The Strange Case of Jussie Smollett

[SabreFan1]

1 hour ago, Toews said:

Really? You are close to equating "leftists" with "extreme alt-right"? That is bizarre to say the least. For one I don't see much support for Smollett and his lies. Where are all these "leftists" who claim to support Smollett? Maybe you can post some examples but it seems most people seem convinced of Smollett's guilt. 

Apparently you rarely watch late night TV (Ellen Page) or read Twitter.  Leftists were falling all over each other to coddle Smollett in the beginning. 

 

Now most are staying away from him now that they can't virtue signal how good they are in comparison to the rest of society.

 

Yes, leftists are gaining on the alt-right as far as being radical.  The alt-right has a lead on them still only because they've been at it much longer and they have a penchant for killing and causing violence against those whose views differ.  Although leftists in ANTIFA made a short lived run at that modus operandi.  They just lacked the support base that the alt-right enjoys.  If people keep going further to left, that will eventually change.

[DonLever]

Celebrities or very wealthy people who get in trouble with the law should line up to get the services of the lawyers for Mr. Smollett.  Those guys made a tremendous deal with prosecutors to get their client off.   Amazingly, with a case almost impossible to beat, Jussie.got off with no criminal record and very little punishment.

 

Another case where people with money getting a better legal outcome than the average Joe.

[VanGnome]

4 hours ago, KelownaCanucksFan said:

He’s a gay black man in this evil white mans world, he had no choice but had to do this to call attention to all the hatred white men have towards his type.

 

 

this isn’t the end of this, this will blow up soon when all the facts come out about this deal. I expect a federal indictment soon, as it turns out the prosecuter is friends with the obamas and the Obama’s are friends with the smollets, and letters and phone callls were made to make this go away. This would not be the outcome if a straight white man did the exact same thing, they’d be put on a cross,  It’s disgusting and a huge miscarriage of justice. 

It sort of puts this SNC-Lavalin corruption into perspective, but the principle is the same. Those who are connected have a set of rules that apply only to them, if you're not of a visible minority or wealthy or connected, you're the bug that can be squashed to set an example. "Some people are more equal than others".

[VanGnome]

4 minutes ago, DonLever said:

Celebrities or very wealthy people who get in trouble with the law should line up to get the services of the lawyers for Mr. Smollett.  Those guys made a tremendous deal with prosecutors to get their client off.   Amazingly, with a case almost impossible to beat, Jussie.got off with no criminal record and very little punishment.

 

Another case where people with money getting a better legal outcome than the average Joe.

Any attorney would have accomplished the same feat. This was about having friends in high places.

[Toews]

35 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

Apparently you rarely watch late night TV (Ellen Page) or read Twitter.  Leftists were falling all over each other to coddle Smollett in the beginning. 

This is your issue? For the record I believed Smollett had been attacked as well because I had no reason not to based on the facts the media reported on the incident. 

 

I do take violence against LGBT very seriously so I was probably one of the people you describe who was "falling all over each other to coddle" Smollett. I don't mind owning it. I believe anyone that claims to be a victim of the kind of crime that Smollett described should be taken seriously and at their word unless of course that word is later found to be fabricated.

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Now most are staying away from him now that they can't virtue signal how good they are in comparison to the rest of society.

I am probably one of those people you describe who disavowed all support for Smollett after I found out that he was a lying POS. 

 

When provided with more evidence, most people decided Smollett did not deserve their support. I view that as sane human behaviour. Would you prefer they be more like the right and shamelessly double down on the likes Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Brett Kavanaugh etc..?

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Yes, leftists are gaining on the alt-right as far as being radical.  The alt-right has a lead on them still only because they've been at it much longer and they have a penchant for killing and causing violence against those whose views differ.  Although leftists in ANTIFA made a short lived run at that modus operandi.  They just lacked the support base that the alt-right enjoys.  If people keep going further to left, that will eventually change.

I don't think the evidence you have provided supports the conclusion. "Radicals" don't change their opinions with the uncovering of more evidence, they usually just double down on their rhetoric. I certainly don't see myself as a "radical" nor those who like myself chose to give Smollett the benefit of the doubt. 

[VanGnome]

31 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

Apparently you rarely watch late night TV (Ellen Page) or read Twitter.  Leftists were falling all over each other to coddle Smollett in the beginning. 

 

Now most are staying away from him now that they can't virtue signal how good they are in comparison to the rest of society.

 

Yes, leftists are gaining on the alt-right as far as being radical.  The alt-right has a lead on them still only because they've been at it much longer and they have a penchant for killing and causing violence against those whose views differ.  Although leftists in ANTIFA made a short lived run at that modus operandi.  They just lacked the support base that the alt-right enjoys.  If people keep going further to left, that will eventually change.

I think it's ironic about how people on both sides complain about identity politics, when the very nature of our current political system (anywhere in the world, it's all the same, short of iron fisted dictatorships, and yet even there the lines are beginning to blur) is intrinsically based on identity. Left, right, straight queer, trans, etc etc. There's always an identity that can be drilled down to in order to draw a line in the sand and perpetuate the us vs them mentality.

We're little more than sophisticated cavemen (sorry, cave-kind) that are capable (some more than others) of more than 2 syllable grunts and can use iPhones. We've become lazy, indulgent and dissonant as a society and it will be our undoing.

Kinda sad, but history continually repeats itself. Civilizations rise only to be burned to the ground. Just please let the Canucks win a Stanley Cup in my lifetime before it happens. That's all I ask for, well that and me and my family don't perish in some crazy post apocalyptic breakdown of society. Would be nice if my daughter was able to live out her natural born life in some semblance of sanity.

[VanGnome]

2 minutes ago, Toews said:

This is your issue? For the record I believed Smollett had been attacked as well because I had no reason not to based on the facts the media reported on the incident. 

 

I do take violence against LGBT very seriously so I was probably one of the people you describe who was "falling all over each other to coddle" Smollett. I don't mind owning it. I believe anyone that claims to be a victim of the kind of crime that Smollett described should be taken seriously and at their word unless of course that word is later found to be fabricated.

I am probably one of those people who disavowed all support for Smollett after I found out that he was a lying POS. 

When provided with more evidence, most people decided Smollett did not deserve their support? I view that as sane human behaviour. Would you prefer they be more like the right and shamelessly double down on the likes Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Brett Kavanaugh etc..?

I don't think the evidence you have provided supports the conclusion. "Radicals" don't change their opinions with the uncovering of more evidence, they usually just double down on their rhetoric. I certainly don't see myself as a "radical" nor those who like myself chose to give Smollett the benefit of the doubt. 

There's a difference between individuals changing their mind, and the perpetuation and growth of a particular brand of behavior. People on both the left and right changed their minds, just as you have some nutbag righties who maintained all along that he was guilty, you also have I'm sure some nutbag lefties who continue to perpetuate the belief that Smollett did no wrong, he's simply a byproduct of this horrible anti LGBT culture. It's difficult to conflate the two and still be able to compartmentalize a rational argument.

The left IS increasingly becoming more and more radical, like Sabre was saying, the "alt-right" has just been baking in the oven a lot longer. However the curve of radicalization has been much steeper with the left, which has typically been synonymous with cultured, reasonable and sensible individuals with more progressive views than their moderate right wing peers.

The issue is not so much the lefties and the righties, these learned behaviors are fundamentally human. This behavior exists in all of us, and for the most part just needs to be stoked into a raging inferno which the mainstream media has perfected -- the art of button pushing and narrative driving. The issue has been the accumulation and resurgence of failed ideologies -- marxism, postmodernism, feminism (predominantly 3rd and 4th wave). They've sort of all conflated into one "thing" and we see aspects of all being implemented in society through various social policies and directives as well now in the "personalities" and "brands" who are well connected and trumpet those horns.

This is all occurring in a time of unprecedented connectedness in the world due to social media and the torrent pace of technological improvement. This sudden abundance of cheap and accessible technology has served to ultimately distract people from the state of society and allow them to seclude themselves within their personal bubbles of preoccupation, while at the same time rising costs of living are forcing people into working longer hours and more jobs in conjunction with advancements of modern medicine living longer and thus perpetuating the live-work-die lifecycle over much larger periods of time.

This all culminates in reduced ability or time to focus on the state of the world beyond cursory viewing of the news on mainstream sources which allows those who are born now into the aristocracy of politics to play out their delusional ideologies and fantasies of how they want to see the world shaped,  and thus the cycle repeats itself. Society is being placated and made to be docile.

Whenever things like this happens, there's all kinds of outrage which lasts for a short period of time then it's back to regularly scheduled programming. Each time something like this happens, society gets more and more normalized to it so that each time it happens again in the future it has to be more outlandish and extreme to raise the short adrenaline spike of outrage. It will get to the point where we as a society will get more and more normalized to things like the attacks all around the world being perpetrated by people of all walks of life and ideology; meanwhile the divide between the common folk and the political aristocracy grows larger by the year to the point when people wake up it will be far too late.

All through history we see the attempts at new world orders through one mechanism or another, we are seeing it occur much more subtlety before our eyes, yet we're so consumed and preoccupied that we don't see it for the most part, and those who do are derided as conspiracy theorists and dismissed. Just look at the history and development of the UN as a prime example.

Damn, I went and got all ranty.

[SabreFan1]

29 minutes ago, Toews said:

This is your issue? For the record I believed Smollett had been attacked as well because I had no reason not to based on the facts the media reported on the incident.

It sounded fishy as a mongers glove shortly after the story emerged.  People were calling B.S. on it in parts of the media along with plenty of regular people on social media.

 

Politicians and celebrities were falling all over themselves decrying how bad society is for allowing the culture for this to happen.  That is extreme group virtue signalling.  Some were sincere, others were doing it for career and/or political advantage.  Once it came out that he was lying through his teeth, all of the SJW defenders of minority justice disappeared quickly back into their caves waiting to pounce when the next opportunity presents itself.

 

Same thing helped derail the metoo movement.  Multiple virtue signallers who were considered founders of it turned out to be the same kind of scumbag they were fighting against.  It perfectly reminded me of the days in the 80's-00's when religious conservatives on the far right who constantly railed against homosexuality turned out to be some of the biggest penis lovers out there.

 

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When provided with more evidence, most people decided Smollett did not deserve their support. I view that as sane human behaviour. Would you prefer they be more like the right and shamelessly double down on the likes Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Brett Kavanaugh etc..?

I would have preferred that they did the truly sane thing and waited longer than a day before crying about the evils of society.  However when you have a radical agenda like many leftists do, you pounce at the first opportunity to advance it.  It's the same with those on the alt-right.

 

Quote

I don't think the evidence you have provided supports the conclusion. "Radicals" don't change their opinions with the uncovering of more evidence, they usually just double down on their rhetoric. I certainly don't see myself as a "radical" nor those who like myself chose to give Smollett the benefit of the doubt. 

Give it time.  The next "victim" that presents him/herself will bring many of the same leftists out of the woodwork preaching the same things.  The smart ones will hold off and wait but the dumb ones definitely won't.

[nux4lyfe]

*warning, language*

 

 

[canuckistani]

5 hours ago, Kragar said:

There's gotta be more to it than that. 

 

The 10k and the community service are chump change, especially considering the cost of the investigation and the court's time.  If he did stage it, the money and service is not a deterrent from trying it again.

 

I suspect something else is driving the prosecution here.

There is often a thing called 'botched investigation' that leads to dropping of charges. In this case, where the case was so highly publicized, including his 'assailants/partners in crime' views on the matter, etc. there is a high probability that the case got dropped due to too much taint in the investigative procedure. 

[Toews]

27 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

It sounded fishy as a mongers glove shortly after the story emerged.  People were calling B.S. on it in parts of the media along with plenty of regular people on social media.

 

Politicians and celebrities were falling all over themselves decrying how bad society is for allowing the culture for this to happen.  That is extreme group virtue signalling.  Some were sincere, others were doing it for career and/or political advantage.  Once it came out that he was lying through his teeth, all of the SJW defenders of minority justice disappeared quickly back into their caves waiting to pounce when the next opportunity presents itself.

 

Same thing helped derail the metoo movement.  Multiple virtue signallers who were considered founders of it turned out to be the same kind of scumbag they were fighting against.  It perfectly reminded me of the days in the 80's-00's when religious conservatives on the far right who constantly railed against homosexuality turned out to be some of the biggest penis lovers out there.

 

I would have preferred that they did the truly sane thing and waited longer than a day before crying about the evils of society.  However when you have a radical agenda like many leftists do, you pounce at the first opportunity to advance it.  It's the same with those on the alt-right.

 

Give it time.  The next "victim" that presents him/herself will bring many of the same leftists out of the woodwork preaching the same things.  The smart ones will hold off and wait but the dumb ones definitely won't.

Can you elaborate on what this "radical agenda" is?

 

Rushing to judgement is something that is common trait to most people now days. I don't think it's a trait that can help you identify a "radical". The attention of the average human being is so low since the advent of social media and smart phones.

 

Maybe your overarching argument does have merit, I just don't believe it applies to the Smollett situation. I think people on both sides of the aisle were sympathetic initially with Smollett's case. Even Cheeto Jesus who never comments on such things was moved into making a statement that he found it to be "troubling". I suppose the ones that are the most outraged had egg on their faces after this. But I don't think it was based on some radical thought process. 

[canuckistani]

1 hour ago, VanGnome said:

It sort of puts this SNC-Lavalin corruption into perspective, but the principle is the same. Those who are connected have a set of rules that apply only to them, if you're not of a visible minority or wealthy or connected, you're the bug that can be squashed to set an example. "Some people are more equal than others".

These have been fundamental to human society since we have writing and most likely, for far longer. It is what it is. 

[canuckistani]

46 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

It sounded fishy as a mongers glove shortly after the story emerged.  People were calling B.S. on it in parts of the media along with plenty of regular people on social media.

 

Politicians and celebrities were falling all over themselves decrying how bad society is for allowing the culture for this to happen.  That is extreme group virtue signalling.  Some were sincere, others were doing it for career and/or political advantage.  Once it came out that he was lying through his teeth, all of the SJW defenders of minority justice disappeared quickly back into their caves waiting to pounce when the next opportunity presents itself.

 

Same thing helped derail the metoo movement.  Multiple virtue signallers who were considered founders of it turned out to be the same kind of scumbag they were fighting against.  It perfectly reminded me of the days in the 80's-00's when religious conservatives on the far right who constantly railed against homosexuality turned out to be some of the biggest penis lovers out there.

 

I would have preferred that they did the truly sane thing and waited longer than a day before crying about the evils of society.  However when you have a radical agenda like many leftists do, you pounce at the first opportunity to advance it.  It's the same with those on the alt-right.

 

Give it time.  The next "victim" that presents him/herself will bring many of the same leftists out of the woodwork preaching the same things.  The smart ones will hold off and wait but the dumb ones definitely won't.

This is neither a leftist, nor a rightist thing. 

This is the meme & twitter-driven 'instant fame' phenomenon of the internet. People, especially ones deeply rooted/connected to social media or with vested interests via social media ( that'd include ANYBODY working in media & entertainment industry FYI), are quite literally lining up the blocks, waiting for something to happen, so they can be the first trail-blazer of shaping opinions, garner fame via catchy phrases, memes, etc.

 

[Lancaster]

6 hours ago, canuckster19 said:

He’s like three steps from the ultimate victim, female wheelchair bound little person, although, to be fair, in the whole sjw movement, there’s been little regard to the rights of the handicapped. 

He can just identify as a woman and ride around in a wheelchair.

[Lancaster]

Double Post

[coastal.view]

5 hours ago, Kragar said:

There's gotta be more to it than that. 

 

The 10k and the community service are chump change, especially considering the cost of the investigation and the court's time.  If he did stage it, the money and service is not a deterrent from trying it again.

 

I suspect something else is driving the prosecution here.

he is going to spend millions on his defence

which will require prosecutors to also expend huge amounts of dollars

for what sort of conviction?

a very limited jail time conviction, if that, for being extremely stupid

for being a low life idiot?

 

you think the state should invest all those dollars in that sort of outcome

because the public is outraged?

there is not much of a sentence the court is likely to impose

[canuckistani]

2 minutes ago, coastal.view said:

he is going to spend millions on his defence

which will require prosecutors to also expend huge amounts of dollars

for what sort of conviction?

a very limited jail time conviction, if that, for being extremely stupid

for being a low life idiot?

 

you think the state should invest all those dollars in that sort of outcome

because the public is outraged?

there is not much of a sentence the court is likely to impose

This is nonsense.

This is effectively saying that the state should never prosecute any multi-millionaire or richer person for any small-time misdemeanor or such, because they can spend millions to defend themselves and thus the state would have to match that, all for a 'piddly sentence if convicted'. 

[DonLever]

This case has nothing to do with right or left.   More to do with what is wrong or right.

 

The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel, is a devout Democrat, and is is huge  support of minority and gay rights.   And he is outraged at the sentence given to Smollett.   He said the dropping of charges makes the city of Chicago look silly.

 

[Kushman]

51 minutes ago, canuckistani said:

This is nonsense.

This is effectively saying that the state should never prosecute any multi-millionaire or richer person for any small-time misdemeanor or such, because they can spend millions to defend themselves and thus the state would have to match that, all for a 'piddly sentence if convicted'. 

The left don't care much for principles  or the law.  They only pretend to care with virtue signalling whenever it's a conservative that gets accused or does anything, no matter how small. The left shuts down speech on campuses because they follow a simple rule... If you disagree with my views, you're a racist bigot. (Not all Leftists, but a scary growing percentage)

[canuckistani]

3 minutes ago, Kushman said:

The left doesn't care about principals or the law.  They only pretend to care with virtue signalling whenever it's a conservative that gets accused or does anything, no matter how small. The left shuts down speech on campuses because they follow a simple rule... If you disagree with my views, you're a racist bigot. (Not all Leftists, but a scary growing percentage)

Well they've upgraded to shutting down POCs and minorities as well if they don't toe the line of the Komrade Komissars on campus.