Covington and the politics of aggressive standing
The starting point for this post was one of NBC’s Savannah Guthrie’s remarks to Nick Sandmann in her recent interview with the teenager:
There’s something aggressive about standing there. Standing your ground. You both stood your ground.
Both? Actually, Nathan Phillips didn’t stand his grand. Guthrie’s remark is typical of the more subtle ways in which the MSM has distorted the story (there are more overt ways as well). Phillips voluntarily walked up to Sandmann and got a few inches from him, beating a drum. That’s moving towards someone to invade that person’s space, both physical and aural.
The person whose space is invaded then has a choice of what to do. What are the choices? Let’s see.
Sandmann chose to stay put and smile, facing Phillips. It was an evil, disrespectful smirk, loaded with white-boy privilege and racist bile screams the Twitter mob.
In Sandmann’s interview, at one point he says:
…in hindsight I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing.
Perhaps it’s more accurate to say he wishes Phillips had never come up to him in the first place. At any rate, I have some advice for Sandmann: it wouldn’t have mattered. If Sandman had somehow managed to walk away from Phillips, one (or more) of these things would have almost certainly resulted: Sandmann would have been criticized for disrespecting Phillips by walking away, and/or Phillips would have followed him beating that drum all the while, and/or Phillips would have focused the same technique on another boy.
So many people hated Sandmann’s smile (excuse me, smirk). But what if he hadn’t smiled? What facial expressions would not have constituted facecrime on the part a white preppy-looking teenaged boy (in a MAGA cap! Let’s not forget the MAGA cap!) being confronted by Phillips and his up-close-and-personal drumming and chanting? A grim face on Sandmann would have been considered even more “aggressive,” wouldn’t it? And laughing would have been even more disrespectful. Telling Phillips to get away? Perish the thought—racist! Turning his face away? Disrespectful again.
I’m not just trying to be cute here. I am serious in saying I believe there was nothing Sandmann could have done that would have changed the outcome, once he was selected as the target for the confrontation and the recording of the exchange on video by Phillips, who was accompanied by people with videocameras filming it from the start.
Enormous numbers of people considered Sandmann guilty on sight because of the categories of person to which he belongs, and because of what propaganda has guided them to believe. I almost wrote “guilty until proven innocent,” but that is too kind to those among them who will not even accept proof of innocence. They want him guilty, because it suits their political and their emotional purposes.
Neo, you are 100% correct. The young man chose the safest response during the confrontation Phillips forced upon him, and some folks still deride his (Sandmann’s) “reaction.”
I don’t know either man, but I will give Sandmann immense credit for his behavior in that situation. This is obviously not a 100% gender thing, but most men, especially most young men, would have an extremely hard time not reacting physically in that situation. I don’t think Phillips put much forethought or premeditation into his actions, but it’s nearly impossible to think a man would not understand that he was inciting a confrontation by provoking another male in that manner. Sandmann was among his peers, it had been a long, emotional, tiring, exciting weekend, he’s young… It’s really tough to be polite and stand still when one is that age, in that circumstance. Imagine if even your best friend started pounding a drum inches from your face in a confusing, busy, social situation!?
As I wrote, I don’t think Phillips put too much thought into it, but it’s almost certain he was trying to incite Sandmann to physical action in that instance.
And yet Sandmann’s betters still scold him. And I’d bet money few of them could have remained as calm and polite.
Very sad this young man is being villified.
Yes, Phillips and his camera crew wanted to incite the young man into pushing the intruder away or shouting at him. Sandmann stood calmly, smiling nervously, and took no retaliatory action. They nailed him anyhow.
I think Phillips is a rentafool. Somebody paid him.
The other question I have is about the MAGA hats. I would still like to hear if the kids bought them, OK with me, or if the hats were passed out, which raises the question of the setup. How structured was it ?
The Standing Rock thing sure was. He daughter was involved in that. She seems to be a budding leftist ANTIFA type.
Rufus (love your avatar btw)
I am 100% certain Phillips was looking for a physical confrontation. It’s the MO of the radical left & why they bring the cameras…to show the “angry aggressive privileged violent white oppressors” doing just that. He has no TV time if no one pushes back.
I give young Mr Sandmann full credit for not wrapping that drum around Phillips’ neck. Even though we know, as the Boss notes, wouldn’t have mattered. Another boy would have been targeted if Mr Sandmann had walked away.
The kid behaved better than the “elder” in this interaction. So much for age brining wisdom, or for setting an example for young adults.
“I’m not just trying to be cute here. I am serious in saying I believe there was nothing Sandmann could have done that would have changed the outcome, once he was selected as the target for the confrontation” — Neo
Your analysis is certainly correct, and applies to most (if not all) conservatives / Republicans / innocent people assumed by the drive-by-experts to be one of those. ANY behavior can be demonized, it just takes different rationales, and the Left has a ready-made stock at hand, since they don’t consider themselves bound by any previous statements of ethics, policies, or intents.
During the 2016 campaign (and on-going), it was often noted on the Right that there was nothing Mr. Trump (President Trump) could do (can do) that would make the Left happy, so he might just as well do whatever he wanted and pursue his campaign promises (which he has) without their approbation.
And so he has.
I can’t help thinking about Officer Darryl Gates (I believe that was his name) and the Michael Brown situation in Ferguson, Missouri. Another man put in an almost impossible situation through another’s aggressive actions. He reacted more calmly than almost anyone of us would have been able, yet the narrative still turned against him. I believe he continues to live in hiding, even after Grand Jury testimony proved his version of events and made his detractors out for the liars they were.
Thanks for this post and the opportunity to comment on this young man’s behaviour in this situation. I’m fifty years old, and I must say I admire how Mr. Sandmann (he’s earned the honorific “Mr.”) conducted himself during the event and in his subsequent comments. It was, for lack of a better term, “manly.” He stood his ground but restrained himself in the face of extreme provocation. In his comments after the fact, he refused to concede the point and yet spoke of Mr. Phillips in respectful, even charitable, terms.
We need more of this sort of “manliness.”
The more I’ve read about this sorry event, the more I am reminded of the young men that sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro so many years ago… how they restrained themselves in the face of threats, taunts, and even physical assaults to secure their rights. Ordinary people must start standing up to The Left. Mr. Sandmann has shown us how.
I’ve noticed that my high school-aged sons and their male friends appear to be wise to the culture war being waged against them. They are respectful of others, but they aren’t buying the Leftist line. They and Mr. Sandmann give me hope for the future of our country.
#StandYourGround
Maybe MLK week-end was a significant moment for this confrontation, to emphasize that character really does matter more than skin color.
PS to Gringo – Ok, maybe it is easier to read blockquotes, but it’s giving me sore wrists typing out the longer HTML every time! 😉
Maybe MLK week-end was a significant moment for this confrontation, to emphasize that character really does matter more than skin color.
That’s an interesting aspect of this.
No doubt lost on the political left and their allies “of color.”
Several useful idiots on twitter posted photos of brave men in the 1960’s sitting at southern lunch counters, surrounded by a haranguing white mob, as if to say that it’s the same old story.
Little did the fools know that this time the roles were reversed. Perhaps more focus should be on the militant ‘Black Israelites’ who repeatedly goaded the young men from Covington, and then stupidly posted the extended video, as if their childish tantrums were something to be proud of.
evil, disrespectful smirk, loaded with white-boy privilege and racist bile
Nazis Twittering about Wicked solutions, Jew privilege, and diversity (i.e. color judgments).
It’s worse even than that. They don’t give a good g-ddam whether he’s guilty or innocent. He’s a pawn pure & simple. All they wanted was somebody on whom they could pin something that they could use to market Trump, Conservatives, Christians (unless they have great creds as SJWs/Proggies), and America in general as Evil Evil Evil and legitimate targets of hatred and take-no-prisoners bloody warfare.
“Guilt” in any meaningful sense has nothing to do with it.
You are right, Neo. Mr. Sandmann and the other boys became targets for slaughter.
I haven’t yet found the full Sandmann interview on YT, but there’s a clip at the Daily Caller. And sure enough, the interviewer tells Mr. Sandmann that his stance might seem “aggressive.” GRRR. Sandmann bends over backwards to offer respect to Phillips (pity, but I understand–“Give me a kick if you will!”).
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/23/covington-phillips-nicholas-sandmann-nbc-today-interview/
From “The King and I.” Just to be clear: Quoted to note my own frustration with the whole deal, NOT in any way a criticism of Mr. Sandmann’s offer for a meeting, etc., in the interview.
When asked if he had a chance to see Guthrie’s sit-down with Sandmann, Phillips admitted that he didn’t watch it in full. “I was upset that I was made to sit down and watch it,” he said. “Someone tried to show it to me… and I got into the first 30-40 seconds of it, and I said that’s all I needed to hear.”
Phillips went on to accuse Sandmann of being “coached” for his interview and said that the student’s words lacked sincerity and a sense of responsibility. He thought even less of Sandmann’s written statement, which was shaped by a Louisville-based public relations firm.
Despite everything, though, Phillips said that he is able to forgive Sandmann and those responsible for allowing the altercation to transpire.
“Even though I’m angry, I still have that forgiveness in my heart for those students,” Phillips said. “And that forgiveness even goes to those chaperones and those teachers.”
The expression goes, ‘When the opponent has the microphone and camera and is defaming himself, don’t be rude’. Nathan Phillips is yet-another “gift”.
There are of course many who are committed to specific points of view, which require they support Phillips, for a list of reasons. These folks are in their pews, and that’s where they will stay.
What we are ‘playing’ for is those who are Independent. That Phillips is only marginal coherent at any given moment, that he is now at high risk of the PR kiss-of-death of Over Exposure, and that Covington and Nick Sandman are stepping back out of the spotlight, all bodes well for conservatives. Even lawyer Barnes has retreated.
This appears to be the denouement of Phillips … his people are burning him up and he will soon Declare Victory and fade-back. I could be wrong there (Covington, Sandman, Barnes, the WH et al are extending him all the rope he wants, er, every courtesy) … and if so, we will accept that Gift, as well.
Nathan joins a growing Company who could pass for undercover Trump-agents.
This excerpt where Phillips is walking into the crowd has his videographers yelling “Ya’ll better not touch him.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY-vU5d__aQ&feature=youtu.be&t=305
Couple that with William Jacobson’s posts at Legal Insurrection about the the well-known, except apparently to idiots at the National Review, Leftist tactic of crowding someone then yelling “don’t touch me” or such.
Polish Legislator Invites ‘Wrongfully Accused’ MAGA Boys to Address Parliament
Dear Covington Catholic students, I’d like to invite you to the Polish Parliament. After watching this video, I am now standing up for these wrongfully accused young men and all of you!,” wrote Dominik Tarczy?ski, Conservative member of the Polish Parliament, and newly elected Vice President of the European Conservatives in Council of Europe, in a Jan. 20 Twitter post.
“You are very welcome to come and speak out what You believe in,” he added.
Sandmann is fortunate that his family could afford to provide media training for him and he rose to the occasion (NBC interview) extremely well. It’s very difficult to handle a national media interview, let alone a subtly hostile interviewer (Guthrie) and this kid is only 16. NBC gave Phillips tons of air time this morning with Guthrie only tossing softball questions such as, “you’ve been through so much Mr. Phillips, how are you feeling?” etc. Sandmann, a child, didn’t get the same courtesy. None of the most obvious, basic questions were asked of Phillips, such as “why did you decide to bang your drum so close to the student’s face?” Or “Is it true that later in the weekend you attempted to disrupt Mass at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception?” Or any number of pertinent questions beyond, “how are you feeling?”
Mike K, I believe Guthrie asked Sandmann where he got the MAGA hat, and he replied that it was a souvenir he bought from a street vendor in DC. So it’s not like he brought it from his home closet.
Nope, can’t think of anything Sandmann could have done to not be vilified.
Scott Adams talks about confirmation bias, and with poor Nick already being guilty of several things that trigger the media/Left (white, male, Christian, pro-life, Maga hat), whatever else he could have done would have also confirmed their bias against him (i.e. he’s a “BEC” https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bitch%20Eating%20Crackers).
There is another option that could have happened if the teenager had chosen to “walk away.”
He could have been physically whacked in the back! The trash talk being thrown at those kids would have an adult to believe that some folks meant harm to someone. Walk away and that might just embolden the bigots more.
No, that kid (and the other teenagers) did the right thing by NOT backing down and remaining calm.
I hope that in a few years after they have all finished college and are looking for work that if they are recognized that their future potential employers see how they handle a dangerous situation with the grace they did and hire them for that!
Guthrie’s comment about Nick’s standing his ground being aggressive made me immediately think of the Fearless Girl statue. Now that is a more aggressive stance — and also roundly praised by media and progressives. Huh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_Girl
Joy Behar was right; this is about Donald Trump.
So many on the left, and more than a few on the right, have this visceral, burning hatred for Donald Trump. Their hatred is so consuming that whenever they encounter anything associated with Trump (e,g., The Hat) they exploded in a fiery rage (and some have even crossed the line into bloodlust) that they cannot, or worse will not, control. When he put that hat on, Nick Sandmann became everything that is wrong with this country; he became a bully; he became a monster; he became Hitler; he became…Donald Trump.
KRB
Washington Post is saying one of the first tweets about this came from an account in Brazil…in other words, they’re saying we were trolled.
This is just going to keep on happening. It is going to become more and more dangerous.
Art, thank you very much for the item about the Polish invitation to Mr. Sandmann. Good stuff!
Breitbart has a good writeup on it:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/22/polish-legislator-invites-wrongfully-accused-maga-boys-to-address-parliament/
Lizzy — that kid looks to me like an absolute brat. The kind who’d turn her parents in for thoughtcrime any minute now. Yecch!
Heh. Au contraire, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_Girl#Controversies
where it turns out some feminists are complaining that the statue “corporatizes women” or some such malarkey.
Everybody’s got an ox just waiting to be gored, I guess.
AesopFan
PS to Gringo – Ok, maybe it is easier to read blockquotes, but it’s giving me sore wrists typing out the longer HTML every time!
I have the blockquote thingy/HTML on a Word doc. I copy and paste the blockquote HTML into a comment,and then insert text. No need to type it out every time.
Similar deal for the link thingy/HTML
Gringo – thanks. I don’t promise to not backslide, though.
When actions do not fit the narrative, the dinosaur media will make up whatever is necessary to make the narrative work. Just like “unconfirmed” sources, lie as needed and claim that the nonexistent source will be protected.
In underworld parlance Philips was “maddogging” Nick Sandmann. Maddogging is the act of starring directly into another man’s eyes and not averting your gaze. It is an act of intimidation in order to “punk” them and get them to back down. Phillips added a little ethnic flavor with the drum.
The tension was already high with the Black Hebrews voicing their eliminationist rhetoric
Phillips goal was to have the Catholics cower in which case he would be a hero for punking them. Or to get attacked and cash in on the gravy train of media victimhood.
Nick played it exactly right. especially for a guy who is not a street guy. He did not let himself get punked. Or put hands on a much older man who appears frail from a life of addiction. Nick is gangster as hell. Would want him on my side if I ever have to walk down any dark alleys.
My entire life I have been accused of smirking when I was simply smiling. It is tough to infer such things accurately.
Another thing nobody mentions is that, in a group of Kentucky Catholics, there is every likelihood that some of the lads have tribal heritage themselves — including the young African-American gentleman. There has been a lot of intermarriage along the years, and a lot of Shawnee, etc., never went west; they just kept living among their newer neighbors.
But if so, I think they are smart not to bring it up. They would just magically be turned into white Indians, much like Zimmerman was magically a white Hispanic non-minority.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that mainstream media journalists are, quite simply, sociopaths.
Have you ever tried to punch yourself in the face? Say in the temple region or just lower? It is easy to do and doesn’t hurt much. I suggest Sandmann do so, on video, then send the video to NBC. There is a standing offer from an NBC employee to anyone who would punch him in the face that might interest any boy of Sandmann’s age. Maybe get all his friends to land similar punches on him, then line up in front of that NBC employee.
I’m glad Nick stood his ground, totally non-violent.
Martin Luther King would be proud of this level of non-violence, literally in the face of a soft assault.
It was a small act of heroism.
Short time after the white teens left, one of the other Native Americans was claiming “we won!”. Whites leave, Indians win.
However, let’s be a little more honest at the choices — Nick and all the whites could have “run away” sooner and avoided any confrontation, but then we wouldn’t be hearing about it.
We still hear very little about the Black Hebrew Israelites, who are so verbally aggressive and obscene. Because of no confrontation.
Phillips was looking for a victim, one who would at first stand a bit, then either turn and run (weak! coward!) or would fight back (aggressor! violent racist!). Nick could have done what most of the other kids did:
avert eyes, move out the way, treat him like a crazy Indian.
I’m glad he stood and didn’t run, and most days in his future, I think Nick will be glad, too. If somebody gets sick-o and commits violence against him or his family, he will regret not running.
This also goes for wearing a MAGA hat. Nobody in America should be upset about it. But many people are — those people are mean and cruel.
Big lesson – get your friends to use cameras for videotape to prove innocence. We know Nick is innocent because of:
the racist, obscene Black Israelites.
Small thanks to these Black racists for being honest (2 hr video, kinda cool at the end as the light is fading…)
The Sandmann family has reportedly hired a very high-profile lawyer who specializes in slander.
I have to admire Sandmann for standing his ground so calmly. I think he showed enormous restraint and poise.
As for Guthrie’s question about ‘wearing the MAGA hat being provocation’ (paraphrase, as I don’t recall the exact quote), is this any different from the old saw about a rape victim wearing a skirt that was too short? Guthrie was totally out of bounds, and should be called out for the question.
Bottom line, though, is Trump hatred. Can’t ignore that.
Rufus T. Firefly: The policeman who was attacked in Ferguson is Darren Wilson. Darryl Gates was chief of the Los Angeles PD in the 1970s.
L. L. Wood “often (seeks) eye-popping damages for those he believes have been libeled or slandered in the press,” according to a 2011 Washington Post article about his defense of Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.
I hope Wood seeks $1 million $$ damage from each and every twitter re-tweeter who slandered Nick Sandmann.
This terrible hatcrime / facecrime, like other Dem PC-Klan type mob assault, will only stop with more lawfare. And losses in court.
Unlike the win that NYT got after libeling Palin.
Whatever happened to that sex-harassment against Cain? Nothing, as far as I remember.
Maybe PC-Klan can become a name for the PC folk who support mob violence & digital violence against Reps.
Bow down before the one you serve…
Diversity (e,g, denial of individual dignity) is a clear and progressive condition.
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Phillips did more than just walk up to the boy. Before he was close, he was holding the drum lower, about elbow height—certainly below shoulder height. But when he came face to face with Sandman HE RAISED THE DRUM up above his shoulder so that it was right in the boys face. Someone please tell me how that’s not aggravated provocation!
I’m looking forward to seeing MAGA hat-wearing Trump fans turn out this Saturday by the millions in spontaneous rallies in all of America’s 100 largest cities (and a whole lot of small towns in flyover country too) in order to show support for the Covington KY Catholic Christian boys and their manly yet nonviolent resistance to Leftist kook intimidation.
They can’t all be #LazyTrumpists who hide behind Catholic schoolboys, can they?
This was the worst example of social media and how it can ruin democracy rather than enhance it. And the moron who held the line even after discovering the facts should have their Facebook and other social sites withdrawn. I hope the kid and his family are successful with any suit they file. They should every “news” outlet they can. Something else to keep in mind is that rioting as the result of prompting by something on social media is not democracy, it is just rioting if there is no legitimate reason. If a reporter asks you why are engaged in the riot and you can’t give them an answer you would be nothing but a common criminal, not a protester.
Well, you have to wonder…when you find out that Phillips has done the very same thing three prior times at Colleges and Universities, claiming he was a Viet Nam Vet…nope….and that he ‘felt harassed and threatened’ for singing a ‘peace chant’. He tried to shake down the other institutions….for money for his ‘suffering’. Don’t know if that worked….must have for him to continue! Come to find out he was drummed out of the Army for his three AWOL adventures. They tried to train him as a mechanic, but he flunked out….even went awol on his classes.
Guthrie’s is a piece of deplorable trash