When white Catholic students wearing MAGA hats are caught on video face-to-face with Native Americans on one side and Black Hebrew Israelites on the other, they’re definitely bigoted white supremacist hatemongers who went out looking for minorities to persecute. At least that’s how mainstream media and a good chunk of social media reacted when they saw the initial videos and images of smirking MAGA children.
But that’s not how it went down. It was the exact opposite of how it went down.
When the story first broke, I saw many of my fellow conservatives on Twitter scolding the kids while the progressive gangs attacked them. I held my tongue. It’s not because I don’t speak out against bigotry regardless of which side of the political, religious, or cultural aisle it comes from, but something seemed fishy. Other than having a disconcerting smirk, I didn’t see anything in the kids that resembled the type of bigoted outbursts we’ve seen in the past from actual white supremacists, Antifa, or other hate groups.
It seemed staged. As it turned out, it wasn’t quite staged, per se, but it was manufactured by the two “victim” groups who went after the MAGA kids, not the other way around. As political and religious commentator Matt Walsh asked, were they supposed to drop down to the fetal position when approached by the two groups?
I watched the full video. Here's what happens:
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 21, 2019
2) They start screaming insults at the high school kids, who were just standing there clearly waiting around for something. They call the kids "incest children" and other insults. The kids respond by drowning the slurs with pep rally style cheers.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 21, 2019
4) That's it. The end. The kids did not instigate anything, did not harass anyone, did not insult anyone, did not do anything wrong. The Black Israelites are obnoxious racists. Nathan Phillips was clearly trying to provoke something and when he didn't succeed he just lied instead
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 21, 2019
By the way, the Black Israelites hurl insults at Native Americans, too, calling them idol worshipers among other things. They also shout anti-gay slurs numerous times. But, sure, let's keep defaming the white kids because their smiles looked weird or something.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 21, 2019
Hot takes on social and legacy media are often based on incomplete pictures. Before people get outraged and attack others over perceptions based on partial evidence, perhaps we should wait until the whole story comes to light. Just a thought.
