The airwaves are awash with the story of thirty-something Empire actor, Jussie Smollett, who arranged a fake crime, tagged it as a racist, homophobic hate crime and completed the story with props (in the form of a hangman’s noose) and a reference to MAGA for the full effect. It is said he concocted this nightmare because he was unhappy with his salary and needed publicity and already there are “activists” coming forward asking if so many resources of the Chicago PD would have been brought to bear if it was a person reporting black on white crime. Seriously? This is a problem of one self-centered, cusp-riding millenial. He caused it, not the police. But in today’s climate when a story so many wanted to be true isn’t true the fall back position is deflect, deflect, deflect.
First, can we all agree that this is a disturbed, narcissistic, nearly middle-aged man that seems to be truly just concerned with himself and what he wants. He was part of a poorly executed quasi-crime which he peppered with props, buzz words guaranteed to get a reaction, and as a true Trump-hater threw MAGA in for the knock-out punch. And before anyone spontaneously combusts though I perceive this as pure vitriol from the left, there is plenty to go around emanating from the right as well.
So I pose a question that I can’t seem to get an answer to…don’t you feel stupid, John Q. Public? The moment something like this happens, or in this case, doesn’t happen, our Twitter feeds, YouTube, and Facebook posts take the side of the righteous. By the way, that can be either side depending on what you believe. We look to our chosen political hacks….cough…er, heroes, to take to Twitter and in 280 characters or less tell us yet again what we are to think and/or feel.
Aren’t you tired of being manipulated? Tired of Jussie, Donald, Kamala, Nancy or thousands of others jumping on the bandwagon of crafting a story to fit their own purposes and advance their own agendas? As an aside, it is of note that many of those morally indignant officials are backpedaling and deflecting as quickly as humanly possible because they reacted to the story they wanted rather than wait for the actual facts. This is not the first time. This engineering of thought has no side, no party, everyone is doing it and we are bombarded minute by minute, day by day by our so-called leaders who couldn’t care what happens in your life beyond your checking the box next to their name.
Are there people out there who care? Absolutely. Whether the cause is climate change, human rights, pro-life, or the 4-H club in their community there are people that work tirelessly and passionately for what they believe, what they are given the right to believe in this nation. You will rarely hear their names because they are just working, not attempting to coerce and manipulate.
It is not wrong to seek out like-minded individuals and work toward what is important to you, but spend a little time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Don’t let these people, whatever and whoever they support, convince you to jump on the bandwagon of their self-servitude. Use the brain you were given to discern what is important to you instead of being just another character in someone else’s self-important morality play.