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Grow Some Labia's avatar

This one was a slippery one. I only know about it because I got into a debate about it with someone elsewhere and I wondered, "Did this really happen?" and when I started looking at news sources I found it, not surprisingly, in the right wing media, particularly questionable sources like the Daily Caller and the UK's Daily Mail, both notoriously right-biased and footloose with the facts. I don't care as much about bias if the essential facts are correct but neither of these can ever pass muster in Media Bias Fact Check. So, just make a mental note: Right now there's not a lot of evidence for sexual assaults in bathrooms, so allegations may well come from the right wing media. OTOH, the left wing media is NOT reporting prison rapes so I can't say they're not happening, and it's not terribly radical to say don't believe everything the media says. I'm not anti-MSM, but I've watched journalistic standards slip over the decades.

Remember the Matthew Sheperd case, the alleged anti-gay 'hate crime'? (The kid beaten up and tied to a fence in a field and left to die in Wyoming). Next up on my reading list is The Book of Matt, making, from what I've read from reliable reviews, a very good case for how it was actually a drug deal gone bad, that it had nothing to do with his homosexuality, and how the media turned it into a 'hate crime'.

Then there was Tawana Brawley, who I call the Crystal Smollett of hate crimes. Jussie Smollett lied about a racist attack, Crystal Jackson lied about a rape (the Duke University lacrosse team case). Tawana Brawley lied about *both*, but boy oh boy did the media go to town on how it was a racist case without delving too deeply into some disturbing details questioning her story, and then it all came out - the bitch lied!!! One of her accused even successfully sued her for defamation (although I don't know that the bitch ever paid up).

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Passion guided by reason's avatar

Yes, I ran across the real story of Mathew Shepard more recently and was very disappointed, because I had believed the mainstream report that it was flagrant homophobia for a long time. When you read the details, not it was not. (One of the killers was one of his lovers, even; homosexuality was not an issue in his circle or his death, drugs and drug money was).

I've since come across more info on the George Zimmerman / Treyvon Martin case, and we were sold a buil of goods there too. The media failed to note that Zimmerman was a Hispanic Democrat who voted for Obama, was mentoring two Black kids, and had gone to bat for a Black person killed by an officer's son. Not to mention that all of the forensic evidence and the eye witness accounts are consistent with Zimmerman's story - that he was attacked by Martin, who was on top of him beating him and slamming his head into the pavement, so Zimmerman remembered that he had a gun and shot Martin from below. What we heard was grossly distorted to fit an agenda.

Then I read through the Justice Department's report on the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson - they were really out to go after the officer, but the evidence was quite strong that Michael Brown was charging the officer and the officer was shooting in self defense; the Obama administration reluctantly had to clear him. All the stuff about "hands up, don't shoot" was a false invention.

I've looked into several other such things, and there is a dismaying amount of misrepresentation to "Reinforce the (Oppression) Narrative".

Of course there ARE real cases of abuse, but we cannot trust the media to be accurate in telling us which is which. At this point, I have zero automatic trust in the stories from any side, in any American media; everything must be checked before belief. It's not all false, but enough of it is false or misleading that I've lost any automatic trust in any source. Alas, at this point I think the situation has deteriorated beyond just a slip in journalistic standards, but form your own opinion as you continue to learn more about how deep the rot goes.

Obviously, I'm including Fox News and conservative media in my skepticism, as I always have - what's more recent is that my distrust now incudes most liberal or "mainstream" news as well.

I have not yet read "Hate Crime Hoaxes" by Wilfred Reilly but I gather it records a number of other cases.

If you have doubts about the Michael Brown case, check the DOJ final report. There is another book about the Treyvon Martin case.

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Grow Some Labia's avatar

Thanks for the heads up about these! I didn't know a lot of these details, although I do remember public discussion about Zimmerman's Hispanic origins and whether that constituted 'white' or not (because, it's a slightly less horrible tragedy if he's a browner shade of pale?). I know he was Democrat, can't remember if I ever knew he voted for Obama. I didn't know about the other stuff, but I can be accused of not following it all that closely.

I aspired to journalism when I was in college (forty years ago) and we learned how to always strive for objectivity and keep our own personal opinions. Most importantly, we learned not to publish *anything* unless we got confirmation or evidence from *three* reliable sources. I thought about that rather a lot when the media's standards really started slipping in the '90s and stuff about Clinton was being alleged just on say-so. Was he really smuggled out of the White House under blankets by the Secret Service for assignations with other women (pre-Monica playing his harmonica)? The media reported this even though no evidence of it or reliable eyewitnesses could verify it. People are wise not to trust the mainstream media anymore, and not getting to the bottom of what *really* happened to anyone which might not suit the prevailing narrative (Trayvon Martin was a thug, Bill Clinton was a slut - well, he *was*, but the blanket story is bullshit) has a lot to do with it. Along with overall shoddy reporting and no effort to keep personal opinion out of it.

Thanks for the mention on the book. Going to put it on my Amazon wish list now, which is where I keep my 2-read list.

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Lightwing's avatar

Yes, I was aware of the Matthew Sheperd case and the others. And, yes, media standards are slipping. I am far more cynical than you about MSM and avoid them like the plague. I abhor people who misuse their authority. NOT cool. A lie is a lie. The ends do NOT justify the means and real people are getting hurt with their propaganda campaign.

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