Don’t Create False Villains To Serve a Greater Good

The available evidence indicates a Columbus police officer acted with remarkable professionalism and poise. 

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Rarely have we seen more blatant public vitriol and reckless irresponsibility from significant public figures than in the reactions to two separate police-related events that occurred the same day this week. I’m speaking, of course, about the conviction of Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis and the police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus. 

First, I’d like to say I’m not surprised by much today, but I was taken aback by the rage in some parts of the right at the conviction of Derek Chauvin. Here’s Tucker Carlson (the most-watched host in cable news) and Candace Owens (one of the most-followed right-wing personalities on social media) in an appalling extended segment on Fox News:

To say, as Owens does, that “this was not a trial about George Floyd and Derek Chauvin,” that it was instead a trial about “whether the media was powerful enough to create a simulation and decide upon a narrative absent any facts,” is to completely disconnect from reality. 

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  1. PatrickD

    Thank you for calling this issue out. It seems like your observations “should be obvious to even the most casual observer.” It’s scary to think that it’s not. I couldn’t even finish the Carlson/Owens video.

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    Amy Bonsall

    As always, I am grateful for your thoughtful perspective. I'm curious why the quotes around antiracism with respect to Kendi. Is it about the concept of antiracism or about Kendi? Thanks!

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    Julie from Texas

    I have massive problems with police overreach and the involvement of violent means when other options are more appropriate. I also believe, as many have reported, that people of color have been harassed by law enforcement. No, not all police! Only a few, but that few can have contact with many, and our incentive structures don't catch and expel those few as they should.

    But years back, my white male cousin was shot by police. The officers acted appropriately because my cousin was pointing a weapon and didn't release it after warnings to do so. His life was cut short at a young age, and it stinks that he died, but when a situation reaches that point, the choices are terrible or worse. I feel for my aunt and uncle whose son died too soon, but also for the officer who's had to carry that with him the rest of his life. I'm glad the officer didn't also have to carry blame he didn't deserve.

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    Marvel2014.ab

    All Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are saying is what Joe Biden and Al Sharpton said--that the protests played a role in the conviction. You can disagree, of course. But if you disagree with people saying it as a bad thing, you need to disagree with people saying it as a good thing. I know you're not a fan of Biden or Sharpton, but anyone reading this article would think that this is just something the right is saying.

    I personally believe there was reasonable doubt in regards to the murder charges. But you don't have to think that there was to think that the jury was not completely unbiased. And even if you think it was, you have to recognize that it's not just the right saying it was not--it's just the right saying that's a bad thing.

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  5. Frank Pepp

    Am I ignorant in seeing the danger of equating irresponsible hot takes on the Left, that I would never see on my own, with the thundering drumbeat of insane apocalyptical narratives on the Right, which I can't avoid?

    Agree with the article otherwise entirely.

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    Dexember

    So many Lebron apologists on these comments point to the “good work” he’s done. The man has more influence than Tucker in the number of people who listen to him, and he regularly says ignorant, harmful things.

    If you are “handing out passes” for bad behavior then you’re not being honest with yourself about your own inability to see people as fully human. Because people give “passes” to those they already like, and they don’t want to alter their simplistic view of that individual. The same happens all the time when a “villain” does something good.

    Tucker, Lebron, Thomas Jefferson, Gandhi, Hitler, everyone has more than one facet, and getting upset at someone pointing out the facets of a person you don’t like to notice doesn’t make them go away, and no “pass” really means a damn. Hitler was a vegetarian, Gandhi supported mass British suicide in support of the Nazis, etc.

    People are complicated, so stopping thinking of Lebron as more, or less, than human. The man excused the enslavement, torture, and rape of millions because it was making him millions. That sad fact doesn’t erase any “good work” he does for poor kids.

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    Jeanne A

    Thank you, David. Thank you for reporting these incidents the way the way they should be reported. Thank you for being specific and factual in relating not only what happened in each case but in differentiating the cases. And most especially, thank you for making it very clear that despite news consumers’ expectations to the contrary, there is a direct correlation between how soon a story is reported after an event and how much truth there is in that reporting.

    And yes, in the effort to keep upping the ante to more and more drama and
    Instant gratification, the media has definitely outdone itself. But, hey, so long as “it sells papers”.

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    Dan H

    As someone who has just taken a roughly two-month hiatus from following almost any news, and who has probably read either zero or one Dispatch articles during that time, I'd just like to say that this piece makes me very happy I decided to keep my subscription active anyway. Thank you for continuing to be a bubble of grounded sanity. Just knowing that an outlet like this exists is worth paying for, even when I don't read it.

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  9. Paul K

    “...they’ve created a competing media ecosystem that’s actually worse than the institutions they hate.”

    Great point.

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  10. CRS

    So I just restarted my Dispatch sub. I have to support David French's work. One of a kind.

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    1. Seth

      I gifted a subscription to by brother, who's a very thoughtful Christian, and less interested in the politics side, but French's columns are worth the price alone.

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