Think of it as the Craig Glazer syndrome….
In the early days of the Bill Cosby rape controversy earlier this month, Glazer was quick to sympathize and explain away how Cosby’s charges were possibly either exaggerated or trumped up. Where were the women accusers 15 years ago when the infractions allegedly went down?
Was it all really just a money play?
“I seriously doubt that Cosby actually raped anyone,” Glazer wrote. “You know, threw them down and beat on them.”
Hold it right there.
While Craig’s questions are mostly legit, his characterization of rape as solely a violent street crime is way off target. The definition of how a rape can take place is far broader – date rape, to name one.
In talking with Glazer further after additional details of Cosby allegedly drugging his victims before taking advantage of them, and more women coming forward for reasons other than money, he changed his tune.
The reason for Glazer’s initial take:
Having been wrongly accused of indiscretions by employees in the past – women seeking monetary settlements – Glazer was sympathetic to Cosby initially. However after more women came forward and further details became known, Glazer reversed his position. You know, where there’s smoke there’s fire.
But back to Ferguson…
Just like Glazer, Kansas City Star columnist Jeneé Osterheldt was cat quick to pre judge the Michael Brown situation in Ferguson – well before the facts were known and amidst a sea of bogus witness accounts – and conclude it was the police who were at fault.
“The reaction for me, for everyone, was immediate: outrage,” Osterheldt writes. “A social media uprising, protests and worldwide concern ensued. For me, Aug. 9 will never be the same.”
Osterheldt
Okay, hold it again.
One of the most frequent recurring aspects of Glazer’s writing is the assumption that everyone agrees with him, see things exactly the way he sees them.
And while far be it from me to make similar assumptions, judging from the comments section, I think it’s safe to say any number of people view things differently than Craig.
Yet there Osterheldt is – an African-American woman in her mid-30s – assuming “everyone” viewed what went down in Ferguson exactly as she did.
Unfortunately for Osterheldt the opposite is true, and laying down such a sweeping, obviously wrong statement calls into question her overall objectivity on the subject.
Especially to the largely middle age, middle class, older readers of the Star who in all likelihood view things far differently than Jeneé. Because in point of fact, many, if not most middle class readers who viewed the video of the hulking Brown threatening a tiny Asian shop keeper while boldly stealing cigars and striding away, were in fact not sympathetic to him in the slightest.
The bottom line in matters of race being that black people tend to believe what they want to believe, based on their anecdotal shared life experiences.
Kinda like Craig – and kinda like all of us to an extent – it’s called human nature.
Excerpt when most white folks hear about the heinous acts of white criminals it’s rare that they give them a pass – let alone turn them into heroes. And therein lies a significant part of the problem – the disconnect between white and black cultures and thinking.
A memorable example was with NFL superstar O.J. Simpson in the early ’90s.
While most mainstream, non-black Americans seemed to recognize Simpson’s all-too-apparent guilt, after his slick talking legal team capitalized on science and police sloppiness to get him off the hook, African-Americans spilled into the streets to rejoice.
Not because anybody felt Simpson had been railroaded, but because he was black and black folks seldom get off the legal hook because they can’t afford the type of justice white folks can.
Thus O.J.’s “innocence” was seen as a make-good for the wrongs many African-Americans felt they had suffered. Just as the wrongs in last night’s burning and looting of Ferguson got a pass by some for the wrongs blacks feel they have suffered.
Wrongs so grievous that they would freely and openly lie about Brown’s shooting to media and police. Wrongs so grievous that yuppie class blacks like Jeneé would write passages like the following:
“As I lay in the sun at Woodside Health & Tennis Club, Michael Brown’s dead body lay in a Ferguson street.
“It was my 35th birthday. I splashed around in the pool and later sang my favorite songs at a karaoke lounge. He was only 18, about half my age. He stole some cigars, shoved a clerk and, shortly thereafter, was shot dead by Darren Wilson, a police officer. White cop, dead black man.”
There you have it – Jeneé and Craig – united by a common bond, the mistaken thinking that everyone sees the world exactly as they do and are willing to set aside facts in order to view wrong as right.
Not that everyone is guilty of the same thinking.
Take this morning when CNN reporter Don Lemon – who is black – called out civil rights activist Jesse Jackson for downplaying the mob violence in Ferguson last night.
“Well, sometimes pain can lead to irrational conclusions,” Jackson responded.
Indeed.
All the violence and looting in Ferguson need not be condemned. Some positives will come from the incidents. Example? Sure thing…..
The looting of Toys-R-Us will result in at least one lucky little Fergusonian getting the G.I. Joe with the Kung-Fu grip under the Christmas tree this year.
If that’s not a “feel good” story, I don’t know what one is. (searches for sarcasm font)
The white guy with the flag bandana who torched the car was inspiring as well.
I think he missed his ride with Toni Bones
Actually Jim…
I buy into your sarcastic rationale.Toys R Us, it’s the cost of doing business in – as Elvis sued to sat – “the ghetto”
G\However for the black woman with child that owned the six month old bakery, it was a near death experience economically speaking.
I was one who thought the officer was guilty of manslaughter initially. Never bought into the Gentle Giant or he’s just a kid meme.
Jim Fitzpatrick laid it out pretty well on his blog, evidence supported Wilson’s version and that damned old reasonable doubt came into play.
Factor in the story Brown’s friend told the media of how Brown was running away and then read his testimony which concurred with Wilson’s statement.
We endured over three-months of media editorials which all boiled down to Which Side Are You On. Please reference Hearne’s previous article on investigative reporting.
Josh from NJ wrote in The NY Times: “What the courts and grand jury fail to address is the context of interaction that led to young man’s death. Any adult in a position of power who interacts with adolescents in today’s world needs to have a skill set that includes a tremendous amount of empathy and restraint. And for adolescents, essentially every adult represents someone in a position of authority. If you happen to be in law enforcement, consider that to be a position of particular importance and also one that has requires tremendous skills in being able to talk with people, especially the most vulnerable and at-risk members of our society (which includes adolescents). I have no doubt that a more skilled, engaging, and community connected officer in Ferguson would have had a completely different interaction with Michael Brown on August 9. The question as to whether there are officers like that in Ferguson and beyond is one that needs to be asked now and going forward.”
Interesting view by one person there who reported what they saw as it happened.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/darren_wilson_s_no_indictment_caused_the_people_of_ferguson_to_erupt_a_dispatch.html
This post is juvenile, myopic and just lame.
Craig and some FYI writer are responsible for Ferguson? This doesn’t even make sense. Normally, I wouldn’t even waste the time to point this out but we have all heard how much crap you talk about other people. So I think this column reminds us that your skill as a journalist and a pundit is minimal. You’re just some guy writing on the Internet now. Blogger, join the club.
Did you even read the story, Greedo? I don’t think HC is pinning Ferguson on Glazer and Jenee. And I suppose you’re right, I guess we’re all just some guy writing on the internet now – is that an insult? Where do you get your news/ entertainment/ music / etc.? I’m confused….
I think he is trying to say two stupids make a right?
Or two stupids make a write…
No….Harley is nevErs rong….its stupids are…. always white!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
your friend harley
And where is Mr. Tweet, Paul…
The dude who vowed to give readers the inside skinny from Ferguson…
Surely you don’t expect us to hold our breath?
Greedy, Greedo, Greedo…
Pettiness will get you nowhere, especially since you don’t have the guts to attach your real name, while making loose allusions to some knowledge about “journalism.”
I built the Pitch from a record rag into a weekly, had the highest read column in the Star for the better part of 16 years while writing numerous front page stores in every section of the newspaper.
They tried to hire me back to freelance the column a couple weeks after my layoff, do you even have a clue? Me thinks not.
Ferguson will open up the tsunami I have talked about. Already across the nation
the response has been overwhelming. It will be huge. This will change the
tempo of what I have written about for over 3 yeaars. Change is coming!
Regardless of your point of view…I can see where there will be a trial…either
the DOJ and government file charges or a civil wrongful death suit….in either
case the public will want to see the REAL EVIDENCE. And after listening to
major/top legal and prosecutorial experts this prosecutor will be outed
for the mistakes and horrendous job he did. This gj was such a mess created
by the prosecutor that justice never could be served in it’s rightful way.
And I predict when the evidence is shown we’ll realize that this prosecutor
and his henchmen made some huge huge mistakes and Wilson will struggle
for the rest of his life. Not good for either family or the city of ferguson
or the nation.
But now people are waking up. We’ve seen the show.
Talked with a friend of mine 1/4 mile from the riot area and he said it looks
like a war zone.
And so it goes. This nation has fallen asleep at the wheel again!
This entire episode should have never happened.
Then one idiot on here who claims to know the law says there was
reasonable doubt. I could spend an hour showing what an idiot this
person was but it’s time to move to the new level.
Stay tuned…you’ll be hearing and seeing Harley real soon.
and please hearne…just because you sold drugs/were in prison/
write for the kc star/or own a comedy shop….that doesn’t mean you
know anything about the legal system. Where’s whiney?
I sold drugs, was in prison?
You hit your head again or is your theory that Craig and I are one and the same?
It is said that the only difference between rape and intercourse is salesmanship, a subject that governmental elitists seem to live by. However, we weren’t, and as yet still, are not sold. OJ was innocent, but responsible, the result of criminal innocence, while bearing civil guilt. If the combination of verdicts did anything to elevate the Judicial thought, we must be living in bizarre land. In short, the verdict is in and the trial is either over, or will never happen, and just as we, thinking OJ was guilty have to live with it, so too Ferguson eventually has to come to grips that Officer Wilson is innocent. The question is how many innocent business people will have to pay before the community stops shooting itself in the foot. Black, white, red, yellow, or any color, if you pound a policeman in the face and try to take his or her firearm, you are committing suicide. In terms of the testimony and the evidence, the officer displayed more patience than I would have. If someone pounds me in the face, and I somehow can keep control of a firearm, the bullet surgery would have started upon the perpetrator’s exit, not just his attempted return. Journalism saw a bad day when they published eyewitness accounts of people who were either not there or had some ulterior motive in evading the truth. The real question is whether the problem is outside agitators, like the likes of Jesse Jackson and Reverend Sharpton, on top of anarchists who are there for the excitement, or whether we are seeing a generation of minorities, living in and around Ferguson who believe they are owed something. Probably the first lesson in life, that some of our elected officials need to learn, is life is not fair. There is no such thing as a fair share, and you get what you pay for. If sentences are delivered without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, or sexual orientation, the system will have delivered the best that it can. Simply put, the fcts of life are: There is no Santa Clause. The Easter Bunny does not lay eggs, and the only difference between rape and intercourse is salesmanship.