I might post your comments if you could refrain from smearing third parties and I would answer your angry rants as I have when you have refrained from that. You are able to do that, you have in the past.
I didn't talk about Jussie Smollett for the reasons I stated, I DIDN'T NOW WHO THE HELL HE WAS AND I WASN'T PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN WHAT HE DID. It was a penny-ante publicity stunt which no one was injured in or had their heads bashed in over. I didn't comment about the original incident before people started talking about it turning out to be a hoax, this is the entire mention of Jussie Smollett in my archive, look, three pieces before this one. Then, once I found out who the hell he was, what he was accused of and what he had claimed, I haven't said a single thing about him that was any kinder than saying he was a hardly rare guy in show-biz who was narcissistic and irresponsible. What the hell more do you want me to do? Call for his assassination? Incite a race war? Well, I can't even get you to stop smearing people who don't get to decide what I post and what I don't so . . .
As some have pointed out it's extremely rich for Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Union to be in a swivet over this considering their far more than mere irresponsibility and negligence in the police murder of Laquan McDonald, the obvious destruction and suppression of dash-cam tapes, in the possession of the Chicago Police Department, which showed the murdered 17-year-old guy was WALKING away from the cops when Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke murdered him and broke a number of other laws, FOR WHICH HE WAS CONVICTED in the process. As I recall the medical report said some of the bullets were shot into him as he lay on the ground. Emanuel's political use of the case was far more disgusting than Jussie Smollett's disgusting publicity stunt and even more than his idiotic claims of total innocence after he came to the agreement that got him off.
Respectfully,
ReplyDeleteYou have no interest in publishing anything on your blog that counters your narrative. Tone is irrelevant, and don’t pretend you don’t “smear” others.
What did you know about Covington Catholic before that situation? Please, what Smollett did is far worse than anything those students did. Didn’t stop you from comparing them to Hitler Youth.
Chicago is an incredibly corrupt city. But that has nothing to do with Smollett getting off because he’s wealthy, black, homosexual, anti-Trump and connected to members of the media. You can’t complain about a system that treats people unfairly and then pretend Smollett received exactly that preferential handling you’d be outraged at in others.
As per the “no one got hurt” excuse, this is a man who still refuses to take responsibility for his actions. No one got hurt despite, not because of, everything he did.
What did anyone know about Covington Catholic before those Maga brats made assholes of themselves in DC? Where did I compare Smollett to the Covington assholes? I wouldn't because, A. Smollett is an adult and they're brats. B. see A.
DeleteMAGA wear is the Trumpian version of Nazi junger regalia, when worn by brats. It is a symbol of racist violence, violence that is encouraged by Trump, any Person of Color, Women, LGBTQ, Disabled Person or any of the other groups singled out by Trump and his fellow fascists has every right to expect problems with a gang of thugs wearing it.
It's hilarious that you're targeting Smollett on the basis of him beaing "wealthy, black, homosexual, anti-Trump and connected to the media" given your devoted defense of the Covington brats who are "wealthy, white, privileged, presumably straight boys who are pro-Trump (who is all of what you slam Smollett for except his color).
I think your problem is that Smollett recieved exactly the kind of treatment that White, rich, connected straight men are generally given, I think you resent that in this case it was given to a Black, gay man.
When will Trump take responsibility for the encyclopedia of wrongs he's committed?
As to publishing things that "counter [my] narrative" A. Since when am I required to publish anything I choose not to? B. I've published loads of your comments, I don't recall you agreeing with me much. C. I have posted huge numbers of personal attacks on me, false accusations (a number of them made by you), misrepresentations of things I've said, etc. Anyone who wants to go over my archive, both posts and comments can see that your accusations are nonsense.
Again, I have not said anything about Smollett except that he was an irresponsible, immature, narcissistic jerk, one who I have no sympathy for and who I critisized for using the real issue of hate-attacks for his personal PR stunt. I haven't said a single thing that's sympathetic for him, as you can see in what I wrote. What you are angry about is that I don't see that PR stunt as one of the great wrongs of the day and to deplore it on the basis of his race and his gender preference. Well, guess what, I have a sense of proportion. It wasn't no police murder of an unarmed black kid - about the age of the Covnington brats, if you want something to compare them with - who was shot as he was walking away and as his wounded form was lying on the ground.
There seem to be serious questions about the way the Smollett case was handled, but that's a fairly deep well for such a shallow subject. Maybe the trial would represent justice, but I doubt the charges he faced would result in any prison time, given the nature of the crime and the lack of a prior record. Which would just be proof of "corruption" all over again, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteYes, Chicago is corrupt; this is hardly the most egregious example. If Smollett wasn't on TeeVee, we'd never have heard of it. (I know, I repeat myself. I am old, I contain echoes.)
It's almost amusing people think it's such an important topic.
It would never happen if he was even a well known rich, straight, white Republican man, it probably wouldn't happen if it was a white woman, attacks against even poor white women are hardly ever taken as seriously as this almost petty crime of Smollett. I would argue that the ONLY people who have a real reason to take this as a serious wrong are those groups targeted for hate crimes because Smollett has damaged the credibility of victims by his all too Hollywood PR use of this. That's why I resent him, though there are others more to blame for that negligence, too many policemen and prosecutors and mayors who ignore those kinds of crimes, which gets us back to the hypocrisy of Rahm Emanuel.
DeleteIt's important because the press made it important. It became a paradigm of Trump voters and their behavior, that they are boogie men wandering the streets of Chicago in below zero temperatures with nooses and bleach looking for minorities to attack. Further, when reasonable people questioned that story because it just sounded so absurd, they are called racist, homophobic, etc.
DeleteFurther adding to the situation are the connections Smollett has to politicians and members of the media, who softened the revelations about his hoax.
Love the language, though, "there seem to be," not, "there are" questions about how the case was handled. Publicists who keep their jobs tend to be good at it.
Excuse me, but are you aware of what happened to the Duke Lacrosse team that was FALSELY accused of rape?
DeleteYeah, lost jobs, a canceled season, death threats made to the players and their families. A disbarred DA. All that after NOTHING happened. This idea that white people always get away with it is just so easily disproven I sometimes you're taking your cues from Goebbels.
Even when it was revealed to have been a lie, writers like Robert Lipsyte (you'd like him - he hates sports more than you do) justified the coverage. I could list a number of other examples but then you'd just bring up anecdotes that support your thesis, as if they cancel out mine.
My view: We live in a corrupt world, as Augustine noted, and diligence, care and love are required. Not a visceral, prejudice-informed thirst for vengeance.
Well, fuck me, but checking my archive, I've never, ONCE written a post about the Duke Lacrosse team, the one and only mention of the word, "lacrosse" here appears in a sentence I wrote evaluating the out-going Obama administration:
Delete"His secretary of Education, like him, never set foot in a public school as a student and had no stake in them. They chose to pursue education policies that were more appropriate to a prep-school lacrosse league than to one of our most important institutions which has the responsibility to educate all comers, no matter what ability, so many of those in most need concentrated in school districts which would never win a Race to the Top."
You will forgive me if, as I dimly recall, the Lacrosse boys who got into that bit of a hassle were the ones who hired the prostitute-strippers for a wholesome, preppy-retrospectively- presented-as-choir-boys gang-bang session. If anyone but a bunch of white preppie-Ivy class boy jocks had done what they did you and your kind would be saying they deserved what they got because they brought it on themselves. Sports, it builds character, you know.
Get back to me when a. I excused the woman who made the false accusation against them, b. you can find the slightest connection other than skin color to her and Jussie Smollett, c. when I've excused what he did on a similar basis. Who was arrested in his case other than the two brothers who were in on it with him?
B. Your use of Goebbels in regard to this is one of the dumbest things you've ever said here, for obvious reasons.
C. You've got major issues with both People of Color and Women, also with real liberals and people from the N.E. You also have a habit of not reading what I write, substituting things I never said and wouldn't say.
" It's important because the press made it important. It became a paradigm of Trump voters and their behavior, that they are boogie men wandering the streets of Chicago in below zero temperatures with nooses and bleach looking for minorities to attack."
ReplyDelete- First, why don't you go harass someone IN "THE PRESS" who did that because I didn't do that, as I've pointed out to you a number of times, now. Second, the record of Trump fans who have done everything from attacking "the press" at his rallies WITH HIS ENCOURAGMENT to mass murderers who murder scores of people at a time, is a fact. If you have a problem with those who find such accusations credible, he and his supporters are the source of it. Clearly, even the mass murderer in New Zealand who NAMED TRUMP AS ONE OF HIS INSPIRATIONS doesn't bother you as much as this pathetic, publicity seeking asshole and his victimless crime. To paraphrase AOL, You've got issues.
"Further, when reasonable people questioned that story because it just sounded so absurd, they are called racist, homophobic, etc."
I would need examples, I have no problem imagining that racist-queerbashers would do exactly what you're whining about, so I'd need to judge those on an individual basis.
"Further adding to the situation are the connections Smollett has to politicians and members of the media, who softened the revelations about his hoax."
Oh, for fucksake, he was found out, they couldn't have "softened" it by much, you and the friggin" "press" have been going on like this was the crime of the century.
"Love the language, though, "there seem to be," not, "there are" questions about how the case was handled. Publicists who keep their jobs tend to be good at it."
I wonder if I went back through your many comments here if I'd find those phrases, I don't quite get what's eatin' you about that. I do now what's eatin' you about the story, a rich, black, gay, celebrity (of the sort that our degraded times produces) got off with a slap on the wrist for a fairly minor crime that a massive jerk and asshole like Rahm Emanuel and the corrupt Chicago Police union are making hay over. What would have satisfied you as a punishment for what Smollett did as opposed to the R. E. CPD cover-up of the incriminating video in the police murder I mentioned.
Just to point out, though you didn't do what many in the press did, you are defending Smollett, the press, and all else by 1) ignoring the definite acts of violence that came about because of false allegations (Hands Up! Don't Shoot! being one) and thus insisting that because Smollett did such a poor job of it, he shouldn't be punished. Considering your outrage over the words that cause violence and your desire to ban that speech, you can't pretend faking a hate crime couldn't possibly lead to severe reactions within a commnunity and 2) are ignoring the obvious political manipulations that landed this deal for Smollett. Note, the charges weren't just dismissed, the case has been sealed, which is not uncommon for cases involving minors but in this instance is highly unusual, and, here's the kicker, it allows him to say, "I'm innocent" and no one can investigate his claim because, again, it's sealed. This is a such an obvious political manipulation that is the antithesis to that "egalitarian democracy" you're always pining for.
DeleteIf you only counterargument is "Well, it wasn't a big deal," that's no argument at all. You can't want for other people what you don't want for yourself.
For pity sake, Liam. stop pretending I'm defending someone I've only condemned. You've got anger issues based on seeing wrongs where there are none.
DeleteGet back to me when Smollett runs for office, then we'll talk about "political manipulation". I see a prosecutor who knows small potatoes from big ones, I suspect all you see is a Black Woman.
It's important because Liam thinks it's important. So does Trump ( Chen his Twitter feed. He wants the FBI he class "treasonous" to investigate the plea deal. Not sure what Federal crime or civil rights violation is involved.)
ReplyDeleteStill doesn't mean it's important.