Viral video of interaction between Covington Catholic high school students and Native American Nathan Phillips leave out key details, media rushes to bash the students.
Three groups were in close proximity near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on Friday, January 18, 2019 (the weekend before the Martin Luther King holiday) that resulted in a highly controversial non-violent clash:
1) indigenous rights activists with Native Americans from Michigan on scene for the Indigenous People’s March;
2) Catholic schoolboys from Kentucky — some wearing Make America Great Again hats — on scene for the March for Life, and
3) Hebrew Israelites, who were also there for the Indigenous People’s March.
The non-violent clash that occurred exemplified some of the worst in extreme politics, social media, and video “viralism” nationwide. The follow-up caused a storm of accusations, misleading articles, misleading comments on social media; and exposed the ugly head of extreme political polarization in the United States. With a simple share of a breaking news article about the clash near the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cardinal was exposed to attacks by the extreme right.
There was no agenda intended, and there were no underlying motives when Arlington Cardinal shared a breaking news report from ABC 7 Chicago, but the share on Facebook caused anger from some members of the extreme right, who seemed to find Arlington Cardinal as some imaginary enemy of the Right or alt-Right.
For years, Arlington Cardinal has emphasized that articles are shared on Facebook without intention to persuade anyone to believe the content of articles that might have a political agenda. Instead, the articles are shared for awareness. Articles are shared from mostly major media sources from the left and right.
Arlington Cardinal has also emphasized that truth often develops painstakingly out of the initial inaccurate breaking news story. This applies to crimes, emergencies, and politics. People need to understand that sometimes truth in news stories is very obvious from the beginning, but sometimes extracting the truth is a grueling process; and it doesn’t always mean the news providers are negligent or dysfunctional when they get it wrong. This is especially true when subjects in the story are deceitful, or when many other factors are present that can obscure the facts. This has been Arlington Cardinal’s disclaimer for many years. Read at your own risk.
Remember NEWS is a rough draft of history.
Breaking News is a rough draft of news.
In today’s extremely polarized political environment, when a breaking story is displeasing to an extremist, the extremist replies by going for the kill to destroy the source instead of coming to some type of understanding. Consider these comments after Arlington Cardinal’s share from Carla Caposieno Cozzi yesterday …
“Arlington Cardinal do you work for CNN? Keep spreading the hate. Your site I’m sure will be part of the new lawsuit. Good luck to you. You and your biased attitude are the reason our country is the way it is. Embarrassing.”
This comment arose from simply sharing the ABC 7 Chicago article on Facebook. After Arlington Cardinal replied to Cozzi, emphasizing that articles are shared for awareness, not endorsements; Carla Caposieno Cozzi replied …
“The Cardinal Arlington Heights, you need to retract false information to make yourself credible. Arguing with the public shows you are unprofessional and a one sided operation. Many people have already reported your responses, please watch your step and just continue to do the job we expect from you.”
Apparently our responses she referred to were related to an Arlington Cardinal article that was published that pointed out the possible problems with the initial ABC 7 Chicago article shared on Facebook, and in order to inform people about new information that was revealed about the Lincoln Memorial incident. There was emphasis to explain that the Facebook post was innocently shared without any intended agenda, but there was no forgiving. And this is the problem with today’s polarization. In our experience, there is rarely any forgiving, or any type of understanding acknowledged.
Consider this summary of the details that have developed from unedited video that appeared after the initial edited, misleading video went viral.
The initial video was apparently conveniently edited to support the story that the Kentucky high school students were acting out with racism when they approached a Native American, Nathan Phillips. This narrative was published quickly by many media sources, and the ABC 7 Chicago article was shared on Facebook.com/ArlingtonCardinal. There was initial national viral outrage about the alleged treatment of Nathan Phillips.
When more details were revealed, and after Arlington Cardinal received some backlash, Arlington Cardinal posted a follow-up article. The follow-up article mentioned that Native American Nathan Phillips actually approached the students — correcting earlier incorrect assumptions by other media sources that claimed the Covington Catholic High School students surrounded Nathan Phillips. The Arlington Cardinal article also described the initial reports about the Lincoln Memorial incident as “exaggerated and misleading”.
The article’s explanation was not satisfying, according to another commenter, who tried to highlight “Arlington Cardinal’s absence of effort to balance its reporting” (in the words of Jeffrey Scott). This was an obvious false, misleading and defamatory statement from the commenter, who was equally as unforgiving as Cozzi. Furthermore, in an earlier comment in the thread, Jeffrey Scott made a statement regarding the wearing of Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats …
“One of the easiest tricks in the book. Anyone can wear a MAGA hat. Including someone who wants to discredit Trump supporters.”
In the heat of the moment when people allow themselves to become energized toward one pole of the extreme political polarization sphere, they say or write crazy things. Jeffrey Scott seemed to backtrack a little later, writing … “I agree that these kids aren’t simply trying to discredit Trump supporters.”
Although Jeffrey Scott’s comment might have been disconnected to the Covington Catholic High School incident, the careless comment would lead any reasonable person to conclude that he is hinting that the Covington Catholic High School students were involved in some type of a false-flag operation to smear Trump supporters.
So, while extreme progressives were smearing and making racist allegations toward Covington Catholic High School students and student Nick Sandmann (the student that Native American Phillips approached within inches of Sandmann’s face while chanting and banging a drum); Jeffrey Scott added a stranger distorted smear. Jeffrey Scott accidentally or intentionally implied that the MAGA-hat wearing high school students might be some sort of false-flag operation to instigate the discrediting of Trump supporters by wearing the MAGA hats while committing acts of fake racism. The statement that anyone can wear a MAGA hat — juxtaposed with the post about the apparent racism toward Native American, Nathan Phillips — hints of an accusation by Jeffrey Scott that the high school students were involved such a false flag operation.
This would mean that Jeffrey Scott also took the bait, concluding that the Covington High School students appeared to be acting out with racism, even though —in his mind — they were possibly just pretending actors trying to disgrace Trump supporters. That’s kind of a silly conspiracy theory and a risky presumption that defames those high school students from a second angle. Jeffrey Scott had also commented to another reader: “You have taken the bait, and are spreading the distortion, just like The Cardinal is doing by re-posting this story,” referring to the initial breaking news of this incident published by ABC 7 Chicago and shared on Facebook by FB.com/ArlingtonCardinal. In summary, high school students were attacked on two sides by adult extreme progressives and an adult from the alt-Right apparently stoking a conspiracy theory about the high school students.
In fact, complete review of entire unedited video, shows that the students were shouting school cheers in response to member of the Black Hebrew Israelites or Hebrew Israelites — a predominantly African American group that was caught on video hurling insults and racist remarks at the high school students. The Hebrew Israelites claim the high school students were involved with racist statements and were chanting “Build the Wall”, but no video evidence supports the claim … Yet, anyway.
On a wall at the Lincoln Memorial is the inscription of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Contained in the inaugural address are these closing words …
WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE WITH CHARITY FOR ALL WITH FIRMNESS IN THE RIGHT AS GOD GIVES US TO SEE THE RIGHT LET US STRIVE ON TO FINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN TO BIND UP THE NATION’S WOUNDS TO CARE FOR HIM WHO SHALL HAVE BORNE THE BATTLE AND FOR HIS WIDOW AND HIS ORPHAN – TO DO ALL WHICH MAY ACHIEVE AND CHERISH A JUST AND LASTING PEACE AMONG OURSELVES AND WITH ALL NATIONS
— Abraham Lincoln
We can polarize or heal, the choice is ours.
MORE …
1) For more details on accusations and background details of the Lincoln Memorial incident, see this Washington Post article …
Viral standoff between a tribal elder and a high schooler is more complicated than it first seemed
2) and this Fox News article …
Video shows tension between Native Americans, high school students before viral clip
3) The ABC 7 Chicago article that was shared (may have been updated since the original, but the title shows initial incorrect narrative) …
Students in ‘MAGA’ hats taunt indigenous elder, demonstrators in Washington: VIDEO
4) Shared Facebook post (includes comments by Carla Caposieno Cozzi and Jeffrey Scott); Notice the title still represents the initial incorrect narrative …
Facebook Share: Boys in ‘MAGA’ hats mock indigenous elder in DC: VIDEO (January 19, 2019 2:03 p.m.)
CBS Evening News: A confrontation between a teenager and a Native American man on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial quickly went viral. But in less than a day, more videos show the teen had been taunted by a small group. Jim Axelrod explains.
^^ MOBILE? USE VOICE MIC ^^
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