It’s beginning to look like this may have been staged:
Chicago (CNN)Two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN that Chicago Police believe actor Jussie Smollet paid two men to orchestrate an assault on him that he reported late last month.
The men, who are brothers, were arrested Wednesday but released without charges Friday after Chicago police cited the discovery of "new evidence."
The sources told CNN the two men are now cooperating fully with law enforcement.
Smollett told authorities he was attacked early January 29 by two men who were "yelling out racial and homophobic slurs." He said one attacker put a rope around his neck and poured an unknown chemical substance on him.
This is still developing, but it’s beginning to look like, in the least, things did not go down as Smollett originally claimed.
I am not interested in debating what happened here, however, as much as I am interested in discussing how we react to stories like this, especially since this isn’t the first time that the left has latched on to a story that confirmed their political biases, only to be burned by it later. I wish we could all learn to withhold judgement about outrage baiting stories like this and wait for the facts to come out, rather than flying from zero to torch bearing mob the moment they appear on twitter. This is especially critical in incidents like this, when the story at first glance appears to conform to our own political biases, as the natural urge to be less critical of it is stronger. Instead, take a breath. Think about alternate possibilities. Question what is being presented to you. Weigh whether it’s logical. Ask yourself if you believe it because it makes sense, or if you believe it because you want to believe it. Wait a few days for evidence to come to light. Then feel free to loudly and vocally seek justice if warranted.
Of course we should decry hate immediately when it happens, loudly and vocally. However, we also have to acknowledge that we currently exist in a climate where we are vulnerable to grifters and attention seekers because, especially within the context of left-leaning blogs and social media websites, questioning a victim has become verboten. This guy’s story had enough about it to warrant being skeptical, a fact I and a few others pointed out in the original DKos diary on the incident, but were drowned out in the frenzy of outrage. The left desperately needs to find some sort of balance between respect and empathy for victims who wish to speak out, and respect for the need to seek truth wherever it may lead. If not, I think this sort of stuff will destroy us, as too often the target of such outrage ends up being directed inward, weeding out those on the left who would “dare” question any claim made by a victim, regardless of how implausible that claim might be.
We rightly decry Trump supporters for spreading fake news on Facebook, but I think the left needs to do its own soul searching when it comes to our propensity to uncritically believe and spread whatever story fits our political biases. Not everything needs to be politicized in terms of a zero-sum battle between right and left. Sometimes things are just true or false, regardless of how they make either side look politically.