What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. ~Matthew 10:27

Are Facts Obsolete?

Posted: 2015-01-05

Thomas Sowell 12-30-14 Townhall
Some of us who are old enough to remember the old television police series "Dragnet," may remember Sgt. Joe Friday saying, "Just the facts, ma'am." But that would be completely out of place today. Facts are becoming obsolete, as recent events have demonstrated.

 

What matters today is how well you can concoct a story that fits people's preconceptions and arouses their emotions. Politicians like New York mayor Bill de Blasio, professional demagogues like Al Sharpton and innumerable irresponsible people in the media have shown that they have great talent in promoting a lynch mob atmosphere toward the police.

Grand juries that examine hard facts live in a different world from mobs who listen to rhetoric and politicians who cater to the mobs.

During the controversy over the death of Trayvon Martin, for example, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus said that George Zimmerman had tracked Trayvon Martin down and shot him like a dog. The fact is that Zimmerman did not have to track down Trayvon Martin, who was sitting right on top of him, punching him till his face was bloody.

After the death of Michael Brown, members of the Congressional Black Caucus stood up in Congress, with their hands held up, saying "don't shoot." Although there were some who claimed that this is what Michael Brown said and did, there were other witnesses -- all black, by the way -- who said that Brown was charging toward the policeman when he was shot.

What was decisive was not what either set of witnesses said, but what the autopsy revealed, an autopsy involving three sets of forensic experts, including one representing Michael Brown's family. Witnesses can lie but the physical facts don't lie, even if politicians, mobs and the media prefer to take lies seriously.

The death of Eric Garner has likewise spawned stories having little relationship to facts. The story is that Garner died because a chokehold stopped his breathing. But Garner did not die with a policeman choking him.

He died later, in an ambulance where his heart stopped. He had a long medical history of various diseases, as well as a long criminal history. No doubt the stress of his capture did not do him any good, and he might well still be alive if he had not resisted arrest. But that was his choice.

Despite people who say blithely that the police need more "training," there is no "kinder and gentler" way to capture a 350-pound man, who is capable of inflicting grievous harm, and perhaps even death, on any of his would-be captors. The magic word "unarmed" means nothing in practice, however much the word may hype emotions.

If you are killed by an unarmed man, you are just as dead as if you had been annihilated by a nuclear bomb. But you don't even know who is armed or unarmed until after it is all over, and you can search him.

Incidentally, did you know that, during this same period when riots, looting and arson have been raging, a black policeman in Alabama shot and killed an unarmed white teenager -- and was cleared by a grand jury? Probably not, if you depend on the mainstream media for your news.

The media do not merely ignore facts, they suppress facts. Millions of people saw the videotape of the beating of Rodney King. But they saw only a fraction of that tape because the media left out the rest, which showed Rodney King -- another huge man -- resisting arrest and refusing to be handcuffed, so that he could be searched.

Television viewers did not get to see the other black men in the same vehicle that Rodney King was driving recklessly. Those other black men were not beaten. And the grand jury got to see the whole video, after which they acquitted the police -- and the media then published the jurors' home addresses.

Such media retribution against people they don't like is part of a growing lynch mob mentality. The black witnesses in Missouri, whose testimony confirmed what the police officer said, expressed fears for their own safety for telling what the physical evidence showed was the truth.

Is this what we want? Grand juries responding to mobs and the media, instead of to the facts?

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2014/12/30/are-facts-obsolete-n1936708/page/full

Share this article on:    Facebook     Google+     Twitter

 

Enter comments below:

Your Email:
Validation Code from Graphic:
Enter these characters in the field above.


(Comments subject to review before being published.)


 

Crime Article Summary
Replies
PostedArticle TitleTotalPending
2020-10-02 More diners harrassed and threatened in the ... 0 0
2020-10-02 George Soros calls a meeting with his co-con... 0 0
2020-10-02 Rioters attack car in Hollywood. When driver... 0 0
2020-10-02 The mass shooting you didn’t hear about: Bla... 0 0
2020-10-02 Plan To Deal With Right Wing Violence Backfi... 0 0
2020-10-02 The MSM Has Blood On It's Hands 0 0
2020-10-02 Search is on for man who hit poplice officer... 0 0
2020-10-02 Shootings, attacks against police officers i... 0 0
2020-10-02 Gilbert ranked 2nd-safest big city in Americ 0 0
2020-09-21 Vet kills self hours before turning himself ... 0 0
2020-09-21 $2 Trillion Banking Scandel Exposed; Rock Ma... 0 0
2020-09-21 At least 13 people have been arrested for We... 0 0
2020-09-21 After USPS carrier shot, Chicago postal work... 0 0
2020-09-21 Vile' video shows man rob Air Force veteran ... 0 0
2020-09-03 Democrats call for violent revolution 0 0
2020-08-26 FINALLY! Denver Officials Take A Very Firm S... 0 0
2020-08-25 Burn Loot Murder Insurrectionists Attack Bac... 0 0
2020-08-25 The George Floyd Video That Was Hidden From ... 0 0
2020-08-24 Republican Candidate Receives Death Threats ... 0 0
2020-08-24 Lady Liberty Vandalilzes BLM Mural Outside T... 0 0
2020-08-24 Hundreds gather outside NY City Hall to prot... 0 0
2020-08-24 How To Follow The BLM Rules 0 0
2020-08-24 More Fires In Kenosha 0 0
2020-08-24 Burn Loot Murder Insurrectionists Attack Ken... 0 0
2020-08-24 Officer Knocked Uncounscious By Brick Thrown... 0 0
2020-08-24 Entire Car Lot Set Ablaze By Insurrectionist... 0 0
2020-08-24 Inusrrectionists With Semi-Auto Rifles Face ... 0 0
2020-08-24 Antifa continues into 90 consecutive nights ... 0 0
2020-08-24 Where IsThe Out Cry For 5-Year Old Cannon Hi... 0 0
2020-08-24 We Are Cannon Hinnant 0 0
2020-08-24 Organizer For Officer Darren Wilson: 'We are... 0 0
2020-08-24 Denver leftwing rioters burn American flags,... 0 0
2020-08-23 Proud Boys Message To America 0 0
2020-08-22 Bikers Arrive In Portland Amid violent confl... 0 0
2020-08-22 Riots In Charlotte NC Ahead of Republican Na... 0 0
2020-08-22 Portland Traitors Face Opposition From Patri... 0 0
2020-08-22 Rioters Smash Boys & Girls club van and Poli... 0 0
2020-08-22 Now the mobs are going through residential a... 0 0
2020-08-20 Gilbert Is Being Targeted By Marxist Revolut... 0 0
2020-08-20 The White House Siege Begins September 17? 0 0
2020-08-19 The Weaponization Of America's Children 0 0
2020-08-19 Seattle Violent Insurrection Continues Unaba... 0 0
2020-08-18 What Does "BLM" Stand For? 0 0
2020-08-18 Residents rally outside Portland's East Prec... 0 0
2019-07-14 NO OPT-OUT ALLOWED: The California Sex Ed In... 0 0
2019-07-14 Armed "Anarchist And Anti-Fascist" Attempted... 0 0
2019-07-13 How Norway Dealt With Antifa 0 0
2019-06-13 911 In The Age Of "Political Correctness" 0 0
2019-06-01 Lavoy Finicum Memorial Update 2019 0 0
2019-05-29 Crime Prevention Research Center President, ... 0 0
The Latest


The Latest (cont.)


If you would like to get the latest news from EVNN,
just send an email to eastvalleynewsnetwork@gmail.com
and say "Sign me up" and you will receive
our daily news digest at your inbox.

national debt

 

 
Catching the News that others let get away...
 
- Sitemap -