# Race, Media and Politicians **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156 "2016-02-26T00:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/1 "2016-02-26T00:39:26Z")
So recently three UAlbany students made a claim that they were assaulted on a bus by 10 to 12 white males and females who were yelling racial slurs. [Link](http://news10.com/2016/01/30/three-ualbany-students-allegedly-harassed-assaulted-on-cdta-bus/). Hillary Clinton [tweeted](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/695253700697329664)about the incident. I imagine other pols did the same. There were campus protests about the incident. The only problem is that, after reviewing the video from the bus, talking to other passengers and video from passengers cell phones, the incident wasn’t three black women being attacked and abused by 10 to 12 white men and women. Instead, it was three black women attacking one white woman. In fact, the three balck women are being charged with [assault and false reporting.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/albany-students-claimed-racial-attack-charged-article-1.2543435) Now, on to my questions. First, what should [Clinton](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/695253700697329664)and others response be now that the story has been proven false? For example, the university President released this statement which assumed the story as fact instead of using lovely words like [alleged](http://heavy.com/news/2016/02/ariel-agudio-alexis-briggs-asha-burwell-university-of-albany-assault-bus-false-arrest-charges-facebook-page-protect-black-women/). Second, how do we deal with false reports without disregarding the true reports? Race relations seem to be so polarizing right now that people take sides before the facts come out\*. How can this be combated? Slee \*Of course this happens in other areas as well but it seems to me that right now race relations are going the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/2 "2016-02-26T02:04:42Z")
No explanation from this board’s resident social justice warriors??? blackLIESmatter ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/3 "2016-02-26T02:18:40Z")
They should all ask why the only color an attacker or shooter has is either white or nothing? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/4 "2016-02-26T02:29:38Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > First, what should [Clinton](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/695253700697329664)and others response be now that the story has been proven false? The story hasn’t been proven false. It appears that it MAY be false, but did you notice the use of the word “alleged” in your linked article? You know what that word means, right? But, having said that, politicians would be wise to STFU until all the facts are out (or at least more facts are out than are available in the first hours), and not react to every news story in the 24 hour news cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/5 "2016-02-26T03:03:24Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Hillary Clinton [tweeted](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/695253700697329664)about the incident. I imagine other pols did the same. There were campus protests about the incident. Hillary’s actual tweet says: “There’s no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus.” with a link to the university protest. I agree that politicians shouldn’t jump the gun when responding to current events, but it’s hard to see how she has anything to apologize for with that sentiment. Hell, it kinda even still works. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/6 "2016-02-26T03:24:43Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > First, what should [Clinton](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/695253700697329664)and others response be now that the story has been proven false? For example, the university President released this statement which assumed the story as fact instead of using lovely words like [alleged](http://heavy.com/news/2016/02/ariel-agudio-alexis-briggs-asha-burwell-university-of-albany-assault-bus-false-arrest-charges-facebook-page-protect-black-women/). > > Second, how do we deal with false reports without disregarding the true reports? Why don’t you tell us what you think? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/7 "2016-02-26T03:38:58Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > No explanation from this board’s resident social justice warriors??? What requires explaining? Did anybody on this board say anything about the UAlbany students’ story prior to this thread? Doesn’t look like it AFAICT. Poor **inscrutable** , hoping for a great big satisfying “gotcha” but not finding any targets. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/8 "2016-02-26T04:03:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The story hasn’t been proven false. It appears that it MAY be false, but did you notice the use of the word “alleged” in your linked article? You know what that word means, right? > > But, having said that, politicians would be wise to STFU until all the facts are out (or at least more facts are out than are available in the first hours), and not react to every news story in the 24 hour news cycle. Seriously, the incident as described by the women was taken at face value by the leading presidential candidate for the dems and the university. Now the police, after investigating, are charging the women with making a false report and assault and your going to bicker over me using the word proven. Gotcha. FWIW, I thought there might be an intellegent discussion on how to weed out truly racist incidents from fake ones. About how using the racism card in situations which aren’t racist is counter productive and leads to more division. Basically how to deal with these kinds of things without resorting to kneejerk reactions. I should have known better. Slee ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/9 "2016-02-26T04:11:24Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Seriously, the incident as described by the women was taken at face value by the leading presidential candidate for the dems and the university. Now the police, after investigating, are charging the women with making a false report and assault and your going to bicker over me using the word proven. Gotcha. > > FWIW, I thought there might be an intellegent discussion on how to weed out truly racist incidents from fake ones. About how using the racism card in situations which aren’t racist is counter productive and leads to more division. Basically how to deal with these kinds of things without resorting to kneejerk reactions. > > I should have known better. > > Slee You could have started with offering some suggestions instead of just asking questions. It also would have helped if you hadn’t distorted the info in your own cite. So, some pols may have jumped the gun with the original story. Should they repeat the process with the latest tidbit of information? I said in my first post that I thought they should STFU until the stories are fleshed out. What was wrong with that suggestion? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/10 "2016-02-26T04:17:04Z")
But sleestak, _you’re_ the one, right back in post #1 in this thread, who is pointing out the need to use “lovely words like ‘alleged’” when commenting on issues that are still unfolding. FWIW my reaction would be, yeah, Clinton is unwise to rush in and comment on a still-unfolding story, even if her comments are complete motherhood-and-apple-pie. But, she’s a politician, and the voters punish politicians who _don’t_ act like complete publicity whores, so maybe we understand why she did that. And, yeah, it is unwise of you to criticise Clinton’s error and then immediately repeat it yourself, since on a board populated by eagle-eyed sleuths someone is bound to notice this, and point it out. And also FWIW, I’m not convinced that it’s terribly relevant that this particular story was one about race. The story could have been about violence against women, or about allegations of child abuse, or story which raised any one of a dozen other issues that we like to get all judgy about, and events it ould have played out in exactly the same way. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/11 "2016-02-26T13:13:29Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > FWIW my reaction would be, yeah, Clinton is unwise to rush in and comment on a still-unfolding story, … > > And also FWIW, I’m not convinced that it’s terribly relevant that this particular story was one about race… Hopefully, the media will stop sensationalizing this garbage once B.O. is out of Office. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/12 "2016-02-26T13:29:41Z")
Not that racism doesn’t exist everywhere, but the idea that you could get 12 white folks in New York to go beat up black kids on a public bus is a story that should be treated with skepticism. Apparently Democrats believe the worst of white people. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-media-and-politicians/747156/13 "2016-02-26T13:37:39Z")
e. I’d treat racist attacks on college campuses of that nature with even more skepticism. CAmpuses are not actually hotbeds of racist sentiment. This is not the first time college students have made shit up of this nature. It is gratifying, however, that Hillary Clinton has condemned this racially motivated attack against a white woman.