Early Saturday morning, a man planted explosives outside of, and fired an automatic weapon at, the Dallas police headquarters. Fortunately no one was injured, but the ensuing chase lasted for hours and put both the police and the community in danger.
The ordeal ended in a standoff, which ended in a dead perpetrator, which has led to the requisite barrage of commentary. This wasn’t a little thing, or a “statement”-type crime. He did major damage:
The media, of course, can always be counted upon to twist an emergency into a knot and make it a laughingstock. CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield even went so far as to call the shooter “courageous and brave.”
Yes, really. Behold:
Newsbusters has the transcript:
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: An operation like this, it now spans 18 miles. It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff. Do you believe these are the hallmarks of more than one person involved now?PHILIP HOLLOWAY, CNN legal analyst (clearly distancing): Well first off, I want to say the Dallas police department did an excellent job handling this situation, and we’re very fortunate that no one other than the suspect was injured. Yes, I think it’s very likely that he had at least some degree of assistance.
Holloway deserves all the credit in the world for not standing up and walking off-set. Whitfield deserves all the mockery the internet can provide.
I’ve moved past the “vomit from anger” frame of mind when it comes to media bias. You can’t stop stupid, and most outlets have stupid coming out their ears; this is more of a “dear God please make these people stop” -type frame of mind.
Officers could have died. Civilians could have died. Fredricka Whitfield could have recognized that, but instead she did a disservice to her craft by revealing just how ignorant she is about the dangers of an active shooter packing explosives and a death wish.
In 2015, it’s typical. I wish it wasn’t.
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