01-21-2019, 05:00 PM
(01-21-2019, 04:42 PM)Dill Wrote: Actually, expanding on your last statement, I do think the incident is proof of something, starting with the speed with which it is shoehorned into competing narratives. And if there are shouts of "incest bred" and tomahawk chops, then I would suggest those are proof of some very negative, race-based attitudes in the participants. One could argue that is not news; that doesn't make it ok. It may be that people feel a bit more permission to behave in a racially aggressive manner than they have since the 70s and 80s, though I would not pin that conclusion on one incident.
The response on "both sides" does show the degree to which many people are waiting for incidents such as this, as some kind of final proof of what is bad in the country--the "far left" MSM or Trump's MAGA movement.
It proves people in general are stupid. Kids do stupid things and have since the start of time, including racially insensitive things. To be fair the tomahawk chop is still encouraged in sporting events across the country, and to be frank is probably the closest exposure to "Native American Culture" many of them have ever been exposed to. Do they understand that it shouldn't be appropriate there? Maybe, but to what degree probably not. When I was growing up we ran around pretending to be Indians making the "wah wah wah" sound like many people did. Was I racist? No. Did I know better? No, but I eventually figured it out like most people do as they get older. I do have to wonder where the chaperones in this situation were, as it did escalate in terms of group chanting that went past ignorance into mocking. I think that is an escalation of the event in a bit of mob mentality, but it could have easily been avoided by an adult simply telling them "let's go".
I believe he was looking to make as much of a statement as anyone there. Maybe he didn't want to "back down" to what he felt was aggression from the kids. There are certain standards of personnel space that must be respected by this gentleman. Should the kid have moved? Probably. Maybe he however was standing up to what he felt was an aggression on his personnel space? Everyone can feel slighted if they want to. I tend to lean liberal in most cases but this all feels a little bit like the Native American man here injected himself into the situation to prove a point.
Either way I feel this whole thing is people wanting it to represent whatever they are looking for it to represent. It's just another example of hyper partisan politics taking over everything. It is no different than the title of this very thread. It's not "Left Wing Media" out to ruin Brad's school. It is today's standard media from both sides out to sensationalize events without all of the information in a world where being first to report is more important than being right.
