“The lesson anybody on the right needs to learn, is you need to have your own video cameras running”
The activist who confronted Covington Catholic High School students in D.C. showed up with numerous supporters ready to film the confrontation he created for the cameras.
While the airwaves and internet have been flooded with discussion of the interaction in D.C. between Covington Catholic High School students and an activist who is Native American, there has been very little focus on what I consider a critical fact.
The activist approached and waded into the crowd of students accompanied by numerous supporters carrying video cameras.
Why does that matter? I explained in my post, Leftist Activism 101: Get in someone’s face and then play victim for the cameras:
The recent interaction in DC between high school students (one in particular) and an older activist who is Native American reminded me of a warning I once received from a colleague as to how I needed to prepare myself if I ever was in a hostile crowd or confronted.
A classic leftist/occupy activist tactic, I was warned, was to confront a target and immediately start screaming that the target was being aggressive even though that was not true.
Unsuspecting people in the vicinity would not start recording the incident until there was this commotion. The videographers accompanying the provocateur also would edit the video to start when the provocateur started screaming. The target, not knowing what was about to happen, would not be prepared for it, and might even take the bait, such as in pushing the person away physically.
Regardless of what the target did or didn’t do, you would have video of the innocent target being portrayed as the aggressor, and the provocateur portrayed as the victim….
The DC incident seemed to fit this classic tactic.
The activist approached the students, who were waiting for a bus, the students did not approach the activist. The activist, accompanied by his own videographers, kept walking into the crowd of students until he ended up in front of that now-famous student. Why bring videographers with you unless you are expecting something to happen?
Yet the still photos and tightly clipped videos that spread like wildfire made it seem as if the students had approached and confronted the activist. That was the narrative spun by the activist.
The D.C. confrontation had all the hallmarks of a set up. A deliberate provocation for the cameras. It’s certainly common for there to be passersby and people in a crowd who pull out their cell phones to record, but the activist here showed up ready to film the encounter he created.
A video posted by WaPo shows pretty well the numerous video cameras held by supporters of the activist filming the confrontation from numerous angles. (See also featured image.)
I discussed my post and this tactic on The Larry O’Connor radio show yesterday. In addition to reciting how this tactic was used against me and also pro-Israel students at Cornell, I concluded with the lesson we need to learn:
“The lesson that anybody on the right needs to learn, is that you need to have your own video cameras running. Because if I didn’t have my video camera running in that vestibule of that building when this woman came running up to me accusing me of essentially assaulting her, it would have been my word against hers and it would have been their video not mine, and I think that’s the lesson. And of course, in this incident in D.C. recently, when more complete video came out, the whole narrative fell apart. This is a tactic that gets used, and people need to be aware of it.”
* * *
“… it’s a very common tactic, and like I said, it’s one I was specifically warned about, that they will come up to you. They will start screaming that you’ve attacked them, and that’s essentially what happened in D.C. The activist waded into the crowd, went right up to a student who was doing nothing but standing still, beat the drum near his face, and that student was very smart, he had a lot more composure than most people would have had. If he had swatted that away, who knows what would have happened.”
(if player doesn’t load, listen here)
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I saw this over at Anne Althouse’s blog. It suggests a Democratic Media group orchestrated the Nathan Phillips protest video, and provided professionals to film it!
“From the comments section of the Washington Post, “A Viral Story Spread…” Dennis Byron wrote, “You are probably not aware (and none of the lefty media — which is all media) will tell you that this whole thing was orchestrated by a Democratic Party PR group called Survival Media Agency.
“Did you really not notice the A-roll and B-roll professional cameramen and professional lighting equipment trailing along with the five native American drummers (not one as the propaganda makes you think) and five native American F-bomb throwers that surrounded the 16-year-old kid 1000 feet away from where they had a permit to have a march?
“You probably think the kids surrounded the one poor old Vietnam vet. Oh wait a minute — Not two ways!
“You probably think the kids blocked the one poor old not-a-Vietnam vet from going up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial (was that in version one of this story or version two?). Oh wait a minute — Not! He came from Bacon Park and could have gone up to the Lincoln Memorial anywhere over a 500 foot length of the stairs before he got almost all the way over to the bus turn in off Independence Ave.
“You probably think the the one poor old not-a-Vietnam vet was trying to protect the kids from the nutty black guys (or the nutty black guys from the kids–just another part of poor old not-a-Vietnam vet’s story that keeps changing.). Oh wait a minute — Not! The chaperones were doing just fine at keeping the kids away from the nutty blacks but if poor old not-a-Vietnam vet wanted to get between the two groups as he claimed in version three (or was it version four) of this story, he could have stopped 100 feet from where he stopped…”
Alt headline
Sioux Scalps Schoolboys, Counts Coup on CNN
So who is paying those provocateurs?
Who pays all the provocateurs? Read these two articles and look for a common denominator:
https://www.adamschindler.com/politics/story-behind-kavanaugh-paid-protesters/
https://nypost.com/2018/10/01/look-who-was-behind-the-jeff-flake-elevator-setup/
He has a PayPal link on his FB page.
Unfortunately, simply recording what actually happened will provide little protection from the Joseph Goebbels media and social media. As evidenced by the Covington kids, the media and liberal social media care nothing for the truth. The only thing which will slow this, nothing will stop it, is litigation. Sue the socks off the people who spread libel and slander against common people. Make them pay for attacking people with lies and innuendo. Hit them where they live; their pocketbooks.
In this case, you had a group of high school kids concentrated in a small area, waiting for their bus to pick them up. They were not bothering anyone. First they were sought out by a group which hurled vicious, vulgar insults at them. Then, a man with a drum shows up, followed by an entire entourage of videographers. Drumming and making nonsense noises, he walks directly into this crowd of peaceful youths and proceeds to get right into their faces. No one calls him names. No one attacks him. One student remains standing in place, facing this man. Others dance to the beat of his drum. And, the media immediately paints the students as vicious racists who somehow victimized the man with the drum. When additional video surfaced, which casts the situation in the opposite light, clearly indicating that the students were the victims of harassment, not the perpetrators of harassment. Yet, the American Pravda has made no serious attempt to correct their record at all. Until this type of behavior costs the media huge amounts of money, this practice will not stop, or even slow appreciably.
I wish I could up-vote this a dozen more times. You could pile evidence that reaches the Moon against this-or-that progressive shibboleth, and the MSM/DNC axis would ignore it.
Only a free press with truly independent journalists can hold progressives accountable. You can be sure that the next Democrat who claims the White House will make neutering the First Amendment a top priority. We are living on borrowed time.
They have been warned by the kids legal team, they have 48 hours to retract and apologize or legal action will be taken
I think we have a star
Attorney Robert Barnes has put a shot across the bow of all who threatened the kids, promising libel suits if retractions are not made by Friday. This includes Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Additionally, the Kentucky AG is exploring domestic terrorism charges against those who came after the kids & their families.
Tucker Carlson had on the lawyer who successfully nailed Rolling Stone for $1.65 Million for defaming the fraternity at UVA. She stated that some of the case theories which she has heard from Mr. Barnes simply won’t work. She stated that if legal action for defamation is undertaken, it needs to be with an attorney who is knowledgeable about defamation and libel laws, both Federal and State. She noted that if the case is lost, even over a minor technicality, it will be used by the MSM to claim that the allegations against the kids were true and that is the reason they lost the case.
What she said made sense to me, particularly knocking the alleged theory of the case that a “class action” defamation case could be successfully brought. Perhaps Mr. Barnes is hoping to attract such skillful assistance should it come to filing? She was surely correct that the obvious targets of a defamation suit will be able to collectively spend millions defending themselves.
Oh, and that loudmouth Muslim Representative from (MN/MI?) who has said derogatory things about the kids, particularly Sandmann, can say whatever she wishes because she is protected under almost all circumstances (if not all) by a Federal statute prohibiting such suit for defamation.
I saw that too, and the attorney representing the UVA dean was mistaken about Rep. Omar not being liable – the act she cited applies only to acts in an official capacity, not as a private citizen, which this was.
Yes, congresspersons are protected from lawsuits for defamatory statements they make in congress, not for defamatory statements they make on Twitter.
I should amend my comment to say that the Westfall Act likely would provide a congressperson with immunity from civil liability for making a defamatory statement on Twitter, but only if the statement was made while the congressperson was acting within the scope of her office. Omar’s defamatory statement about the Covington kids on Twitter did not relate to any matter currently pending before congress, nor to any other government business; it was simply Omar’s personal opinion about a controversy in the news. As such, it should not be protected.
The Muslim rep is only protected on the floor of the House. She has no such protection anywhere else.
Rewire News argues the other side of the incident with some news about Nick Sandmann’s letter being composed by a profesional ad agency with GOP leanings. They are pretty good, using the egotistical “I” exactly 67 tomes to give the appearance that a high school junior wrote the damned thing. Sadly, the days when my party didn’t do such dishonest things have passed with Trump in charge.
What, pray tell, is dishonest about a 16 year old HS Junior being assisted in writing a letter defending himself, his family and his school? Perhaps you have been, like the literary Rip van Winkle, asleep for the last three decades or more. Twenty five and more years ago most new hires with degrees couldn’t write a grammatically correct sentence if their lives depended on it. I rather doubt High School Juniors do any better today. If young Mr. Sandmann was going to get his story out, depending solely on his own writing skills was probably not the correct course to take.
Your Party must be the one which in my younger days had Nelson A. Rockefeller as leader and more recently counted Bob Corker and Jeff Flake as luminaries.
Yeah that’s awesome Mr. Frankovich. Stop wasting your precious time here when you could be digging more mud pits at National Review. So many racist MAGAs out there need to be trashed.
How is hiring an expert to represent you in the court of public opinion any different than hiring a lawyer to represent you in the law courts?
You’re just pi$$ed that your lies have been exposed when you expected a soft target.
Hey there gad-fly. I got a question – why do you keep your blog locked?
2nd question – Why should we believe you are (or ever were) a Republican?
“Sadly, the days when my party didn’t do such dishonest things have passed with Trump in charge.”
This strikes me as absurd. The only people who will be concerned about Nick Sandmann’s response being edited/ghost written by a PR firm are those leftists determined to discredit him and invalidate anything which supports his version of events. Pox on them. These kids needed support, they needed it quickly, and I am glad that someone came to their aid. Nathan Philips and his team of cameramen weren’t being authentic, and I fail to see why anyone should get away with complaining that in this day and age, the young man’s statement was not ‘authentic’ enough to suit them (i.e., not his own utterly spontaneous expression).
Israelis have been dealing for years with fake media from the Palestinians. We call it Pallywood. So we know how to deal with it. First Sue the TV stations that air the video as was done in France. Second: Show the Cameramen filming before and after the the video segment showing them arranging the actors like any other movie.
My guess is that a post by the Professor outlining various legal options that might be open for the Covington kids & their families & now, their school, would be of interest to more than just me.
Not that long ago, see “most trusted man in America”, the Press was nearly completely believed. If it was on TV, it must be true. No more, by their own means, the dinosaur media has demonstrated it cannot be trusted. It may, read probably, never have that level of trust again. Too bad. Our Country would be well served by an honest, honorable media.
Great article. This story/lie being exposed is actually something the entire country needs. We all need to see exactly how we absolutely cannot believe what we see on a video or picture until we have either seen the entire video or have seen multiple pictures from multiple angles at multiple times by multiple people.
Amazingly, this issue of making video tell whatever story you want was addressed by a theologian named Francis Schaeffer back in the early 80s. IMO, his series “How should we then live” is the most substantive commentary on our culture, and very prophetic in many ways. Here is a link to the video that addresses this. Go to 6:40 in the vid and just go from there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ4sDk4LkAM&index=10&list=PLP0lSOp9RORx7W0REI8SVK2CNIrMjhS_T