Media Oddly Confused On Idea of Incitement, Threats

As many of you may have figured out, I live a stone’s throw from Ferguson, in an undisclosed location somewhere in the Greater St. Louis Area. So when the media went nuts over Trump’s “Threat!!!!ELVENTY!” I was reminded of events in the past.

Compare:

“I think he was expressing a sentiment that a lot of folks in that crowd felt and when he said those words, the mood did change and things got a little bit out of control,” [Antonio] French said. “There is such anger and emotion around this case.”

Contrast:

“Words matter, particularly from those folks who want to be president of the United States,” Clinton surrogate Christine Quinn, a former New York City Council speaker, said on CNN’s New Day. “To think that joking about any kind of violence could be funny … simply reflects a disregard for the impact of violence.”

[Source]

So here we have a case of ACTUAL INCITEMENT (as I read the Brandenburg Standard, granted IANAL) that, by the way, was never prosecuted despite the ACTUAL RIOTING that followed in it’s wake, versus Trump making a lame attempt at a joke that he thinks will appeal to conservatives.*

In the ACTUAL INCITEMENT case the media wants us to understand “hey man it was just an emotional time.” (I cannot emphasize this enough, IT ACTUALLY INCITED A CROWD TO RIOT.)

In the Trump case it’s all Dan Rather running around declaring the end of the world.

I’d probably be more forgiving the of the media over this if they had actually cared when my city was on fire (instead of acting like it was a performance for the coastal elite to watch from their armchairs.) But they weren’t. So fuck you CNN and your concern trolling.

As for my friends handwringing over this. Understand something, I get it, you hate Trump, you think he’s boorish and a threat to freedom. I’m obviously not fond of the guy myself, but if words matter as much as you want to claim in this instance, maybe we should take a look at the rhetoric surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement and the targeted killings of police we’ve been dealing with lately. Or the violence that was used against people in November just trying to do holiday shopping General lawlessness (which is becoming the new norm) will destroy this country quicker than Trump. Just a thought for you to ponder.

Update/Edit: Popehat confirms my non-lawyerly guess about Brandenburg:

 


*Before you ask, I’m mostly face palming at Trump’s statement. Strikes me as more attempts to emulate conservatives than actually understanding them. See: previous abortion flap. It’s the media outrage that drives me nuts.