Conservatives have been quick to mock gullible progressives for continually falling for hoaxes that perfectly align with their personal political beliefs. Jussie Smollett's attack on himself in Chicago is prime comedic fodder, while the vile defamation of the Covington Catholic kids provides a more sinister example. But in this media age of "run with it first and check the facts later," those on the right must be careful not to engage in behavior that can set them up for similar humiliation.
Slow Down
A hot headline currently boiling over in right-leaning circles serves as an apt example of the need for diligence and restraint. There is so much that remains murky about the news out of Indianapolis of a young mother allegedly being murdered simply for saying "All Lives Matter." Jessica Doty Whitaker, 24, was in an area plagued by violent criminal activity at 3:30 in the morning. Her fiance Jose Ramirez claims he and Whitaker were walking along the canal with two others in the wee hours of a Sunday morning when they became embroiled in a racially-heated verbal argument with four men and a woman.
Ramirez says one of these men pulled a gun at one point, and he followed suit, but things calmed down, and the two groups went their separate ways. Moments later, Whitaker was shot. Ramirez says he returned fire even though he didn't see anybody.
It all adds up to a simple point: We don't know what happened. All we have is one side of the story. Yet several conservative publications have rushed headlong to reinforce a narrative being staked out by the young woman's fiancé even though they do not know whether he is telling the truth. He may very well be doing so, but this has yet to be determined. And that is very worrisome.
Nobody wants to give a patently unfair leftist establishment media an opportunity to dig its claws into a Jussie fantasy emerging from the right. Unprecedented big-box media bias in America today makes it all the more incumbent on conservatives to take pains to assure that all the Is are dotted, and Ts crossed before jumping on any breaking wave.
Whitaker's slaying went viral in conservative media and social media circles after The Gateway Pundit website brought it to national attention. "Jessica Doty Whitaker was shot and killed following an altercation with Black Lives Matter thugs who were upset that she and her fiancé had said 'All Lives Matter' last Sunday [July 5]," the original report on July 11 reads. Well, we don't know that, do we? Whitaker's fiancé Jose Ramirez says this is what happened, and Whitaker's grieving parents believe him. However, that does not make it a proven fact. But rather than treading softly and letting the details unravel in due course, multiple popular conservative sources had embraced the wholly inaccurate notion that Whitaker's father had somehow "confirmed" Ramirez's claims when all he did was amplify them.
Don't Play Their Game
None of this is to suggest that a hoax is indeed being perpetrated in Indianapolis. But there is undoubtedly much more to this story than has so far been reported. Conservatives rightly become infuriated when they see progressives gallop to judgment in condemning someone for alleged acts of bigotry and violence based on a superficial understanding of facts. Why is it okay, then, to rush to conclude that unnamed black assailants savagely shot a young mother in the head because she said three words based on no real evidence whatsoever?
Is it too much to ask that we wait for more details to come out before turning this into a cause celebre? After all, we demand as much of the left. There will eventually be a high price to pay if we fail to show such restraint ourselves.
In the war to check the tide of Cultural Marxism currently engulfing the nation, logic and reason must light the way. Those who want to destroy this nation feed off of distortions and lies. There is only one effective remedy. No matter where it leads, the calm, patient and resolute pursuit of the truth is what is most needed in America today.
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