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When everything in life is viewed through the lens of ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor’ don’t be surprised when people start seeing phantom threats jumping out from every direction.
This story is a perfect case-in-point. Two professors were ‘very distraught when they saw that a neighbor was menacing them with a symbol of hatred.
These professors form Penn State, it should be noted, are both black. And the symbol of hatred that had them so terribly rattled was a noose. Or so they had claimed.
To be sure, if someone really was motivated by malice were to put such a symbol up to harass someone for nothing more than the color of their skin, that would be, to borrow one of the left’s favorite words, ‘problematic.
But there’s much more to the story than just that superficial accounting.
The Professors not only reported the incident to the police, who opened up an investigation into the incident. They also publicized it at their college… which resulted in the college making an official statement about racial harassment.
“[T]he incident underscores the importance of our anti-racism work as a University, and as a community of scholars,” Barron wrote. “It also underscores the importance of our town-gown work to build a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for all who live here. Groups like Community & Campus in Unity that have formed the Centre Region Anti-bias Coalition are critical to helping create a climate of acceptance and support.”
Alas, according to the professors’ neighbor who was interviewed by police, the “noose” actually was part of a swing set. The neighbors’ kid told police he merely had thrown the rope “into the woods.”
Patton Police Chief Tyler Jolley concluded there was “no malice” involved. The department added “no kind of crime [was] committed at all” and that the rope just “happened” to fall on the tree. —CollegeFix
Put differently, these grown adults were terrified by the careless action of a neighbors’s child.
After seeing the rope, the neighbor indicated it was from a swing set on their property, and officers confirmed this after comparison. One of the neighbor’s children then came outside, alleging they had thrown the rope into the woods. Patton Police determined after initial investigation there was “no kind of crime committed at all” and that the rope “happened” to fall on the tree in the faculty members’ backyard, Jolley said.
“At this point, we’re not investigating this any further,” Jolley said Tuesday to The Daily Collegian. “There does not appear to be a crime committed.” — Collegian
If anything, what this incident told us was NOT the ‘importance of anti-racism’ so much as the broader problem that supposed victims are quickly rewarded with official expressions of support from college officials, and guilt of the ‘bigot’ they accuse is assumed to be accurate unless disproven.
But we’ve seen plenty of incidents where such claims of bigotry have simply not panned out. Just to recap a few, we’ve got the Jussie Smollett hoax, the Nick Sandmann accusations, the garage pull for that NASCAR driver.
Frankly, even the AG in the state where Derek Chauvin was convicted for murder stopped short of claiming Floyd’s death was motivated by racism.
Asked by CBS’s Scott Pelley whether Floyd’s death was a hate crime, Ellison replied it wasn’t and explained that “hate crimes are crimes where there’s an explicit motive and of bias.” —IBTimes
Maybe, before proclaiming to the world how ‘wounded’ we all are about such incidents, we can look for ways to rule out more innocent explanations? Is that so much to ask?
The jaded assumption that every example is proof positive that the world is out to get you is a sign of a problem bigger than bigotry. It’s the sign of a culture that is willfully neutering itself and embracing the self-fulfilling prophesy of victimhood.
That brain trap by itself will do more to hamstring a person’s future than the open hostility of an entire system ever could.
Overcoming the doubts and opposition of others is child’s play compared to comparing the ones that lurk in your own imagination. The minute you believe you are a victim who can’t succeed? It really doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You’ll behave as though it was.
It’s no different than a dog who gets so used to the distance the rope on his collar lets him run to that he would never cross that limit even if the rope came loose. Once the limits are internalized, the game is over.
While it may be helpful for one party’s political future to create an entire class of people who think they need to be defended from the evil intent of other Americans, that political advantage comes at a terrible price to the people who come to believe those things.
Maybe, instead of viewing our neighbors with suspicion and hostility, we can view them as people. After all, don’t we have a national holiday dedicated to some guy who gave his life defending that very idea?
