Who is the intended recipient of your inoculation, though?
Lurkers mostly. I'm well aware that those who want to deny and downplay hatecrimes won't care and/or believe me. They (people who actively post here and might believe hate crimes aren't absolutely a much, much larger problem than fake ones) don't even believe Steve King is being racist. Or, in at least one case, they agree with his racism.
I doubt anyone here thinks I was joking on the square. I think it's a safe bet that our UKian, Norse, and Kiwi members take it for granted that racism and hate in America are even worse than the Smollett attack suggested. The debunking of that attack probably won't change their minds about that at all. My joke won't fool any of them into thinking perhaps it's not as bad as they were led to believe.
Hell, even if it were true that progressive demand for hate crimes exceeded the supply, I doubt most folks here would believe it. Look at the wailing and gnashing of teeth we were subjected to in this thread, from people offended that anyone would dare to point out the obvious flaws in Smollett's story. Look at the accusations of racism leveled at those who didn't reflexively take the thing at face value.
First, like most other kinds of false reports and hoaxes the motivation probably has more personal reasons than 'progressive demand for hate crimes'.
Second, this will be the third time I've asked for a cite on the accusations of racism
only for being skeptical of Smollett's account. Admittedly I only did a quick check, but the only admonishments like that I saw were 'body of work' criticisms of the posters who
almost always automatically disbelieve all such accounts (like the at least two who were claiming 'false flag' about the mail bombs). Now, that isn't exactly the best line of argument either, but it is a far cry from 'if you don't believe this you're racist'. Not that your claim of such accusations is automatically unbelievable, but it does sound like a cartoon characterization of the 'libs'.
I mean, I was told that I was biased for not automatically disbelieving it, so your claim isn't exactly far fetched.
Even now, you're trying to divert attention away from this ridiculous incident, replying to well-earned ridicule with this whatabout the real racism stuff. If you don't like the jokes in this thread, go start another While Black thread, or take another stab at selling the Massive Wave.
Talking about one of the most negative effects of this fake attack is not a way to divert attention away from it.
And I'll stay here thanks, but take your gracious suggestion under consideration, and perhaps go back to the thread where you straight up stated you wouldn't accept evidence of the original claim unless it were made in a new thread.
