February 22, 2019

"It’s certainly embarrassing for those who expressed concern or solidarity with Smollett to consider that we’ve likely been misled, our empathy for the actor misplaced."

"But don’t confuse your very reasonable embarrassment and anger in the wake of having been duped for a more permanent kind of harm. No one who invokes the name of Jussie Smollett to cast doubt on real victims would have believed them, but for this. Homophobes who regularly link gays to pedophilia or believe that same-sex marriage is a sign of civilization’s downfall weren’t on the brink of a change of heart, but for this. Neither were racists like U.S. Rep. Steve King, who believe that America won’t be America unless the majority of her population is white. People who believe these ugly things, and the much larger group who don’t believe anything except that it’s not their business to care, don’t seize on hoaxes because an isolated case proves they are right. They do it because they will use anything and everything to distract from the fact that they are wrong.... [T]here’s no larger message here, and we’re not all victims of his crime. Haters, proverbially, are going to hate. They did it before, and they won’t miss a step after this sad, weird story is done. We may get sick of hearing Jussie Smollett’s name repeated in lieu of an actual argument. But those of us who understand that one hoax doesn’t invalidate countless true stories of homophobic or race-based violence will not be deterred."

From "Why Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Hoax Won’t Change How Anyone Feels About Hate Crimes" by Evan Urquhart at Slate. The commenters at Slate are not buying Urquhart's spin. From the most up-voted comment:

I think the media is really trying to deny responsibility by pretending this is about hate crimes and not about the media. The issues is not hate crimes. It's how the media reports on alleged hate crimes. It's the fact that many in the mainstream and left-leaning media (the part of the media that concerns me, because it's the part I rely on for news) seem to be so ready and eager to believe the absolute worst about around half of the American voting public that they think fact-checking is unnecessary.

And the fact that nobody is willing to say, "Wow, maybe it is a problem that I am so ready and willing to believe the absolute worst about people who don't agree with me that it causes me to jump to wrong conclusions" is depressing.

Perhaps the lesson here should be that there *were* good reasons to doubt the story, other than being a racist homophobic bigot, and that if you believed otherwise — if you insisted that anybody who thought the story seemed fishy could only have been motivated by hate-think — that says something about you, not about anybody else.

66 comments:

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Powerful comment. I am amazed it is the most upvoted. Are the times changing?

Matt Sablan said...

When someone on the left does something terrible it is a sad, weird story of an individual's failure. When a conservative does something, it shows the inherent evilness of an entire ideology.

Smollet is a case study in how the media's bias makes them caricatures.

tim maguire said...

At least sometimes, the comment sections renew my faith in the possibility of public discourse. Like when a Times comment section rips into yet another obtuse America-hating fact- and logic-challenged column.

There’s a limit to how much cheer I can draw because, ultimately, these level-headed reactions come from people who will drink most of the cool aid, just not all of the cool aid. But that fact they spit some out means the cause is not totally hopeless.

Matt Sablan said...

See how all the examples used are of a conservative bad slant? Why not mention credibly accused Fairfax? Trump is accused of a racist slur but no mention of Northam? I don't like Trump as a person, but Smollet being down played to attack conservatives as short sighted and bigoted is EXACTLY why Smollet thought he could get away with his crimes.

Big Mike said...

That’s not a fair reading of what Steve King said, but if you write for Slate then I guess you have to h8.

A very mature comment; glad to see Slate readers agreeing with it.

Gahrie said...

Time and time again the Left finds itself forced to fall back on: "Fake but accurate". I wonder why?

Tina Trent said...

The real point is being discussed by nobody: even if this ridiculous lie were true, it was a relatively minor crime for Chicago, resulting in a few scratches and punches and name calling.

Which is minor. Let's try to face the truth about this. So-called hate crimes aren't worse than other crimes just because there are sometimes certain types of name calling.

All muggings are terrible and traumatizing. Had this been true, it wouldn't even have been much of a mugging. No knife, no gun.

Yet the Chief of Police dispatched scores of detectives, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more, and other citizens subjected to far worse crimes were shoved into the cold with no similar effort to give them access to justice -- or safety -- or the right to live free from fear.

That's the real crime here.

And demanding this special treatment is the chosen sin of the gay activists and race activists and ethnicity activists. The activists -- not everyone of a certain identity, but the identity activists -- are greedy. They are prejudiced against people not like them. Their political demands shamelessly celebrate their prejudice. They believe anything that happens to them is more important than more terrible things that happen to other people because they believe they are more important than other people.

The hate crimes movement is a sickness based on lies that needs to be excised to make our justice system healthy and honest again. Equal protection under the law is healthy.

The hate crimes movement is based entirely on fetish, and nobody should be surprised that laws based on fetishizing identities lead to lies and hoaxes and more demands for more special treatment, more shoving of everyone else to the back of the bus.

Hate crime laws are anathema to everything our justice system is supposed to stand for. Jesse Smollett is a mere symptom of their moral rot.





Gahrie said...

Shorter Urquhart: The truth and facts don't matter...only the narrative and the quest for power does.

Francisco D said...

We may get sick of hearing Jussie Smollett’s name repeated in lieu of an actual argument.

I am sick of leftists dismissing independent thinkers by calling them racists and homophobes in lieu of an argument.

If "hate crimes" did not exist, they would have to be invented for the sake of the narrative.

Laslo Spatula said...

Believing in the evil of half the population is fashionable.

Haute crimes.

I am Laslo.

Breezy said...

Jussie is deplorable.

Lyssa said...

When I’m not commenting at Althouse, I’m commenting at Slate (yeah, I know), so I’ll give you a little inside baseball. Evan is a very also a long time commenter, and a very well respected writer there. The commenter who made that comment is also a long timer, but she’s definitely a contrast to the usual commenters there most of the time. So, this is a very interesting scenario.

stevew said...

"embarrassing for those that expressed concern or solidarity with Smollet..."

Expressing concern and solidarity is not the embarrassing part. That would come from having accepted the story, without question, long before the facts were proven, and hyping the story as an indicator of the true motivations and actions of a wide swath of your fellow Americans. But, either way, if the embarrassment is intense enough these folks will pause the outrage and accusation a bit when the next incident comes along.

Nah, who am I kidding!

tim in vermont said...

Work yourself into a lather, rinse, repeat.

This is how Trump supporter hatred works.

Howard said...

Take out"hater"Tim and it's just as true. You people are entertaining like a bonobo exhibit in Amsterdam

tim in vermont said...

Remember when an erstwhile Hillary supporter and Occupy activist created the “Unite the Right” rally? Rinse, repeat.

Rory said...

It's the rule: if any class of people is held to be above scrutiny, the most loathesome members of the community will pretend to belong to that class.

rhhardin said...

Reporting is a business. They're not running what they think is true but what will get clicks.

The criticism they're getting assumes it's about news instead of market.

Everything would fall into place with the Hardin-suggested disclaimers run saying what audience the particular article is tailored for.

The problems are with the wrong audience reading the article.

Ralph L said...

Excellent comment, Tina Trent, even with the horrific blank space at the end.

The media sure wants to avoid their responsibility and distract from the Fake News.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

It's difficult not to link Smollett with the Covington boys. Lots of Trump haters using social media or "real" media want to reinforce the idea or image of gangs of white males roving the country, many wearing MAGA hats, planning to commit lynchings and other crimes against, let us say, designated groups. If they're really the practical type, they're probably carrying a noose around, and attracting no comment for this in a racist society.

I doubt that this is a particularly divisive time; that Trump has increased divisiveness (although of course he does trigger TDS), or that there is an upward trend in specific actual crimes, such as assault, related to politics, race and so on. On the other hand, Smollett certainly isn't the only example since mid-2016 of a hoax that is intended to stir up hatred of Trump supporters. https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/18/hoax-hate-crimes-list/

Phil 314 said...

We may get sick of hearing Jussie Smollett’s name repeated in lieu of an actual argument.

BUT TRUMP!

Ralph L said...

Our local news erased the MAGA slur, which was probably the reason the incident "went viral" in the first place.

Hagar said...

There is no such thing as a "hate crime."
Crimes are established by an examination of the facts of the case. What is, or was, in a person's mind at the time of the crime is just speculation.
Whether convicted felon "apologizes" for his crime, or not, is also irrelevant - especially when written out by his lawyer for him to recite.
This is just color produced for the media to wallow in, and should not be countenanced in any court.

Fernandinande said...

The real point is being discussed by nobody: even if this ridiculous lie were true, it was a relatively minor crime for Chicago, resulting in a few scratches and punches and name calling.

I mentioned that a couple of days ago in relation to the politicians and MSM parrots who were pretending that it was a horrible event: "no injuries, nothing stolen".

Yet the Chief of Police dispatched scores of detectives, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more, ..

The Search for the Great White Defendant. No expense is spared.

They have to spend a lot of time and money looking for those elusive creatures because nearly all violence against blacks is from other blacks, and blacks commit most of the interracial violence, especially anti-Semitic hate crimes.

jaydub said...

Well said Tina Trent!

Fernandinande said...

who believe that America won’t be America unless the majority of her population is white

That's the only valid conclusion you can gather from actual global demographic data, as well as how real people "vote with their feet".

People who believe these ugly things,

No, it's ugly to live in the author's fantasy world.

Hagar said...

For the media, "wrongthink" is worse than a real crime.

Dad said...

Tina Trent, excellent. Thanks!

RMc said...

People who want to believe in this sort of thing will continue to do so, and those who don't, won't.

And the media will run with literally anything, anything at all, if it gets them eyeballs.

Derve Swanson said...

Annie C said...

Powerful comment. I am amazed it is the most upvoted. Are the times changing?
----------------
The times have changed. See election 2016.
Some people are just now noticing. They thought it was a fluke, the Russians, meth/opioid epidemic of some other hillbilly nonsense.

Too smart by half, we call it
where I come from...

Derve Swanson said...

Jussie is kinda like the new Kanye of privileged black men stepping up to help re-elect President Trump...

Society doesn't always see things the way media "whites" do.

Derve Swanson said...

Yet the Chief of Police dispatched scores of detectives, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more, ..

The Search for the Great White Defendant. No expense is spared.
----------------

Or, the decision -- properly -- to devote the resources to unmasking the scandal that Chicago has white supremacist haters stalking the streets looking for minorities to assault, even celebrity TV stars filming in the area.

Job well done.
They debunked that one.
Let somebody else try pulling a hoax crime and painting Chicagoans as racist haters. Ain't gonna fly in the Midwest. #ChicagoWorks

Dust Bunny Queen said...

"Why Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Hoax Won’t Change How Anyone Feels About Hate Crimes"

Probably true. If you are already disposed to believe any and every accusation of wrongdoing thrown out against the designated minority and victim groups, then you are always going to believe it.

On the converse, if you are already skeptical and jaded by the breathless reporting and piling on by the first group mentioned above, you are going to doubt and disbelieve that there are "hate crimes" being committed.

We have been successfully divided into two camps. The breathless believers and the jaded skeptics.

This is it is a recipe for vigilante justice upon the innocent by the breathless and retaliation by the skeptics who have had enough of being accused of thought crimes and physical crimes they haven't committed.

Thanks a lot media drones.

Also: the definition of a "hate crime" is so nebulous that it can be applied to almost anything. Be careful out there people.

Derve Swanson said...

Fernandistein said...

who believe that America won’t be America unless the majority of her population is white
---------------

I wonder if the author even knows many people who self identify as "white". That seems to be a minority thing, labeling people by their skin tone. Low class.

Most people who are blessed to know their history identify more specifically: "whites" by family country of origin, true too for "black" immigrants who know where they came from and were not enslaved with their past histories lost. "Asians" and "Native Americans" too identify by smaller delineations, such as tribes.


In trying to simplify to help the social scientist coders, we've lost an idea of who people really are, outside of skin tone or statistic numbers. This too will have to change if we are to recognize innate humanity, and survive together in a healthy manner. Uhr should get out more.

Derve Swanson said...

Urquhart, rather.

(I oversimplified in identifying him.)

Earnest Prole said...

Powerful comment. I am amazed it is the most upvoted. Are the times changing?

Slate has one of the last few freewheeling comment sections where right and left give as good as they get -- have a look at the top comments for their previous Smollett piece, including “This is what happens when the demand for violent racism exceeds the supply,” “Does this mean Chicago isn't really MAGA country?” and “Apparently Jussie Smollett hired immigrants to do a job white, native-born Americans refused to do” (he said modestly).

MadisonMan said...

I’m commenting at Slate

Ditto. I Note the comment is not #1 anymore too. But there aren't a lot of upvotes -- I'm wondering if a lot of slate readers just can't wrap their heads around Smollett case to have a coherent response. You makes a good point -- the commenter is out of the slate mainstream for the most part. I agree that Evan is a good writer, although preachy sometimes.

Let me also note: the most entertaining comments are usually in the Dear Prudence columns. The parenting column has good comments as well, but Nicole and Carvell (the two columnists) are so good that it's hard to snark.

CWJ said...

"If "hate crimes" did not exist, they would have to be invented for the sake of the narrative."

As indeed they are; this being only the most recent example.

Ray - SoCal said...

Why does the Smollett fake hate crime story have such legls/ endurance?

There have been lots of fake hate crimes, and they have al been memory holed after a day or two.

A few Swags:

1. Smollett is a Celebrity, even if a D Lister.
2. The over the topness / ridiculousness of the accusation. Maga wearers in Chicago? Ya, right...
3. The hiring of two brothers, black, from Nigeria. So more than one person was involved in the hoax.
4. Video of the purchase of the ski masks
5. The photogenic of the 3 suspects
6. The fact Smollett claims he’s innocent
7. The anger of the Chicago police foot soldiers / working class (probably secret Trump voters ) that leaked as a protest against the waste of police resources on looking for maga wearing racists in Chicago, and the narrative of Chicago being a dangerous place to the hat wearing mega wearers.
8. The black community seeing this accusation as not passing the smell test / an embarrassment. Smollett is not seen as representing their image / who they are.
9. The elite initially backing Smollett story, causing a pushback by the non elite.
10. By being gay, Smollett won’t be supported by Farrakhan, and Black church leaders as being a victim.

steve uhr said...

Sharpton on msnbc opining on the matter. The hypocracy. what he did was much worse — accusing specific persons, cops, of a brutal rape even after he knew Brawley was lying. The network knows that a very small number of its audience remembers.

Belle17 said...

I am a member of another board, which tends to be somewhat liberal (I am moderate to conservative). Many of us were skeptical of this particular incident because it just didn't make much sense. The freezing weather, the MAGA hats in Chicago, an more..... This same group tends to be skeptical of stories where a wife is missing and the husband is spearheading the search (ala Lacey Peterson and others).

It didn't take long for a few people on the board to declare us "racist AF" because we showed skepticism.

I held my nose and voted for Trump. Next year, I am wearing a goddamn MAGA hat and dancing my way into the polling place to vote for him. I am sick of being branded as racist and hateful because I don't immediately swallow the Kool Aid.

Rory said...

You have to keep in mind that the presumption of innocence is necessary because it's the state that prosecutes these matters. If every alleged victim is believed, the state will have no trouble finding alleged victims.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

watching KKKamala say 'We must wait until more facts are known' after she jumped in, in the beginning and bought Jussie's story hook line and sinker without question - sad sad sad.

Yeah - presidential material right there.

narayanan said...

In a joint statement issued to CNN affiliate WBBM, the men said: "We are not racist. We are not homophobic, and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens."

So Kamala has lost the Jamaican votes.
Smollett has lost the Nigerian votes.

GEOTU Trump smiles

Browndog said...

In today's Chicago Tribune:

Column: Sorry, bigots, but I'm not sorry for once trusting Jussie Smollett

exhelodrvr1 said...

Belle,
"I held my nose and voted for Trump. Next year, I am wearing a goddamn MAGA hat and dancing my way into the polling place to vote for him."

I wonder how many moderates who voted Democrat in 2016 will look at what Trump has actually done (in actuality, he is absolutely not hard right, but slightly left-of-center), and at what the Democrats are pushing (reparations, no-to-very limited-border security, high taxes, censorship, political activism of the FBI and CIA) and quietly vote Republican.

MountainMan said...

I didn’t think there was much to add to that comment but Tina Trent did it. Well done, Tina. Thanks. I agree with you completely.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Honestly Professor, I don’t know how you can read Slate (or why). I quickly realized, long ago, that it was garbage apparently written by 22 year olds with no editors. So I rarely read anything written there.

But occasionally, when I see a link to something that catches my attention, and then realize the link is to Slate, it’s like a train wreck. Everything becomes slow motion as my mind says “don’t click - you know it’s garbage” and my mouse clicking finger says “hold my beer”.

And I’m always disappointed.

dbp said...

" "Why Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Hoax Won’t Change How Anyone Feels About Hate Crimes""

Blah, blah, blah...lots of verbiage--but here is a short summary:

Sure, we jumped to erroneous conclusions, but it is mostly the other side's fault. Most importantly, we are determined to learn absolutely nothing from what happened.

Amadeus 48 said...

Who can forget Smollett going on Good Morning America and telling Robin Roberts that he was attacked because he “went so hard at 45 [Trump]”?
Well, lots if people, I guess.
Eddie Johnson (Special Ed as he is affectionately nicknamed) swallowed the diversionary line whole that Smollett was upset about his pay. What? Smollett said he was attacked because he was strong and effective against Trump. He didn’t say he was attacked because he was a proud, gay black man. That dude Smollett wanted to be a hero to Trump-haters. Doesn’t anybody remember?
Sheesh.

Amadeus 48 said...

Dahleen Glanton is part of the Trib’s in-house racial grievance squad. See also Clarence Page, Eric Zorn, and Rex Huppke. Blah, blah, blah. Black people good, white people bad, orange man really bad.

Amadeus 48 said...

By the way, note the elegant orange background that alternates with the black stripes and the white belly fur in the Hobbes icon Hobbes is a fusion character in these troubled times.

Ken B said...

When I get something very wrong I rethink. When my code deletes the wrong thing, I rethink. The attitude in the article is another example of woke anti intellectualism.

Ken B said...

I have what I call Ken's Firth Law:

Highly symbolic hate crimes with no serious damage and no independent witnesses are usually fake.

I formulated this decades ago, in the 90s.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Matthew Sablan@5:00AM "I don't like Trump as a person"
Hear that, everyone? Little Matty Sablan isn't like those yucky deplorable who likes Donald Trump. Oh no, little Matty has to tell us every single day that he is a good guy because he doesn't approve of the way Donald Trump behaves. It is very, very important that everyone know that Little Matty in no way approves of the president because he is so so gauche.
Be sure not to forget to lift your pinkie when you drink your tea, Matty, wouldn't want anyone to think that you are indecent!
Hey everyone, in case you missed it in every other of his comments about Donald Trump, but Little Matty doesn't like Donald Trump and does not approve of his behavior. Be advised for further postings from Little Matty explaining in less detail his principled opposition to liking Donald Trump.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Hey Sablan, look at the comment from Amadeus 48 @9:32AM and think about your compulsion with repeatedly announcing your principled disdain for the humanity of Donald Trump, who is a far far kinder, gentler, and more decent human being than ANY of his critics.

FullMoon said...

"When someone on the left does something terrible it is a sad, weird story of an individual's failure. When a conservative does something, it shows the inherent evilness of an entire ideology."

Yep, then it becomes "you people"

Ken B said...

Titania makes an important point https://mobile.twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1098306788439588865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1098306788439588865&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwhyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com%2F

J Melcher said...

" one hoax doesn’t invalidate countless true stories of homophobic or race-based violence ..."

oKay, "countless" implies at least "many". Help me start the endless series.

There was Matthew Shepard, of course. Who may have been in a drug deal gone wrong instead of a victim of homophobic violence, but still. One

Then , uhm ... Several decades where I'm not remembering any victims' names.

Up to Jussie, now.

I'm having a hard time with counting the countless, here.

Uncountably few, maybe.

Limited blogger said...

and life goes on in the real world

tim in vermont said...

“I’m a bigot... but for the left!” - Woody Allen in Annie Hall.

hstad said...


Blogger tim maguire said..."public discourse.." "....these....reactions come from people who will drink...all of the cool aid. 2/22/19, 4:56 AM.." There I fixed it for you!

Carl Jung said, "...People don’t have ideas; ideas have people."

I love Jung's own words and interpretation of the above: "....I am a man, and you know how much men are accustomed to seeing thoughts as their very own, so that they eventually confuse them with themselves."

n.n said...

Diversity, transgenderism, and political congruence.

Earnest Prole said...

“I’m a bigot... but for the left!” - Woody Allen in Annie Hall.

Just rewatched earlier this week -- timeless.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bill31 said...

Jussie Smollett is working (covertly) for Trump 2020 to help illustrate the vapidity and depravity of the MSM/Left.
Change my mind.