I’m not a racist righty, nor did I defend Martin’s death. (Or do.) But what on earth made this kid a “smarm racist”, other than the wearing of one of those stupid hats? He was repeatedly accused of doing something he was proven not to have done. He, his family, his friends, and his community suffered major harassment and threats.
He may be an asshole, I don’t know him. He may be a racist, I don’t know that either. But that doesn’t excuse the behavior of those who wrongly attacked him and his friends, and continue to do so.
Why has no one here condemned the actions of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a hate group as defined by both the ADL AND the SPLC? They’re a scary bunch.
Or pointed out that those who were really irresponsible were the chaperones of the trip – who dropped the ball when it came to keeping control of the whole thing?
Are the kids privileged? Yes, most certainly. However, they’re most likely pretty sheltered as well. Not sheltered as in “innocent” but as in they probably haven’t seen any REALLY scary shit.
AND finally, Phillips has changed his story twice. He was the adult in the story. Why is it the kids that are the only ones at fault?
Right? All the bullshit and bomb threats that Anita Sarkeesian and Zoey Quinn put up with - that’s just free speech. Hillary Clinton’s a cannibal who runs a child sex ring on mars and who deliberately killed four people in Benghazi (while cackling!) - that’s just asking questions. Michelle Obama is a transexual & Barack Obama is a closeted gay muslim & Leon Panetta eats ghostly placentas & John Kerry lies about his military medals & Elizabeth Warren thinks she’s Pocahantas - just a never ending parade of normal remarks made by normal people who should absolutely be protected and never made to answer for any of it.
But this white boy in a racist hat gets called a racist and suddenly he’s owed big bucks.
I don’t think he should get money for being called a racist. It’s because the media attacks lead to direct harassment on him and his family, as well as the school, I believe.
Anyone who sends death threats, harasses, or harassed this family, based on false information, is to blame, like it or not. Why must the victim have to be a saint in order for them to be owed compensation?
Like it or not, the Clintons, the Obamas, Panetta, Kerry, and Warren all have higher burdens of proof to defamation actions as they’re all public figures. Now, I’d agree that legal action in all the cases mentioned should still win, but it’s not a good argument to make against someone who is basically a private figure. Making them involuntary public figures and then saying they have no legal recourse is not something I want to support.
Frankly, I think it’s about time for the 15 minutes on this thing to be up already. All the rage on the internet on both sides isn’t going to actually do anything productive, only possibly destructive.
Obama was a pro-terrorist muslim from Kenya. Hillary Clinton is a mass murderer who ran a pedophile ring from a pizza place. But if some white kid has a shit eating grin on his face the media must be sued for slander.
Do the right understand that they lie incessantly and that if they start suing for libel and slander, that fox news and other right wing media outlets will be bankrupt pretty fast?
I would imagine that anyone who sent Obama or Clinton death threats or harassed them at their homes would probably end up in some serious shit.
Besides, I don’t think it’s just that they claimed the kids were harassing Phillips when they weren’t. It’s that by the media saying that, the kids ended up suffering from a lot of harassment themselves. Again, it’s just like Richard Jewell.
And I would also hope that anyone who HAS sent these kids any type of threats or harassesd the school, or their families ends up having to pay for it. That’s not cool.
You’re missing my point, which is that direct harassment of people in the news has been a daily event for the alt-right, inspired by articles on Breitbart and Fox and Drudge. It’s not suddenly an emergency because this time the target is a conservative white boy.
I don’t care if he’s a saint (he’s not.) I’m angry that women have been dealing with MAGA hatters making terrorist threats under the guise of “free speech” and suddenly the alt-right snowflakes are in a panic. Has Breitbart ever apologized for the bile they threw at Zoe Quinn?
I don’t even really care if these lawsuits go through, but I hope the next time an Anita Sarkeesian event gets cancelled for bomb threats, she has options beyond listening to the MAGA crowd whine about “free speech”.
I’ve paid almost no attention to this particular story, but aren’t there many many thousands of people who are mistreated on “media” or “social media”? Just for starters, Google “teenager suicide facebook.”
What is the solution? Is it for a tiny number among thousands or even millions of victims to hire expensive lawyers? Perhaps that is The American Way™, but is it an optimal way?
And, if he goes after the people who sent death threats, I’d be right there defending him. That is fucked up and needs to stop.
But it’s ridiculous to try and blame the media for that. Not unless you can show me an instance of the news media suggesting this sort of thing, let alone encouraging it. Who is this media who pushed people to make death threats?
And I asked this before: What did the news media say that was false? I actually went and looked up more reports to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and I still didn’t find anything. The only thing I found was that some said they said “Build the wall” but it turned out they were chanting a school fight song or something. That’s just an honest mistake.
As far as I can find, everyone just showed the video, and told us what people there said happened. And that’s what news organizations do. They say “this happened, according to this source.” And it’s up to the audience to determine if they think it’s true. It’s always possible that more information will come in. Why is it the news’s fault if someone decided to harass and abuse someone over the information the news brings?
Yes, I don’t think the kids should receive death threats or other harassment. I will always condemn that, and have since I first heard about it.
But the media is not to blame for the actions of these garbage people. That’s something I see being pushed by the right wing, agenda-based media, as part of their attack on all other media.
It’s not that they were mistreated. It’s that said mistreatment lead to harassment and threats. Like I said, it’s similiar to what happened to Richard Jewell.
And quite frankly, I’m guessing that others who were given grief in the media were perfectly free to attempt to sue.
Not necessarily. Have you read of the case of Richard Jewell?
IF the media knowingly put out false information (and that’s what this lawsuit is attempting to prove), then they are responsible. If someone on the left wants to sue, they are free to do so.
If it would work, sure. Sue some people and see bad things happen to them. Or arrest the fuckers for their violent threats.
The problem, of course, is that these people know how to remain anonymous. So this doesn’t work. Even if you go after the ones who aren’t, all you do is encourage the others to be more anonymous.
I genuinely don’t know the solution. I do know, however, that suing the MEDIA is not in any way going to help.
Though, if you know who it is, report them. Most of the big sites are big on stopping abuse. And, if a site isn’t, don’t give that site your business.
I don’t watch enough Fox News to know for sure, but I bet they’ve had some not very nice things to say about the Parkland students. Maybe Emma or David should consider a suit.
Of course you did. In this country, the legal definition of the word actionable means that there are enough facts, or circumstances, existing to meet the legal requirements to file a legitimate lawsuit. That’s it. If/when lawsuits are filed against the lame stream media outlets for issuing false, misleading, slanderous, libelous, horseshit claims that caused an injury (there always has to be an injury) to the plaintiffs (e.g. the teenagers, their friends, and families) the Guamanian Kaya Taitano could be (I believe she should be) added to the list of defendants. Taitano doesn’t appear to have any money, or she may flee to Guam when a judgment is issued against her, so there is only a slim chance that she would actually be listed as a defendant.
The lame stream media’s questionable reporting/claims didn’t appear out of thin air. The lame stream media’s reporting/claims began with the original twits, and video, from Guamanian Kaya Taitano.
I doubt that any judge would dismiss Taitano from the lawsuit(s) based on someone’s claim on the internet of, “nothing I read looked remotely actionable, so I figured that maybe I must have read the wrong thing”. The answer to the question of whether, or not, Taitano’s participation is actionable, the answer is yes, and since it’s not your call, there is nothing you do about it.
First, Guam is part of the U.S., so “fleeing to Guam” wouldn’t help her escape judgment, if one was ever entered against her.
Second, “lame stream media” is a stupid phrase and makes everyone who uses it look stupid.
Third, “actionable” is probably best defined as a lawsuit that would survive a motion to dismiss under a rule like the Federal Rule 12(b)(6). Basically, you have to at least allege facts sufficient to create a valid claim. Posting a video of an actual encounter, even if edited, is not likely to survive a motion to dismiss. I don’t know what she said in tweets or otherwise, so perhaps there is something “actionable” there.
I’d be interested in knowing more about “media outlets … issuing false, misleading, slanderous, libelous, horseshit claims that caused an injury.” Saying “some asshole in a MAGA hat is smirking” would not an example of that. Maybe there is more. I haven’t been following that closely.
I’m glad to hear that the Guamanian Kaya Taitano couldn’t escape justice by flee to Guam. The lame stream media earned their title. If they don’t like it, they can do a better job of vetting their stories, and reporting their stories.
I’m unaware of the plaintiffs having actually filed a lawsuit, yet. Probably still in the discovery phase? It will be interesting to see who is named as a defendant, what they are actually accused of doing, and what the claimed injuries are.
Well here is a question: You have this guy who was a writer for some company called INE who called for the kids murder and was fired by INE. Now even though he was fired, would INE still be liable?
Well, technically, he just wished that they would die. He did so on his personal twitter account, so I don’t see why the company would be liable.
I won’t republish his offensive tweet (it’s in Urbanredneck’s cite) but having read it, I don’t see how anyone could be sued over that, even the author.
There are people I’ve wished would die. I don’t think that’s a request that someone kill them.