on her front and were upside down. Not a lot smarter than Jussie.
Outrage sells newspapers, no matter how outlandish the story is.
I totally made that connection Michael
".” It also included a statement from Duke’s athletic director saying the university stood by the volleyball team. The story ends with a reminder that at the overwhelmingly Mormon school, less than 1 percent of students are black, and that a recent report highlighted the university’s diversity issues." - Maybe the New York Times could address this by providing a full ride scholarship for any black student who wishes to attend there and study journalism. NYT should put their money where their mouth is.
How about a reminder of the Duke Lacrosse hoax of a few years back. ? Talk about lessons not learned.
The New Woke Slimes is not journalism. It is now a bunch of woke race hustlers looking for clicks.
It would be interesting to see a compilation of wrong NYT stories over the past several years.
Ms Weiss might enjoy writing that.
Would love to see a compilation of all the crazy & untrue headlines from the past 6 years…not just NYT.
Taibbi has something like this exclusively on the Russia hoax.
https://sharylattkisson.com/2022/09/media-mistakes-in-the-biden-era-the-definitive-list/
https://sharylattkisson.com/2022/03/50-media-mistakes-in-the-trump-era-the-definitive-list/
It goes back farther than just a few years. Look up Walter Duranty's reporting on the Holodomor. The Russia Russia Russia hoax was not the first time the NYT won a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting.
It would be easier compiling truthful articles. Every single time I glace at a NYT in the convenience store, I can spot glaringly obvious lies on the front page. And no, that's not an exaggeration.
NC I would pay an extra $100 for that article alone.
My question is: why did the athlete tell this story? What was going on with her and her family?
Think about the way they were treated in the days following. They were victims and showered with sympathy and attention. Major media outlets wanted to speak to the family and share in their grief and anger. Celebrities mentioned them and shared their love and support. That is a powerful drug for those who seek it.
Yes--assumed all of the above. But still!
It's just that nowadays getting *attention* trumps *all else,* AFAIK.
The Duke team got pantsed by the BYU squad which is currently ranked #10 while Duke is unranked. Some poking around Google indicates Duke has a reputation as a 'volleyball school'. BYU, not so much.
Like the recent story here on CS about “spoonies”. The girls get 1000 likes for posting about being sick and 100 about being happy.
I read that. Oy, yoy, yoy, yoy, yoy. And eek.
Spot on; they started this debacle. Of course the NYT took it and ran with it, with no real journalism taking place. But this young woman, her 'godmother, and her dad are the perpetrators. They should be roundly criticized for this vicious hoax, if not worse.
Worse! Please.
I agree; but I doubt anything will happen to them. They should be sued and bankrupted, but I doubt BYU will go down that road.
If the player in question has a cluster B personality disorder such as narcissistic personality disorder, then she would be unable to distinguish facts from her feelings. So, if she felt that the crowd was racist, then she would actually believe that they were yelling racist slurs at her. I’m not saying that she has NPD, but it would explain her behavior. If you have never met anyone with this, it is hard to believe that anyone would act this way, but they are out there.
Many have noticed that young people's online interactions PROMOTE the development of narcissistic behavior.
Her father cannot be trusted to fulfill his duty with integrity, given the publicity of this embarrassment. Hopefully he is removed or reassigned, lest this behavior continue to worsen.
Sounds like she wanted her dad’s attention. Kinda makes you wonder about that relationship now that the lights are on.
In the real world (where I live) nothing happens at the right place at the right time to satisfy journalists quest for cosmic justice, so they simply change events, ignore contradictory evidence and carnival bark - a chorus of dunces.
One key trait of the malignant narcissist is to distort interactions to make the other person look nasty. It's the narcissist's nastiness projected onto the real victim. The real racists are Rachel Richardson and the family members who projected this onto innocent people. And they are toxic narcissists. I can use their actual actions to support this assertion. AND I FOR ONE AM SICK OF BLACK NARCISSISTS DERIVING POWER AND CONTROL OVER WHITE PEOPLE BY MAKING FALSE ACCUSATIONS. We, as a society, have to stop enabling this card-carrying BULLSHIT. It is an ASSAULT.
Last year, I tried to discuss this seriously harmful narrative with my nephew. The "anti-Asian hate?" Most of that was schizophrenic black people, incapable of impulse control, punching Asians and pushing them onto subway tracks. My nephew, apparently, NEEDED TO BELIEVE that WHITE PEOPLE are doing this. WHY? What purpose does this serve? HE'S WHITE.
I presented my experience, now some twenty years old, of a black student not only accusing me of racism, but threatening to knife my face in front of a roomful of people -- and an administration (composed mainly of people of color) refusing to do anything about it until a BLACK STUDENT COMPLAINED. THEN I was vindicated. Is this the world we (WHITE) people want to live in?
I'm in my early 60s and never in my experience have I ever heard a white person say anything "racist" and anything that was said was TRUE, e.g. Don't go in that neighborhood, because....and for anyone who was around in the 70s, the looks of those neighborhoods was NOT GOOD. (Thanks to the War on Poverty, we have a black underclass that expects to be supported and when not supported somehow the 'man' is responsible).
Last spring, I had to go through a kangaroo trial at the university where I teach for volunteering a student of color to co-teach a lesson. This student had been complaining (in a nasty way, by the way, totally unacceptable the way this person treated ME) about having to take my writing class. This student's work, by all objective measures, was not exempt. She wouldn't listen as I tried to go over a poorly written summary with her. No -- I didn't know what I was doing --yes she said this to me. What was my "racism"? I partnered her with a stronger student to give a lesson, thus 'empowering' them. No-- that was "racist" -- it made her feel 'unsafe.' When I asked the HR person what evidence of racism the student provided, she responded:
"She doesn't have to provide evidence. All that matters is the way you made her feel."
THIS HAS TO STOP. It does not help anyone, especially not the aggrieved, narcissistic people of color wielding this insane weapon at innocent people. STOP TAKING THE BAIT.
Here's an idea; reducing a human being to a skin color is always dehumanizing and immoral, regardless of which color you choose to use.
A brilliant idea; some of us even believe it. Thank you.
The sad result of this type of behavior is many white people who were never racist will be turned into one based on these kinds of experiences. Thanks Barack.
I hope your nephew saw the hundreds and hundreds of cases of blacks hitting Asians and now understands what’s really going on.