The recent police shootings of two black suspects by white officers last week was a repeat of other events such as Ferguson. The story usually goes like this:
- white officer shoots black guy
- media runs with a story and/or video within hours
- suspect is a great, family guy
- everyone loses their mind
- protests and riots break out
- the investigation unfolds and we all find out that there is A LOT more to the original story
- that story now includes that the suspect was a criminal and that the suspect was actually fighting officers
- cops are cleared of any wrongdoing
- media then says the entire criminal justice system is racist
- we repeat the entire story as soon as the next shooting occurs
That is what usually occurs and Ferguson was just about burned to the ground despite the facts (from the DOJ) that Officer Wilson did nothing wrong.
So here we find ourselves again but this time you can add something to that story…..5 cops are dead and others have been shot. There are violent protests in several major cities on a nightly basis.
Other items have yet to be written but we certainly know more today than we did the day of the shootings (when everyone lost their mind).
We know that a second and third video of Sterling existed and we know it paints a much different picture than the first grainy cell phone video that kept dropping to the ground. We also know that in Minnesota, that officer was stopping a potential robbery suspect and we know (from the live FB video) that the officer verbally told the suspect to not reach for the gun. Yes, I know the girlfriend claims he was only reaching for his identification but is she our only source for truth? Do we riot and kill cops based on her very odd live Facebook video? Certainly there is a better way?
“The media is responsible for the false narrative and for stoking the emotions of the American public.”
While some may think the news media stands in the gap to expose the truth, that could not be any more further from the truth. They are using falsehoods to drive stories that then will drive them a larger audience.
In short, they are using you to make money and for that, we all lose.
Indeed, there are times that cops mess up but in an overwhelmingly fashion, they are accused of being murderers and racists before any of the facts are revealed and when those facts are revealed, the officers are cleared of any wrongdoing almost every time.
And before someone says, “yea but once in a while a cop does something wrong,” let us not think that makes painting an entire profession as a bunch of murdering racists ok? Doctors kill over 250,000 patients a year by their medical mistakes and we don’t decide to run around and call them murderers.
“The countless lies told by the media gives them no credibility when there is actual wrongdoing to expose.”
So where do we go from here? We have to learn from our past mistakes. We saw an entire country turned upside down over “hands up…don’t shoot” and after the investigation was complete, it was all made up.
We find ourselves in the same place today. We can either continue to be played by the media as fools or we can wait for the investigation to be complete before we pass judgement. I won’t hold my breath for that but at some point, Americans need to decide because one thing is clear, what we are doing now is destructive beyond measure.