by Ben Johns
Our media is extremely irresponsible for jumping all
over the Duke lacrosse players like they did, only to see them turn up extremely and shockingly--embarrassingly--innocent.
The minority groups in this country love nothing more than to cry foul when it appears that they've been slighted.
Yes, when this Duke story broke, Jesse Jackson and the whole
entourage were quick to attack the white Duke players who supposedly raped this black woman, going so far as to call them
"animals" in the process. Yet when the charges drop? These same critics, who were months ago calling for these kids'
heads, are nowhere to be found. No "my bad," no "sorry," no attempt at anything resembling a natural human reaction to ruining
somebody's life.
The double-standards
in play here are ridiculous. Jackson and company can come down on these college kids as hard as they want. They can be as
over-the-top as they want to be. And why wouldn't they? These kinds of opportunistic minority groups have nothing to lose.
If they freak out at a story like this and turn out to be RIGHT, they're heroes: a champion of a noble cause, the underdog
in the American social scene taking down Goliath.
And if they're wrong?
No biggie, apparently. You don't really hear anybody calling anybody out on this, except the overzealous Attorney General
Mike Tifong, who has been CRUCIFIED for trumping up the weak case against these kids, and rightfully so. But is it really
all his fault? This story probably wouldn't have been so huge if it weren't for every single member of the media either speaking
out himself or reporting on what the last guy just said. It's a sad fact and I'm not trying to desensitize it because it's
awful, but rapes happen EVERY DAY in this country. Yet you don't see the public outcry like you did with this one.
Why are these irresponsible media members allowed to just skate on like this, free to ruin even more people's lives by creating
a media circus before the law has a chance to work itself out? Because if you say Jesse Jackson is full of shit, he can turn
right around and say that you're a racist/hatemonger/whatever and make YOU into the next big story. Jackson, Al Sharpton,
and members of other whiny minority groups have it made in this country, because they are invincible.
I mean, imagine if this story was reversed.
What if it was (for the sake of argument) a bunch of black members of the Georgetown basketball team who had reportedly gang-raped
a white "exotic dancer." The parameters are similar; the crime would have happened at a very well-to-do school in a very economically
and racially diverse part of the country. But how would the event have been covered? Do you honestly think that any white
commentator going to bat for his race would get away with calling the basketball players "animals?" NO! Are you kidding me?
If anyone had the balls to do that, HE would be the national news story, and not the case itself. (Cough Imus Cough.) And
it would be guys just like those who created this Duke story who would immediately tear that unfortunate soul down.
So why is it ok for Jesse Jackson to call the Duke players "animals?" Why is that? As a white person, as a man, as a HUMAN
BEING, should I really sit back and stand for someone calling a group of people "animals" via the media before they've had
due process, then just watch them walk away scot-free when the whole thing is over?! The double-standards at work here are,
like I said, just unbelievable, and it's something that needs to be addressed in this country or I swear to God, every ethnic/religious/racial/other
group of people is just going to flip out and start rioting, all on the same day, and unlike in Sim City 2000, it won't be
as easy to fix as simply surrounding the riots with Police icons. There needs to be a change in the whole political correctness
movement. I agree, I think everyone should be treated equally and fairly, I really do. But I don't think that freaking out
any time any member of your group is even slightly screwed over, thereby drawing more attention to your differences rather
than helping people forget and pissing everyone else off in the process, is really the way to do it. I honestly don't think
so. I can only hope that someone or something has the power and courage to rein this country back in and stop it from entering
this socially reprehensible vortex of power struggles and double-standards.
