And What Else Have We Learned?

Okay, I'm going to talk about this again but in a sort of sideways way. Mainly because I think there are still things people should be taking from this that they aren't.

So the video comes out. People react. Then more video comes out and other people react. Then all of the video comes out and everyone has their say. But what did you learn?

If you want to understand why people reacted to that initial shot the way they did I have a suggestion for you. Put your own beliefs to the side and watch what is happening now. The Right is falling all over themselves to make these boys victims. And the media, because they didn't say at the beginning, there were a lot of assholes involved, is helping them. But please understand that these boys are not victims. They aren't good guys. They aren't heroes. They are at best Eddie Haskell. Punk kids being punk kids who should have been told to stop being punks by an adult they respected.

But instead we all watch the media and the Right tell us all about how these are good boys really. And the main mad dogger boy say that he doesn't feel that he owes any sort of apology because there was no reason for him not to stand his ground. And he's right. There has never been any reason for him to think he should move. He's never been taught to give way. To think someone else has a right to the space he is in. He has always been taught that he, white, male, private school, child of privilege has earned that space. It's his. He is owed that.

And he's getting reinforcement for that right now.

The President has weighed in on their side.

The media is falling all over themselves to show that they were wrong.

I believe Fox News has already installed their shrine to "LEFTIST CRAZIES ATTACK OUR SWEET BOYS"

But those boys, that group of kids were still assholes.

They still responded to the Native American chant with the tomahawk chop.

They still yelled back at the group that was yelling at them. (I'm not saying this is uncalled for or unusual but please let's stop pretending that they didn't do their part to escalate the situation)

And let's also remember that they were in DC to attend an anti-choice march. Sixteen year old boys.

Because they have been taught all of their lives that they are due this space. That their opinions automatically hold weight. And the PR firm that is representing them, the lawyer that is threatening to sue journalists that reported and didn't retract, the President, the media, their parents, their absent chaperones are all telling them they are right.

That is why there was a reaction to that photo.

Young white male wearing a MAGA hat smirking in the face of a Native American. It might not have told the whole story of what happened that day, but it does tell a story. And it's one that is being told again right now. As we watch.

Like I said, there were a lot of assholes there that day, but that does not mean that the boys weren't assholes. It just means they had a lot of company.

And I know that there are people reading this just waiting to clap back at me about white privilege so I'm going to add in a bit more here.

I read an opinion piece this morning about why parents on the Right are so worried. That this is Brett Kavanaugh part two for them. Where when Kavanaugh was accused they could see their husbands or brothers or sons being "destroyed by some woman" and now they see that it could be their young sons "destroyed by a clip of a recording." And that they are now panicked about what could happen when they are out in the world. My first reaction as I was reading this was to smirk. Yes, not smile nervously, smirk. I'm not worried that my husband or son will be caught up in this sort of thing because I don't think my husband or son has done something to be caught up in. But okay, you do you...

But then my smirk shifted to a look of disbelief then anger when the writer continued on to say he could already hear the "what about" comparing black boys to white boys and the fears of black parents and he acknowledged then dismissed those comparisons in one paragraph. With basically a "yes I'm aware of the post killing criminalization justification argument but..." Post killing. After they are dead. You know, when they really have been destroyed.

Do you understand the difference here? MAGA hat wearing young man was called a racist. Trayvon Martin is dead.  Covington Catholic is having to explain the black face photos. Tamir Rice is dead. We can go on. Young black boys are portrayed as big scary men. Nathan Sandmann is a young kid who just was standing there minding his own business.

Watch how things are portrayed and then you might understand the reaction to the photo.

There were a lot of assholes there that day. Don't dismiss the ones that look like you.