Webster defines a non sequitur as” a statement that is not
connected in a logical or clear way to anything said before it”. Witness just about any statement coming out
of Ferguson, Missouri over the past week.
A young black man, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a
Ferguson, MO police officer on August 9.
Angry black mob leaders have been rushing to the nearest cameras and
microphones to declare this a cold-blooded execution, premeditated criminal
act, murder, and any other vile act they can pile on.
Certainly an investigation is in order, but the prevailing
mob mentality is to forgo this formality and hang the white officer (and most
of the rest of the Ferguson police force) from a flag pole in the town
square. It’s amazing to witness the
media frenzy in action. They hope for
violence and chaos, which is really good for ratings. They sprinkle in ‘experts’ for commentary, as
if they can somehow rationalize the looting of local minimarts as class warfare
or the racial frustrations of otherwise really good citizens that are
representative of the US populace.
Today’s show included press conferences from a medical
examiner who conducted an independent autopsy of Michael Brown and concluded
(spoiler alert) – Michael Brown died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Well that clinches it!!
Now we have proof that he was executed in cold blood by a racist,
power-abusing, neo-Nazi storm trooper who hates black people and children! Oh, wait, we already knew that Michel Brown
was killed by a bullet. And we already
knew who pulled the trigger. So what,
exactly did this autopsy reveal? The
only thing I can see is that of the 6 wounds, some were caused by the same
bullet reentering multiple times. And
yet, the headlines of all the media websites flash that “Independent Autopsy
reveals that Michael Brown was shot at least 6 times”. No, actually the examiner said there were
multiple wounds caused by the same bullet, and that the fatal bullet entered in
the top of his head. Lost in all the loaded questions was one that asked if any
of the findings were inconsistent with the explanation of self-defense by the
police officer. (Thanks for pouring cold water on that flaming press
conference, pal!) Declaring “the victim was shot at least 6 times” has more of the
wink-and-a-nudge flavor of excess that we need to keep this thing going. Maybe this is enough to get something burned
down or blown up tonight! The networks
can only hope.
The press conference was championed by a phalanx of black attorneys and ‘anger translators’ who
promptly concluded that this was conclusive proof that Michael Brown was
executed in cold blood, completely innocent, and the officer involved should
immediately be arrested. Enter the
blizzard of ‘Non Sequiturs. CNN followed
the press conference with a panel discussion of ‘experts’. A well dressed, well-spoken black woman was re-offered
the softball setup question that came out during the autopsy conference “Do we
have enough evidence to make an arrest”?
“OF COURSE WE HAVE ENOUGH EVIDENCE!! She snorted
indignantly. “WE HAD ENOUGH EVIDENCE ON
DAY ONE! WHEN SOMEONE GETS SHOT, WE MAKE
AN ARREST AND HOLD THOSE PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE. THAT’S HOW OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM
WORKS IN THIS COUNTRY!!”
A surprisingly calm medical examiner corrected her and
pointed out that this is actually not how things work, police are not arrested
for discharging the weapons they are obligated to carry. We have investigations, we gather facts, and
then we make determinations.
BUT WE HAVE AN INDEPENDENT AUTOPSY FOR HEAVEN’S
SAKE!! Any day now, we will get DNA EVIDENCE that PROVES, BEYOND ALL DOUBT,
that the person who was shot was Michael Brown.
That should slam the door for good!!!
Perhaps if we pile up enough non sequiturs we get a relevant fact? Wishful thinking.
This is sad evidence of a public that has grown fat on a
diet of TV Crime investigation shows.
CSI, NCIS, The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, Forensic Files… not that those shows aren’t entertaining, but
the common climax of all shows is the clang of the steel-trap of scientific
evidence slamming shut on the guilty and eliminating off all possible
alternatives. In a Hollywood script, that
satisfying closure can be created for the ending viewers crave. In the real world, medical examiners and lab
results don’t always tell us what happened, and we need to follow well
established procedures that include a presumption of innocence. If the mob and
the mob leaders believe that law enforcement AND the criminal justice system are
both corrupt and cannot be trusted, then they are really advocating
revolution. A responsible media would do
some diligence to determine if corruption is really rampant and whether the
appropriate corrective action has been taken.
The script for the rest of this investigation is likely
already set. Any evidence that
exonerates the shooting officer will be branded as contrived, falsified, and
the police protecting their own. Even the release of photos from the surveillance
camera that showed Michael Brown apparently strong-arming another much smaller
person is being met with angry accusations of character assassination.
CNN also showed EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS CELLPHONE VIDEO (capital letters to convey breathless shouting, accompanied with
heavy disclaimers of viewer discretion just to get our attention) that showed
nothing other than Michel Brown lying in the street. It showed absolutely nothing that we didn’t
already know, but the media is trying fiercely to flame the passions to keep
this in the spotlight as long as possible.
And it appears to be working, because now we are seeing camera time for
figure heads like Al Sharpton, Malik Shabazz (national chairman of the New Black
Panther Party and founder of Black Lawyers for Justice, just to distinguish
them from all the white lawyers who don’t want justice), Trayvon Martin’s civil
rights attorney Benjamin Crump, Martin Luther King III, and hoards of other
civil rights wannabe’s.
The facts of the case in the tragic shooting of Michael
Brown have become a minor detail; a footnote in ‘serving a larger purpose’.
Google Tawana Brawley.
Or the Duke Lacrosse team rape case.
Conclusions are already being made, looting and violence are
characterized as just passionate responses from victims of systematic
oppression. Any verdict short of emphatic
guilt and public execution for a heinous act of racially motivated cruelty will
not satisfy the bloodthirsty mob that the media has so irresponsibly whipped
into their frenzy. Little do they care
that their incessant coverage will make impossible for Officer Darren Wilson to
live a normal life, much less continue his career in law enforcement, should he
be found guilty of doing nothing more than defending himself. But hey, this way they can create another
news frenzy any time he applies for a security job, gets a hunting license, has
a fender bender (was it a black driver he hit???), or- god forbid- has any kind
of domestic dispute with his family or neighbors.
Convenient to create your own ratings makers. All you need is a faux naivete for your power to incite civil unrest, a callous disregard for destroying innocent lives, an an opportunistic greed that fuels an irresponsible mob mentality that refuses to accept the consequences of their own choices. In the infamous words of TV's J.R Ewing: "One you lose your integrity, the rest is easy".
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