In a piece for the left-leaning Daily Beast Monday, columnist Matt Lewis explains how progressive politicians and media personalities have “play[ed] right into Trump’s hands” by uncritically buying claims by “fakers,” like embattled actor Jussie Smollett appears to be.
The reason “hate” hoaxes are being promoted so frequently, and so readily believed by progressives, Lewis suggests, is that victimhood has now eclipsed heroism and success in cultural cachet.
“Once upon a time, fakers posed as heroes and winners,” writes Lewis; the reason, of course, is that our culture valued them. Now, Americans — including Smollett, apparently — want to be viewed as victims.
“Smollet’s story appears ready to join Duke Lacrosse and the University of Virginia rape in a long line of hoaxes that many media outlets and political leaders were quick to fall for because it fit their preferred narrative,” Lewis writes. “It’s not enough that Donald Trump is a bad president, we are hell-bent on the idea that he has lit the match of hatred that incites and inspires violence. This theory explains why we were quick to believe the worst about those smirking white, MAGA hat-wearing Covington kids, and it’s why we were quick to believe the Smollett story, too.”
While Lewis expresses some sympathy for this gullibility as it relates to stories that align with this left-wing narrative, he sounds the alarm over how politicians and media types repeatedly exposing their bias and blindspots is going to play out in the future. – READ MORE