I guess everyone in Kentucky is drinking the same thins as Mitch McConnell's Kool-Aid. it must be in the water.
73
A shocking defence of neo-fascist youth by Mr. Brooks. Amazing. And not in a good way.
188
I wonder what the Maga In Chief would have done in their situation? Called the man Tonto and chanted “lock him up?”
Take off the hats boys.
126
I'm sure there were some good and decent people among those, "Hate Cult" Black Hebrew Israelites.
53
Oh. Such a misunderstanding of the innocent droogs over at Covington High:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covington-catholic-black-paint/
41
Wearing a dumb make America great again with his in your face smirk, just what trump has made our country today
92
I'm sorry, but no. I have really tried to see all sides of this and give these boys the benefit of the doubt. But it seems to me that that kid's attitude is pretty clear, and I can't get around it. As another poster said, his smirking smug cruelty is evident.
Just watched his oh-so-innocent-young-boy act when interviewed by Savannah Guthrie - just snorted with laughter. It was hard to believe it was even the same kid. He looks YEARS younger. That's what lawyers, coaches, PR consultants, and wardrobe advice will do for you. I don't buy his act at all.
Should this ruin his life? No. He's just a kid. He's obviously a huge jerk, and some kids like this mature, and some don't. I don't want to ruin his life. But I don't feel sorry for him getting called out for being a … well, I can only use polite words here so I can't say what I think of him and his … friends.
YUCK.
201
MAGA kids,Black Hebrew Israelites,Indigenous men....a stew of humanity who,save the Indigenous men,behaved poorly ,revealing their hollow core,an unfortunately far too frequent occurrence in 2019 .
30
I wish I'd been vacationing on Mars...
72
Here is the smartest commentary I have seen so far on the subject:
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-with-your-own-eyes-1831931203
23
It appears that neither David Brooks nor Donald Trump gave serious attention to the videos of the incident. They DEFINITELY DO NOT show poor little white boys as innocent victims of attacks by blacks and Native Americans. They show the vicious white supremacist world as encouraged - indeed fostered - by exclusive religious schools teaching white bigotry. I'm saddened that David Brooks drank the Kool-Aid from the hater Catholic Diocese. I'm saddened that America continues to permit the Hater-in-Chief and his henchmen Pence and Miller to continue to poison our democracy.
98
All I can say is, thank goodness I was vacationing on Mars.
19
After watching many different videos I feel the real problem was that there were too few chaperones for those Catholic HS boys. I saw only one man try to round them up to go to the top of the first tier above the ground n that didn’t seem to work. I am a product of Catholic Education in NYC n my five children have also graduated fr Catholic Schools in NY suburbs n I have chaperoned many times. In my day n their day yelling back n forth w the Black Israelites would not be permitted. Neither would them telling the Native American Indians to go back to Europe. And it was certainly very inappropriate for that boy to remove his three top garments n stand half naked leading a cheer. All three groups had a right to be there but common decency n respect did n prevail n if that is what Catholic Education stands for in Kentucky I know it doesn’t in New York. And now, no surprise, these boys r invited to the White House to be rewarded for what - wearing MAGA hats! We stoop lower n lower each day. How unbelievably sad.
98
Where is your essay about women threatened by misogynist trolls? When do you come to as earnest a defense of Black lives destroyed by one or more “blatant rush to judgement?”
I don't disagree that social media can go too far, too fast. What I don’t get is your sudden sensitivity to what so many have experienced for so many years.
Why don’t you cover the respectful letters Me to We Racial Healing writes to police chiefs, school boards and churches about their colleagues targeting Black and Indigenous people on social media? Where were you when we tried to reason with brutal trolls targeting Muslims and Latinos?
Meanwhile, I’ve been poring through data on hundreds of brutal incidents in 2018 I began collecting when, thanks to social media, White culture (yours and mine) awakened to how #BeingBlack while BBQ-ing, napping and swimming risks being falsely accused, arrested or worse.
Coming on the heels of your Jan 16 essay, this new one is both troubling and ill-timed. This day after MLK Day you’re living down to the elite White-haired, White-skinned American male stereotype. Not unlike the good pastors and rabbis to whom Dr. King wrote A Letter From a Birmingham Jail.
Even if the Covington boys were singularly innocent (which I doubt), will you at least stop writing essays long enough to reflect on the nuance Dr. King was implying when he wrote of a “superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes?”
91
Surprised all the ususal apologists for the student(s) are seizing on the "question" of "knowing" what was in the heart of the insolent, passive aggressive, MAGA chic apparelled student.
Does anyone question what is in the heart of someone wearing a white pointy hoodie replete with eyeholes?
77
After Charlottesville -- not to mention Trump's race-baiting campaign and behavior since the election -- we should recognize that wearing a MAGA hat in public is virtually the equivalent to wearing a swastika. It's a deliberate racial provocation. The Covington chaperone who allowed these white boys to wear those hats on a school outing should have known better. We've seen what can happen when demonstrators come into conflict, and this was a needless endangerment of everyone in the vicinity. But watch the video -- it still does not explain why that smirking boy stood there, staring at the man with the drum for so long.
77
Catholic boys in MAGA hats that is about as far as I can get.
63
The Covington Catholic High School boys stepped into the ring. They had trained, the responsible adults in their lives -parents, school, clergy, chaperones - focusing their righteous indignation. They dawned their colors for the day.
They got punched in the nose.
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
32
Did not an entity of the Roman Catholic Church load these boys on a bus to Wash, DC for the express purpose of political activism? What do they expect when they put these boys in front of the Lincoln Memorial wearing birther-lie MAGA hats?
91
People will always find value in preaching to their own choir.
15
Twitter is a fool's means to truth.
19
Did I correctly read Brooks’ breathless indignation over a rush to judgement of a group of teenage boys based on their skin color, the style of clothes they wear, their ball caps, and the fact that they are congregating together in public? Poor little guys! I wonder if they will grow up with social disenfranchisement and higher rates of incarceration.
83
Brooks, you're siding with the smirking kid? Really? I get that the whole thing isn't what it first seems. As in, now ALL the participants look like jerks. (I was really rooting for the guy with the drum, but OK, maybe him, too).
35
This paper is being played...from another source washington post An anonymous group of students and parents spoke to The Gateway Pundit, telling the right-wing news site that they’d retained the services of Robert Barnes, a lawyer popular in pro-Trump circles. On Twitter, Barnes offered to represent the students free if they wanted to sue a New York Times reporter who asked if any students would be expelled for the behavior seen in the original video....now do you have the guts to report this or are you trying to get on Trumps goodside?
32
Perhaps if I had not seen this type of arrogant racist behavior countless times growing up Catholic I would agree with Mr Brooks.
I am amazed that not a single person from this prestigious school could not remember Jesus' teaching to "turn the other cheek".
Did the holy spirit teach those school spirit chants and tomahawk chop?
62
In Savannah Guthrie's teaser for tomorrow's Today Show interview (minus the MAGA hat):
“Do you see your own fault in any way?”she [Savannah] asks.
“As far as standing there, I had every right to do so,” Sandmann replies.
Donald Trump: "I have every right to shutdown the Government."
Sandmann: “My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips. I respect him. I'd like to talk to him.
“In hindsight, I wish [we could have] walked away and avoided the whole thing.”
Donald Trump: “I hate the children being taken away,” “The Democrats have to change their law — that’s their law.”
I really hope this kid can make a u-turn and make something positive out of his life.
14
A man of any color pounding on a drum and pushing right into a crowd of testosterone-fueled teenage boys would normally get more than a rude stare and some football chants.
26
The kids letter was "quite humane?" That's the PR firm hired by his parents talking. The original video seems completely gone now-where? Probably the results of a lawyer getting involved. Covington Catholic has a reputation in Cincinnati, so maybe we believed the video because we already know the school. I see David didn't mention the photo of 4 kids in black- face at a basketball game against a primarily black school? All the platitudes to defend such indolence.
51
It’s the MAGA hats. It would make my hair stand on end—the youth squad for chaos (red hats/brown shirts) is how I see it. Is that what we’re in for in the future? And why in the world did their parents and school think it was a good idea to send children - yes children, watch their videos - to an anti-abortion demonstration? What in the world....????
43
Sorry, those boys had a choice to leave the place which most people will do. What happened to the chaperone? But they decided to stay and enjoy. The boy facing Mr. Phillips seemed to be amused? For what? I am not blaming the boys- they are the victims of the culture at their home and neighborhood. This is the effect of the disguised Make America Great Again propaganda which nothing but xenophobia, division and hatred?
20
Twitter is responsible for the harm done to all parties. They allowed a fake account with an unbelievable amount of activity (130 posts per day) and a vast amount of robotic amplifying followers to spread harmful information. Make Twitter and other social media responsible as publishers and this attack on our government, our way of life, and each other will stop.
9
David -
You listed several of the factors that may have led to folks presuming the worst about these students: white, male, preppy and Trump supporters. You left out two other factors: Catholic, and pro-life.
14
David -
One more thought.
You accuse the diocese and the mayor of "cratering" to the social media mob. SO DID THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA. If you were trying to provide cover for the 4th Estate for blowing this call while throwing the school, the diocese and the town for not reserving judgement until the facts were in, you'll need to try harder. There would be NOTHING to which to "crater" if the media did not report it...or, should I say, perpetuate it.
8
What I saw on TV and what you see in the picture with this article is what I believe is the truth. It has nothing to do with 4 black activists shouting obscenities at the boys. You see an elder being taunted by a crowd of boys, taking photos and seemingly enjoying themselves at a face down that could be characterized as racial. I have respect for Brooks, but no matter what the back story was, he over reacted. The native elder deserves and apology.
29
Where was the chaperone? If my kid decided to get in the face of a elder, which obviously was enjoyed by his classmates, he would hear from me. One thing Trump has taught our youth as a role model, it is okay to be disrespectful as long as you wear a MAGA hat.
44
Mr. Brooks is having a “there we’re fine people on both sides” moment. We’ve all had enough gas-lighting, thank you very much.
61
I’ve been fifteen years old.
I’ve raised teenagers.
I know a supercilious smirk when I see one.
94
Brooks, I don't think you watched all the videos. Or, you saw what you were able to see in this. (I'd never heard of the Black Israelites, but some of what they said was not too different from Catholic or even evangelical doctrine, just preached in a different style and dialect perhaps not recognized as, ahem, familiar). Don't you think wearing MAGA hats is a provocation? I thought "trump incest babies" was a funny response to that provocation. Maybe i've seen more street talk in major cities. And wow--can't believe your first main point is to denigrate Nathan Phillips. I read various portions of narrative from him, and it was all consistent. These kinds of videos are actually a powerful way to call out the kind of dehumanization that's never before in history made bullies so vulnerable or perhaps accountable. PR firms can try to command the narrative, but people can't unsee what was there. Did you see the video clip of the CC kid proudly shouting to the camera, "It isn't rape if you enjoy it!" ? If he'd been Black, or a Black Israelite, heaven forbid.
32
Let’s hope that the reasoned, accurate report receives many page views!
4
How we destroy lives? This boy and his fellow students were bussed to DC to participate in a rally aimed at destroying women's lives by forcing them to maintain unwanted pregnancies. None of those boys are innocent bystanders in the ecosystem of oppression and bullying.
147
Responsible protesters prepare for events by attending workshops on non-violence. They practice safe, non-violent responses to being taunted and even threatened. They practice remaining calm and supportive to each other. Covington Catholic High School, did your administrators and teachers arrange for such workshops for your students? It's not hard to find skilled facilitators, and their fees are low. Usually what can be covered by a bake sale or passing the hat.
33
Perhaps Brooks would be consoled by offers of "thoughts and prayers" for all involved in this ugly incident.
42
People who wear MAGA hats are proclaiming support for Trump's bullying and belittling style. It's a provocative gesture. Are we being unfair bully enablers?
54
@Peter Aretin - was the taunting of one of the students of color by the Black Israelites (who are grown men I might add) worth mentioning as well? In their own video posted to YouTube, the repeatedly call him a “Kanye West” N-word.
Your thoughts?
11
Mr. Brooks commits the offense he purports to descry, ignoring and misrepresenting facts to amp up a story so it supports his side in the culture war.
I am a liberal so I may not be able to see straight, but in the LP version of the video with the Covington Catholic students it looks to me like MAGA hat wearing kids mock the Native American man and block his path—standing ‘their’ ground when he asserts his right to approach the Lincoln Memorial. On the soundtrack of the video I watched, someone asks why the gentleman doesn’t just walk around the kids, to which I say why should he have to?
It also strikes me that this group of kids brought to DC to protest a woman’s right to choose seems to be entirely male.
73
Mr. Brooks, while trying to appear objective and being ABOVE the negative stereotyping you accuse social media of, your article is just as biased. The videos show "a group of boys" confronting "members of the hate cult — the Black Hebrew Israelites" who had "started hurling racist and homophobic slurs at the boys." A GROUP??? Really? In the videos that I watched there were 150 - 200 of those "boys". And there were less than 10 "members of the hate cult". Whatever these "Israelites" might have been saying does NOT justify the way the native American man was being treated by the white "boys".
54
How we destroy lives today, and every day, David, is excuse racist, culturally insensitive, hateful acts.
63
Some of the liberals are still blaming the Catholic high school boys when there is definite proof that they were the wronged party. The full video proves this to be the case yet they still find fault with the boys. Is it because they are conservative white boys. One has to wonder.
34
High school boys weighing in on women’s reproductive rights alone is offensive to me, as any male weighing in on this issue is to many of us. Second, wearing the MAGA hat is incendiary since Charlottesville . It is a symbol of bigotry and hatred. Period. This unruly mob of boys, taunting a girl by saying, “It’s not rape if you enjoy it” is indefensible. Nothing else needs to said here.
62
@WPLMMT
Of course it is not their fault. They are minors. Their high school should not have proposed that a bunch of adolescent boys come to Washington D.C. to join an anti-choice rally, and their parents should not have permitted them to go.
I cannot think of anything more ill advised than encouraging adolescent boys to participate in an anti-choice demonstration a thousand miles from home, when what they need to learn about is humility, respect for other people, and above all self-control.
That is what you meant, isn't it?
47
@WPLMMT You keep saying this. That does not make it true.
11
These school boys were in Washington to assert their control over female reproductive organs. They wore their despicable birther-lie MAGA hats to the Lincoln Memorial. The Lkncoln Memorial! That's enough right there to call them out.
78
Where is the outrage at the Black Hebrew Israelites? The left looks hypocritical when they condemn a group of smirking, misbehaving teenage boys but conveniently overlook the hatred and racism spewed by a group of adults, simply because the adults are black and therefore favored.
43
@MDB
Sure, there's plenty of outrage. The Black Hebrew Israelites were behaving in a hugely bigoted and bullying manner, really off the wall. And yes, they are adults and we can hold them fully responsible for their actions. But what's sad here and what is a more compelling story, is that when that a group of young students from a religious high school are bullied by someone stronger than they, they respond in classic bully-cycle manner: they turn around and bully someone weaker than they are. Where did they learn that? At their religious school? Or does it just radiate down into their brains from those hats and the man they represent?
22
"Within living memory, political polarization had at least something to do with issues,”
The MAGA hats are right in there with the Brown Shirts in Germany prior to WWII, it’s a statement, it’s certainly provocative, and it’s in your face white privilege. It’s an issue.
Call me, “polarized,” but I don’t like the hats, and I generally don’t like anyone that wears them. The fact that this so called Catholic School in allowing these, is just another chink out of the rapidly eroding foundation of Catholic orthodoxy. If that's what passes as school spirit, I would yank my kid out of there, faster then you could say God Bless You.
The fact that Brooks can’t seem to see the revolting aspect of instilling polarizing politics into our youth is telling. Now this kid is a poster boy for bad behavior and where adults in the room could have easily provided guidance. Bottom line, Putin is smiling.
49
“In this technology, a main activity is proving to the world that your [keyboard] type is morally superior to the other [keyboard] type.”
2
MAGA hats aren't any part of the Catholic church I know.
58
Brilliant and absolutely spot on from Mr. Brooks; this is a very important message. Sadly, if this comment section is any indication, it has fallen on deaf ears.
35
MAGA hats on high school boys carries a lot of meaning, and it ain't good. These kids may act like idiots, but they know what they're doing by wearing those hats and giving the tomahawk chop.
Anyone denying that has their head in the sand.
78
This column is so right! Please share it with NYT editorial board. The NYT is a leader in “liberal shaming” these days.
20
Imagine the tables turned: imagine that Nathan Phillips was a Roman Catholic priest reciting the rosary at a protest, and the a Lakota student of Pine Ridge Reservation High School stood smirking 10 inches from his face for 2O minutes, while his school mates rudely chanted and gestured, mangling and twisting what syllables they could imitate from the priest's Hail Marys and Our Fathers. From US history we know that in the 19th Century those students would most likely have been shot dead on the spot. But today, honestly what would the students, teachers, and parents of Covington think and feel if the priest who gave them communion on Sundays had been mocked and taunted as those kids mocked and taunted Phillips?
David Brooks, please try this little envisioning exercise yourself.
44
Pity the young man’s grandparents
6
Brooks' article doesn't matter. Truth is no longer relevant. What matters is who gets the clicks, because the clicks--regardless of whether or not the story is entirely fabricated or merely spun to suit an agenda--define hierarchy and income. Coupled with the verified fact that over 80% of so-called journalists self-define as liberal/democrat and here we are in the era of institutionalized Trump hate. Trump could turn water into gold and he would be hated,because hate---true leftist hate---- equals profit.
15
What is it, about preppy upper middle class white Catholic schools that breed mob behavior? Kavanaugh and his gang got loaded on kegs of beer and engaged in drunken sexual assaults on young girls at house parties. The smugness and arrogance of both these students and their parents to exert their sense of white privilege and superiority over others who they deem inferior is on full display in these videos, including a boy shouting”it’s not rape if you like it “ to girls standing nearby.These boys will grow up to be nasty, arrogant, judgmental men, all under the hypocritical mantle of so called good Catholics, as they have been carefully taught to be by their elders. Once again, David Brooks chooses to defend the indefensible.
61
So Phillips proved to be a liar, where is the self-serving, hypocritical moral outrage?
19
The kid was wearing a MAGA hat. What more needs to be said? He essentially destroyed himself.
36
Looks like Mitch yanked David’s chain.
11
One night, as a teenager in Germany, my friends and I made fun of a drunken Roma. At first he seemed not to mind the jokes we made at his expense and was laughing with us. Then all of a sudden he became quiet and almost sober, looked at our little gang’s leader, rolled up his sleeve, and showed us a small number tattooed on his arm. I will never forget the shame I felt when I realized he had survived a concentration camp. It does not bode well for our society if young people act disrespectfully towards old people, don’t feel ashamed for doing so, and, worst of all, have other old people (David Brooks included) make excuses for them.
104
Why would an elderly man think it appropriate to beat a drum in the face of a child for several minutes? Whoever thinks that these children are to blame needs to have their heads examined. "MAGA" hats or no MAGA hats, this was clearly completely inappropriate behavior by adults towards children. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
30
@ghj They're not children, they're adolescents. And he was not "beating a drum", he was playing an instrument, drumming a prayer.
44
David...
1. “How we destroy lives” is by shooting black boys and men in the back, by oppressing and killing Native Americans, by ignoring the misery in Puerto Rico and Flint, and by yawning at “locker room jokes.”
2. There’s no such thing as being “in a technology.” By the time social media became ubiquitous, the damage had already been done—by shallow social norms, white privilege and fragility, and unrestrained capitalism.
3. I know that kid in the MAGA hat. I was white Catholic-school boy myself, and the big difference is, our clergy marched with Dr. King, and this dude was wearing a MAGA hat. I’ll say that one more time, David, because that’s pretty much the beginning and end of it: the dude was WEARING A MAGA HAT. Full stop.
We are in an era when people literally nullify themselves by associating with our president. I wouldn’t waste a lot of time ruminating on social media when people are wearing MAGA hats. Take this as a vision: people in influential positions such as you are, standing up against swastikas in 1933. The MAGA hat is our swastika, and this is our 1933.
88
"if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views — you have to incite social media. The way to do that is to reinforce the prejudices of your readers."
So--you're at The TIMES. Stope rewarding that behavior.
AND: these kids are supposedly the natives of this social media-infected world. So they should know how it works--and stay the heck out of that particular kitchen if they don't like the heat. Seems more like this one kid, who wasted no time getting some Republican legal witch doctors writing his copy, was quite ready for a fight. Bring it on, MAGA boy. MAGA: Mueller Ain't Going Away.
19
Hello, Mr. Brooks. The 1950s called and they want their opinion back.
Entitled teenage boys who are not reprimanded for their bad behavior become entitled white men.
75
@Terence
I am sure we will live long enough to see Mr. Sandmann intern at the local Mitch McConnell office in Louisville, KY. Nick Sandmann is a name we are sure to hear from again.
12
Why is there such a double-standard? If the Hebrew Israelites had white skin and were shouting hate speech at a bunch of rude black kids wearing Malcolm X hats the news would be attacking the whites.
A pack of teenage boys in a mob are going to be rude in any situation in any country. I have seen it in every country, especially Latin American soccer teams. I don't think it had to do with the Native American's race and believe an aggressor walking straight into a pack of boys who had been berated would not be treated respectfully no matter the skin color. The left should focus on building back the middle class, medicare for all, support for families and workers and stop trying to constantly work people up with stories of racism, sexism, LGBT-ism.
24
@Allright Actually, the media would be attacking the black kids; first for wearing Malcolm X hats and called black extremists. And second- because they were in a large group. And no, boys are not rude "In any situation in any country." These young men were not chaperoned by anyone- and that is part of the problem. Home training is also another part.
The decision to send 12-17 year old boys to D.C. on the pretense of being part of a movement about women's uteruses is absurd. This was nothing more than a pretentious college resume-building exercise.
25
By wearing red MAGA hats the kids were sending a violent incendiary message to the indigenous people’s celebration. The President has already declared himself proudly to be a (white) nationalist and has sided with racists of all stripes many times, so those red hats are a very negative symbol and message: non-whites not welcome and worse. Shame on the adult chaperones who encouraged this behavior and the school for supporting it.
36
Poor old David Brooks, he just cannot find it in himself to criticize the right. He has changed, and his style now is more slick, and seemingly benign toward all concerned, but beneath he is the Brooks of old: a hard core right wing ideologue at heart.
36
Sure, Mr. Brooks, well-off white boys who go to an authoritarian Catholic school and wear MAGA campaign hats to promote an authoritarian president couldn't possibly cause conflict with others.
37
Mr. Brooks,
How do you explain "It's not rape if you enjoy it?" declared by a Covington student next to a group of young women -- at about 18 seconds in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqUh7nlXn2k
(hint: there is no explaining).
50
It would have been much more definitive if those fine young men wore white sheets. Give me a break, I would have knocked that kids smile off his face, even though I should be empathetic towards his emotional baggage. He was probably an alter boy with some issues.
22
Nathan Phillips is basically a trump trainee. White, privileged, brainwashed and embraces a religion based on guilt. Nathan has a veteran and tribe member with origins of the first true American Citizens, in front of him, and the best Nathan can do is be a punk. Parents must be proud.
6
@J Fender (just a kind FYI); The young man's name is Nick Sandmann. The older man is Nathan Phillips.
12
The fact that these kids have culturally appropriated the Maori Haka dance and doing it on the mall to intimidate the heckling Black Hebrews, and the fact that these same kids mocked the drummer Philip's by doing tomahawk chops and jumping up and down and drowning out his song, and the fact the kid Sandmann refused to create space for the Indian protesters to proceed, makes this a extremely crystal clear case of foul, disrespectful behavior. The chaperones need to called out. These kids learned these behaviors very well from the bigoted, entitled, racist parents.
38
Ah, the expected and predictable Brooks column. David never disappoints. The MAGA hats on the Covington boys didn’t clue you in? The harassment of young women captured on video earlier wasn’t indicative of their world view? Provocation by the Black Hebrew Israelites was no excuse for their subsequent bad behavior. I do not believe “ the facts happened to support the right-wing tribe.”
20
Trump's life wasn't ruined. Kavanaugh's life wasn't ruined. This kid's life isn't ruined. Expressing white-victimhood is in--no drawbacks. You know who's life was ruined: Trayvon Martin's.
38
Pish Posh David Brooks. The phenomenon speaks volumes. You can try but you can not wish it away. Look around, it is you that need to adapt.
8
Oh, poor little tykes!
Bused to the March for Life, so they could proudly wear their MAGA caps and demonstrate against abortion and scream school chants. What could possibly go wrong?
If the boys had been black, there'd be no conserative columnists rushing to their defense; no Republican PR firm spreading the word of their purity & innocence; no hysteria at Breitbart & Fox News; no chorus of furious reactionaries demanding the lynching of "liberal" journalists.
If the boys had been black, they'd have been gunned down as fast as Tamar Rice.
35
Brooks, in this “balanced” analysis that is critical of liberals and reassuring to conservatives, misses so much. The “main boy” didn’t write a humane letter. The Republican PR firm that his parents hired wrote it. The school, who probably know the “main boy” and his buddies far better than Brooks does, was quick to promise punishment and even expulsion (perhaps this was not their first, racist taunts and smirks???). Maybe liberals over-reacted, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong. And also, perhaps, these privileged white prep school students were racist MAGA clowns, as well. They wear those hats proudly, after all.
16
I haven't changed my mind. Those kids acted like punks.
32
I went to Catholic school as a child and decided to send my children to a Quaker school. Glad I did. My personal experience while growing up, and watching the progress and growth of my own children to adulthood, and now this video, validate that decision.
Ideology tends to obscure the difference between right and wrong. The MAGA hat kids were conforming to a form of group identification that could only result in confrontation over resolution.
18
The amount of self-serving judgment by Brooks and everyone else - liberals and conservatives alike - is far more compelling a testament to our fractured society than these videos or the event they captured.
The way we talk to one another and about one another is a problem. It seems social media and our recent advances in tech allow us to rush to judgment and stick with those judgments even in light of nuanced or competing perspectives. It makes all the sci-fi films with technological horrors like intelligent machines look quaint. The truth is that we are the horror, and social media has unleashed us.
6
From what little I have found out there on the HS, the smirk on the face seems appropriate. I have felt for a long time this quote from Carlespie Mary Alice Mckinney is ture. Indeed.
"Religion does three things quite effectively: controls people, divides people , deludes people."
18
@Steve Beck
I've never heard that excellent synopsis of religion up to now. Thank, Steve, I will tuck that one away for future reference.
4
This is an absolutely brilliant description of the totally unjustified internet crucifixion of American children by a biased pseudo-journalism class of insatiable social media vampires. This time the guilty party is the Left Wing Hate Machine. After the school shooting in Florida last year, it was the Right Wing Hate Machine. The Hate is the same from either side. It dehumanizes and commodotizes children for clicks and advertising dollars. Thank you for telling the story I tried to tell numerous people this weekend who were forwarding me brief closeup video clips with outrageous clickbait titles. This was after I had seen the 1 hour 46 minute hate speech video that you refer to in this article. I was called horrible names by "friends" for suggesting there was a more complete story to be told. This did not matter. Many of these internet crucifiers have no interest in factual evidence of anything that contradicts their hateful ideology. I suppose someone is going to read this and call me something horrible too. In the last few years I've lost "friends" because I'm too liberal and this is the first occasion that I've lost friends because I'm too conservative. Those weren't the actual words used. Just think of the worst thing for either side. Yes, I've been called it. What happened to rule of law, the first amendment to the Constitution, examination of evidence? Those apparently don't matter in the current climate. I'm praying for the future of our nation. Thanks for reading
18
The title to Brooks's article (did he "pen" it or is the work of an editor?) and its subtitle are the funniest things in today's Times.
And the answer is: (excuse me while laughter subsides...) No.
The more video I've seen about these kids, the more deplorable I find them. That said, they are minors and should be educated about their actions. This is a teachable moment for them.
I seriously question the adults who sent these kids to DC for a political rally, allowed them to wear political attire, and then allowed them to get involved in the kind of exchanges they did. What were they thinking? This is not what their religion teaches.
Finally, the arrogant smugness that you see in the video is the same look I've seen on the face of Trump, Hannity, Carlson, Kavanaugh, and plenty of other entitled white males. It is a sickening look.
36
@BT12345, as for the adults who allowed these teenagers to take time off from school, their religion and their school teach that abortion is murder, that almost all forms of contraception are morally wrong, that only men may be ordained as clergy, and that their religion is the only valid form of Christianity. Why is anyone surprised that these teenagers don't display empathy or tolerance? That is not what they are learning at home or at school.
21
The NY Times combox here is a sad indication to me that too many of my own progressive side are too attached to our own biases and not attached enough to critical thinking that is not merely a pretext for rationalization. Which means we're letting ourselves become what we oppose => a very human thing but not something to be embraced.
What happened here does not fall neatly into neatly premade good guys/bad guys boxes.
If we want to recover this nation in 2020, take this as an object lesson in what not to do.
Please.
13
This situation seems very much like a Rorschach test: who is believed seems closely aligned to one’s beliefs in general. If the parties were switched around, say the white Catholic students were the ones shouting racist and homophobic remarks at the Black Hebrew Israelites or if the Native American had approached the Black Hebrew Israelites or if the if the Native Americans were quietly grouped on the steps were confronted in their space by the Catholic school boys, would your interpretation still be the same? It’s like that with politics: politicians all play the same games. It just depends whether your party is in power which side you would support.
11
So this "poor" young man and his friends were being "Kavanaughed"? We are just so unfair to privileged white boys. Please...
I watched several long clips of this incident, including when Nathan Phillips approached the group. Yes, these young men were being taunted by a small group of protestors. Why didn't they move their MAGA hatted selves somewhere else instead of engaging with these idiots? There is no mistaking the smirk on the young man's face who stood in front of Mr. Phillips and the mocking by his fellow classmates. In my 12 years attending Catholic school, this behavior would not have been tolerated.
Where were the adult chaperones? I assume that they are the same people who thought it was a good idea to take a group of immature high school boys to a march about restricting women's reproductive rights?
And now we repeat the cycle - a PR firm is hired, the media back tracks and another young man is made a martyr because conservatives and religious people are so persecuted in this country. We have really lost our way.
26
These sneering, jeering MAGA boys are only aping the behavior of their president. Sad.
16
After listening to David Brooks on PBS and reading this editorial, I am inclined to believe this man has no moral compass. I do not know what David Brooks stands for morally speaking. The man seems to have absolutely no back-bone whatsoever. Will the real David Brooks please step forward.
17
Where was Brett? It looked like all his buddies were there. Squee - no amount of PR will turn your agressive and menacing smirk to a friendly smile.
19
What I saw in those videos was a bunch of obnoxious, over privileged, smirky kids openly disrespecting a Native American war veteran. They deserve all the opprobrium and public shaming they get.
15
Yes, because nothing says "Blessed are the peacemakers" like a MAGA hat and a big smirk. Some pictures are worth 1,000 words.
39
"the social media tail wags the mainstream media dog." And what David, the social media tail doesn't wag the conservative media dog?
5
I really wanted to cry today because of this. What a world! What a world where people are in love with hating and postering and seem unable to see beyond the end of their noses. What kind of person rushes to demonize kids because they’re wearing MAGA hats? Have you lost your souls? And I see where today they’re being attacked for using the basketball three-point signal in the mistaken belief it’s a alt right sign because people want to be able to continue to justify their bad behavior. Trump’s election was not the end of the world but it apparently was the end of civility and common sense. Non-Trump adults should know better.
6
Where were the chaperones? Why didn’t they get the students out of there.
Have been a chaperone for many of my 3 sons trips and part of the job is to head off trouble.
11
I get the feeling that David Brooks isn’t writing this piece for me or the general public to read. I think he wrote so that he will get friendly pat on the back thank you from his powerful Republican pals.
13
The false outrage for the unjustly vilified Covington students is predictable. No retractions, no firings and weak apologies.
For what sells better than hate? In the MeToo era, the media has become judicious in the use of sex to sell. In that process they found that hate sells faster, more passionately and longer lasting - just be careful to only hate safe targets.
Inciting violence and murderous threats cannot and should not be wiped away with “I’m sorry I can’t believe I tweeted that.” These threats were racial and bias hate crimes, but unfortunately for the victims, were directed against people the media has previously deemed hate-worthy.
There have always been and always will be sacred cows and safe targets. White Catholic teenage boys in MAGA hats. The trifecta of legitimate and safe targets to hate.
The media has the Catholic clergy on the run and this was a low-hanging fruit opportunity to showcase how depraved Catholic youth and there parents are. More fuel to burn down the Church.
So, we apparently don’t hate hate as long as it is directed against those we hate. Nothing new to see here.
7
Social media????? Nice dodge. How about journalists who rush to print without verifying that what they are publishing might be true instead of staged and manipulated race-based hatred and ideological hatred (there was some homophobia in there, too) that pushed their own ideological bias they like to put on everything?
This is why the press have lost all credibility. Hollywood, too, but at least they never pretended to follow the rules and ethics of journalism. We had three this week, the sad story of a 2 year old killed in a race crime that people lost interest in when it was just another black kid killed in a drive by. The Buzzfeed ($400b of NBC money behind them) lie about Trump that everyone ran with then had to walk back. And now this, where the press reported the exact opposite of the truth and provoked a mob into doxing and threatening minors who were innocent. You don't see a pattern here? Everyone else does.
6
The simple irony is that, anytime you see a MAGA hat, they’re only making America worse again.
11
Well, if there are two things David Brooks knows about it's preppies and useless wars.
6
David...this is perhaps both opinion and question: is not a young white boy (or several) wearing MAGA hats code for "make America white again"?? Is it not code for "make the KKK acceptable again"? that hat is the lasting symbol of the racism that swept into office a racist (albehe very sad and to be pitied) president.
Those who have such hats should wear them only to bigoted events - where they find kindred souls. If this was not such an event, then YES, those hats speak evil to those of us who continue to insist that all men/women are equal and filled with God's beauty.
15
Two things:
First, when can we begin vacationing on Mars during the weekends? Seriously I can't wait!
Second, NPR tried to explain this incident this morning, and I admit I was driving really fast on the interstate at the time, but they seemed to have no clear explanation of what happened or which group started it, OR what anyone was even actually saying--or chanting, or whatever.
This is the first clear explanation I've heard of the events.
But is Brooks accurate? I'm reading the comments below, Heather from San Diego and Dale from NY in particular, and I'm not sure we've gotten to the bottom of the story just yet....
2
The Catholic religious upbringing is based on the idea that the Christian religion, especially the Catholic branch as affirmed by the Pope Benedict XVI, is the only true connection to the Almighty. Depending on the family’s upbringing and ability to think critically, many people of Christin religion are SPIRITUAL SUPREMATISTS. They truly believe that the rest of us are too stupid or immoral to think for ourselves or rule ourselves. Mix it with the white privilege and the patriarchy and you have a very toxic environment for a young mind. At the same time, I have full compassion for a young man. Even if everything that the critics here say about him is true, being judged in a public forum of this proportions is an unfair punishment for the 15 years old.
2
I just called my ophthalmologist to see if he could get Mr. Brooks in STAT. That boy with the supercilious grin may have a look of “confusion and discomfort” to him but to me, it’s pure disdain for Mr. Phillips. Perhaps Mr. Brooks needs a prescription change.
19
These high school teens acted far better than all the adults involved including a 64 year old Nathan Phillips who’s ‘inaccuracies’ were piling up faster than the liberal media could rationalize them. That’s the ugly is this remarkable story.
15
I've seen the coverage of this miserably upsetting confrontation on CNN, MSNBC and FOX, and listened to NPR's coverage, and noone has told me why there were no security guards or Washington D.C. city police present. The 'Black Hebrew Israelites", do they regularly go to demonstrations? Why aren't they promptly put under arrest? Please, without giving them more publicity than can be avoided.
5
@Mary It is Federal Property, maintained by the Park Service. Those guys are not working due to the Trumpdown.
7
I find it very interesting that this catholic school bused boys to a pro life event wearing MAGA hats for one thing. The second is the look in that young mans eyes and the snarky smile just says it all I’m afraid. What is being taught at his school?
15
If my child went there I would be SUING the evil, hateful press. They are dishonest and not doing justice to this country, its people or their journalism career. This must stop.
9
Sad cluelessness from David Brooks. I often admire what he says. Not this time. These boys are ill-behaved. The parent that hired a PR firm for them is enabling bad behavior.
16
I watched multiple videos of this particular event, of other interactions these boys had that day harassing women and of the 2015 incident where students of this school wore blackface and taunted African-American players on the opposing basketball team.
You fell for a well orchestrated PR job. These kids are exactly who we all thought they were when the first video surfaced-and so are the "adults" involved with them.
18
"It’s hard to believe that people are going to be content, year after year, to distort their own personalities in service to a platform, making themselves humorless, semi-blind, joyless and grim."
I've been saying this about David Brooks for bloody *years*...
4
Mr. Brooks talks about confirming "negative stereotypes" and then has the gall to go on and call Mr. Phillips "an older Native American who was banging a drum" -- Banging a drum? How ethnocentric and condescending.
And I don't believe for a minute that the students' motivation and response were as pure as driven snow.
14
"I’m hoping that at least a few people start thinking about norms of how decent people should behave on these platforms."
As enormously dispiriting as this occurrence and its portrayals are, on every level, gotta believe there are considerably more than a few people who have been and will continue to be thinking about such norms, Mr Brooks.
Choose to believe it's the enormity of the task that accounts for their not yet having come up with such norms and adherence to them.
Choose also to believe that, meanwhile, the words of the song show the critical reason for those peoples' persisting in the endeavor "...Many times I thought of cuttin' out but my heart won't buy it..."
https://genius.com/Frank-sinatra-thats-life-lyrics
How quickly most of the media jumped to the conclusion that the Catholic school boys were as guilty as sin (pardon the pun). The video first shown was just a fraction of what was originally taped. They immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was the boys who were the instigators. His wrong they were.
Was it because the boys were white, Catholic, pro life and wore MAGA hats that they were immediately seen as the guilty ones? These boys were waiting for a bus to take them back to Kentucky when the Black Hebrew Israelites started their taunts and bullying against these boys. They hurled profanity and derogatory comments at the boys for no reason except that they were white and supported President Trump. Or so it seemed. Then the Native American man got involved by walking over to the boys while beating his drum. It appeared to get louder and the boys did not know whose side he was on. There appeared to be some confusion and it became quite chaotic. The boys were the innocent victims but you would never have guessed this by the negative and defaming comments written by much of the media.
Then the truth came out when the entire video revealed an entirely different story. Thank goodness for that added footage. My heart breaks for these lads who were just standing around innocently waiting for their bus. The Catholic Church and Catholics condemned them. I would expect better of the Church to not rush to judgement. They owe the boys the biggest apology of all.
11
Can you imagine the outrage if it has been Black or Brown kids? Mr. Brooks would've written 3 opinion columns by now asking them to be stripped of their dignity.
8
The Native American man "banging on his drum"? Banging?
"The drum is not just a musical instrument. To the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people, it holds great cultural and symbolic power. They believe the drum has a life of its own, as well as its own powerful spirit. The drum is the heartbeat of the Indian Nation. It carries the heartbeat of Mother Earth and calls the spirits and nations together." - Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center
I smell no small amount of derision and disdain in the use of the word "banging" to describe this Native Man's desire to use this sacred Indian Nation musical instrument to bring some order to what was a very ugly situation.
Examine your own prejudices Mr. Brooks that also spew ugly and unexamined content out to the world at large.
24
If you are wearing a MAGA hat, then you are making a political statement. You should not eb surprised if Political Statements get made back at you- sometimes insulting statements. Millions of Americans consider MAGA hats to be a slap in the face or "...Fighting Words...".
17
That's it. Mr. Brooks. You have lost your credibility with me. I am a parent, a grandparent, a teacher of 25 years and you expect to make me think there were mitigating circumstances? That boy was an appalling example of snide misbehavior for the benefit of his friends.
Mr. Brooks have you seen the video of the SAME DAY in which a group of girls were shouted at with "If you like it it's not rape." This is a march for anti-abortion? Mr. Brooks, you are WAY OFF on this one.
27
This entire non-event strikes me as Mickey Mouse and actually an example of civility; considering a bunch of school boys on a field trip. Did anybody ask what the song was all about? That would have been interesting. That the incident received any attention at all is quite surreal. Which reminds me.
Meanwhile, Daffy Duck, disguised as Uncle Scrooge, gets into a very shiny black armored limousine weighing a few tons, mounts the billion dollar stairs of the wide body with a contrail that costs tens of thousands of dollars per hour, then dozes with the tv on while dreaming of diving into swimming pools of money, his golf game, his clubs, his courses, his apartments, his houses, his accounts.
Somewhere over the dark land, he wakes. Looking down at lighted islands, he feels anger and wants to tear something down. After all, he can, can't he?
He orders a glistening dark brown piece of cake that is fascinating and in a corner of vision glimpses a quarterback. It fills him with envy of people with power for life.
1
Right, now that a ruby cheeked young man is caught in the crossfire there is a crisis with "social media" destroying lives. Just ask the Central Park 5.
12
Teenagers with MAGA hats tell most of the story. Does the Church really think that Jesus would vote for Trump?
17
Mr. Brooks accuses liberals of contorting the facts to fit their narrative, but isn't that precisely what he is doing here? Social media and "call-out culture" = scary and bad; traditional Catholic mores = good.
And no, the main boy Nick Sandmann did not write a "humane" public letter. A Republican PR firm based in Kentucky called RunSwitch PR, hired by the boy's parents, did.
16
After this incident, I deactivated my Twitter account.
3
When will the NYTimes do right by these kids and fund full college scholarships for everyone of them ?
8
Its all about Trump.
The red hat.
The media.
Hate.
And for those that follow it all, very predictable.
My adult age 18-40 I did not follow politics.
I was happier then and may go back to that lifestyle again.
The only folks happy about the news now days are Liberals+Democrats+ New Urban Socialists because their cheerleading squad , the media, never miss a game.
7
Mr. Brooks again brings up a very good point!
My gosh! It’s as though everyone with phone in hand can find a way at some point in time to spew hatred, anger, and emotional lunacy like Rush Limbaugh does everyday.
3
So we have a large group of teenagers in MAGA hats, mocking a native american elder by chanting "build the wall" and doing the tomahawk chop. Irrespective of anything the Black Israelite group said to them, their behavior is, by any standard, and irrespective of their age, despicable. That the parents of these little monsters have attempted to shift the blame for their actions, and have threatened the school administrators who spoke out when the video came to light, says volumes. Deplorable!
16
I watched 30 minutes of the video and at NO POINT were any of the students chanting “build the wall”.
Most people jumped to conclusions ( as did i ) after watching the short clip.
4
I am not a fan of reportage through social media. But the original reports suggested that this was a group of racist teenagers. Every subsequent report has showed ... this was a group of racist teenagers. The bigger problem is why David Brooks doesn't realize how he contributed to this very problem through his many years of slavish adherence to a treasonous political party.
9
What I find most disturbing is that everyone is talking about these boys instead of the Black Hebrew Israelites; a hate-spewing conspiracy theory group that started this whole thing. Priorities, people. Oh, and what on earth caused that Native man to apparently lie flagrantly about this entire episode? The longer video clearly shows him wading into the crowd of boys, not them approaching him. He wasn't confused about this; he lied. I can't stand Donald Trump and I have little pity for his supporters, but I will stand by the truth and factual reality in lieu of partisan party allegiances all day long. These kids got railroaded, and were the LEAST guilty parties there. (and yeah, their red hats are pretty ridiculous).
14
Liberals are very quick to call out the “hate” of Trump and his base while never acknowledging their own Hate of Trump and his supporters
7
A nice lawsuit against the liberal media and the Hollywood bullies is definitely needed. Were that child mine, I would be suing. For big bucks.
10
It is scary for the media to assume to know what this boy’s expression and savagely attack him. To assume that he is a racists according to the slant of his smile. Maybe he is but maybe he isn’t. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? This is mob behavior.
10
@Allright,
It's funny what happens when one wears the regalia of a racist, bigot bully boy.
Then act all surprised when people assume you might be one. Hmmm...
You want to see mob behavior...? Just watch the video.
6
This article seems to excuse the lying done by Mr. Phillips. He blames social media that repeated his lies instead of the liar himself.
10
This essay is from Ruth graham, Billy's daughter, who thinks the kids in the red hats were wrong....
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/nick-sandmann-nathan-phillips-maga-video.html
2
What a surprise, Brooks accepted the right-wing version of the story and then moralized about rush to judgement in our social media instant outrage era. Brooks doesn’t offer a solution, but share his hope that people will start to think about the consequences of their own judgement and action/inaction.
However, it is most effective if people challenge the biases and constant self-victimization and instant and constant outrage within their own bubble, group. For all his constant moralizing, that’s not Brooks. Brooks is a Never Trumper and routinely criticizes Trump - gets credit for that. But in this case, he fails to highlight how Trump has normalized the inappropriate behavior of these students, no matter how they were provoked. Different people come to different conclusions from the same videos, but Brooks accepts the right-wing version.
Brooks rightly condemns the specific Black Hebrew Israelites in the extended video: “hate cult” and “Everybody involved in the incident was operating in an emotional and moral context that has been set by the viciousness of the Black Hebrew Israelites.” I had never heard of the group before. The ones involved here are racists, supremacists and anti-Semites and deserve condemnation, but that apparently does not apply to all or majority of Black Hebrew Israelites. Brooks would be more credible if he even once criticized Gaffney, Spencer, Geller, Horowitz and other fringe Zionist racism and supremacy in the past (not related to this issue).
6
"As they were doing that Phillips walked into the middle of their circle and banged his drum in the face of one of the boys."
This is not what happened. You can amplify the public relations firm's version of events if you choose. Most teenagers don't have public relations firms to clean up their racism. Even fewer have NYT op ed writers for megaphones.
14
As a lapsed Catholic all I can say is that these Cov Cath kids chaperones should have just instructed the kids to walk away from the confrontation and turn the other cheek..
Duh..
Now they will be paying the price for a long time..
7
@Pw,
Nah...they will be fund raising off the event next week. This just plays into their victim status.
$$$ their lord and savior.
5
All you need to do is where a MAGA hat: might as well wear a white sheet & burn a cross. And what about the right to life (read mysoginist) demonstration they were bussed in for?
7
Love the column, and the great irony with the ending:
"...to distort their own personalities in service to a platform, making themselves humorless, semi-blind, joyless and grim.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram."
2
"If you want your story to be well placed and if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views — you have to incite social media. The way to do that is to reinforce the prejudices of your readers."
Really, David? I must have missed that in the NY Times Ethics Guide. I thought the principal responsibility of news media was to pursue the truth for an informed public; not reinforce ignorance and prejudice.
It's a sad day when social media metrics override the pursuit of truth and equality in journalism.
1
Multiple videos demonstrated clearly the students' racism, misogyny, and ignorance.
No amount of spin from the kid's PR firm (a Mitch McConnell joint, natch), or from you David, will change what we saw with our own eyes.
13
Leave it to David to defend the racists. The Covington Catholic High School has a problem. A review of the school spirit centered, apparently, around mob response to anything threatening their white upper class world view should get a minute on social media to determine just what is going on. The Times would never had covered this without social media's leadership and David would have to find some other right wing issue to promote. Maybe Trump's taking 800,000 hostages to get his wall would fit into David's idea of fairplay.
5
The truth is: we are two Americas at war with each other. I predict the shooting will start within five years.
"Of the major players, the boys’ behavior is probably the least egregious."
Really? Normally, I think David Brooks is silly. Now he is something much worse. The taunting of an older Native American man, even if it were brought on by a race to the bottom against the Hebrew Israelites, is the least egregious behavior Brooks saw?
Mr, Brooks, if you are going to play apologist for ugly racist behavior, then at least be up front about it. Don't pretend to be some neutral party lamenting some death of civility.
11
No one is listening to you, David. They are repeating their ideological narratives instead of weighing and considering the meaning of your essay.
Too bad -- for all of us.
5
Privileged white males having their "lives destroyed" by "rushed judgment" is clearly the most pressing crisis in the US today.
Some of these boys could be star swim team athletes!
Some of them could end up on the Supreme Court!
Some of them might even end up in law enforcement: a future decision to take a foolish, youthful human life could be judged in the light of this foolish, youthful behavior, as a sign of some kind of "pattern"!
Let's be a little more serious about how we apply the word "destroy" to things, especially lives?
10
If you think his is hard to believe, get ready for the even harder to be believed...
@Triple,
"If you think his is hard to believe, get ready for the even harder to be believed..." fact that these young adults have been raised by the church and are the followers of Jesus. You know, that socialist that said LOVE is the rule above all...
2
Where is your reporting - David Brooks - on the other instances of arrogance and insult these young men have very recently been involved in, while together?
The NYTimes reported two recent instances of RACIAL harassment at athletic events, one aimed at an Asian student and the other aimed at black student.
"This also is not the first time the greater Cincinnati area’s male Catholic school community has had to grapple with allegations of racism. Last winter, young men from Elder High chanted “P.F. Chang” and “‘Hey No. 2, open your eyes” at a multiracial Asian player from St. Xavier, perhaps the most prestigious of the all-male Catholic high schools in the region. An African-American player on the team was also taunted."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/us/viral-video-covington-kentucky.html
10
These are the facts: the kids were verbally assaulted by a crazy cult who called them racist and homophobic names. Then an unstable older man got in that kid's face beating a drum. Those kids reacted way better than the adults did, yet received nationwide hate and death threats.
6
Kudos to the boy for resisting the old man’s bullying. No one has the right to come up to you and bang a drum inches from your face. This was practically an assault!
5
We destroy lives when we don't believe survivors of sexual assault. We destroy lives when we say 'boys will be boys' when they bully and taunt others. We destroy lives when we allow the GOP to allow Trump to systematically destroy our country.
12
And here I thought a column about how we destroy lives today was going to talk about federal employees during the shutdown.
9
There is no mystery here at all. In the 1980's Yugoslavia, a sophisticated European country tore itself apart and neighbors fought and killed neighbors they used to have barBBQ's with. This is not new stuff for humans. The small battles are just more evident. Anyone who wears a MAGA hat in mostly black, mostly Dem, DC, is itching for a fight. The black Israelites as well. The old man was Old, in several ways. The story here is that we denigrate old stuff, old customs, old people. Why would wearing a MAGA hat make it OK to disrespect an Old Guy, unless it was really disrespecting a Native American. I'm old and I'm bringing my cane next march.
9
What are these boys in the MAGA hats being taught? That it’s alright to assert white male privilege, that it’s ok to grab women inappropriately, that it’s fine to mock the disabled, that racism and bigotry should be condoned, that a wall is needed to keep non-whites out? How medieval.
Not the Catholic school education I received. Love thy neighbor, feed the hungry, help the poor, the sick and the downtrodden.
11
It may be hard to figure out what the truth is here. I don't think it is hard to determine who was protesting Roe v Wade and who was wearing MAGA hats. If those are the worst sins of the Covington kids, they are still a bunch of deplorables. They deserve no quarter.
The question is, who can possibly watch the longer video and reach the conclusion that Brooks reaches. How is this possible. Brooks believes the attorney's version of the event as the boy's own and somehow reaches the conclusion that if the Black Israelites and the Native American are lying the Coivngton students must be telling the truth. Quite literally Brooks ability to observe reality is determined by his perceptions.
7
Agree there was a rush to judgement but, does not absolve Covington Catholic High School boys of their harassment and racist antics. Yes, there was more to the story, but as this video shows the boys were NOT innocent of wrongdoing. President, Tucker Carson and you are not telling the whole story either.
https://twitter.com/_waleedshahid/status/1087394069419122689
5
Mitch McConnell can be proud of his young racist constituents, standing smugly forth during a foray to Washington to advocate male control over female bodies. Whatever else happened that day, this image remains the face of inbred arrogance. No PR firm's twist can erase what is obvious.
6
I know that we are all tired of looking at the videos of this encounter, but there is one that clearly shows Nick Sandmann stepping around a fellow student to place himself in front of Nathan Phillips, contrary to what Sandmann's PR firm says. Mr. Phillips DID NOT "get into his face."
Watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSLtKZegbBM
7
What seems most remarkable is how a 'mob' mentality has taken hold non only in mainstream media as outlets strain to be the first to find the most damaging, outlandish story, but on Main Street America. How can either 'side' claim any moral or ethical ground? The self-righteous attitudes on both sides pushing to the left and the right, completely dismissing the other, seeing evil, stupidity and treasonous intent are the enemies. And our politicians are the pied pipers leading the way.
3
Why isn't the story about a group of high school children waiting for a bus being verbally assaulted for an hour or more with racist, homophobic and hate speech by a bunch of crazy radicals... and who responded with mostly good humor when confronted with such outrageous and insane hatred and bigotry directed at them? How the media and the left have twisted this narrative and attempt to destroy the lives of innocent children is a disgrace.
5
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/us/michael-brown-a-bodys-timeline-4-hours-on-a-ferguson-street.html
What some people do to other people is allow their remains to lie in the street for four hours. Among other things.
My point, in case it isn't evident, is that the incident Brooks is wringing his hands over is trivial.
If any of the parties involved want to sue, that is their right. I don't know why the incident merits this much attention, or what anyone thinks they can accomplish by invoking it as some sort of object lesson.
As for the supposedly inconsistent stories Mr. Phillips told, what makes Brooks so sure the reporters quoted him accurately and in context? Why are people so quick to embrace this story?
Maybe it is Mr. Phillips' reputation that is now being destroyed.
9
I'm sorry Mr. Brooks but you have a large megaphone as a columnist but your over reaching about this boys actions just makes you a big reason for these divisions. Your "fiasco" comments don't address why were those boys were there in the first place? They weren't wearing MAGA hats because their heads were cold. They were making a statement. The supposed adults chaperoning those students should be ashamed of themselves. Those boys epitomized what "toxic masculinity" means.
10
At times Mr. Brooks reminds me of a clueless high school principal from an 80's movie. He seems to have no idea what the act of wearing a MAGA hat means in most rural sections of the country, what it has come to stand for among young white men.
The hat is now associated with a message, a sentiment, and a movement. Think about that photo from Wisconsin a while back. Let me give you a clue: it isn't a display of moral values or the SOS flag of the forgotten industrial base. There is so much more going on in this video than meets the effete eye of a man steeped in politics for so long that he has gone blind.
13
@DSM
You are very right. The MAGA hat in itself is a statement to Mr. Phillips - a statement of contempt. "Make America great again" means LITERALLY get brown people out of here.
5
As Andrew Gillam said of Ron DeSantis, "I’m not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist. I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist." Wearing a MAGA hat at "right to life" sends a message that invites the interpretation that many have put on the actions of the students from Kentucky.
8
These children behaved horribly. I am not much of a believer in so-called "white privilege." A young, fit boy stood in front of an elderly man and barred his way. He didn't have a gun. He didn't fling insults. He had a drum. I don't care if he was Fred Phelps. I don't care if he was wrong or right. I do not think the young man is a spawn of Satan, but he did not learn respect at home and no one seems to know that. If he had been my son, I would be ashamed of us both.
10
That boy. So childish of him. But...he's a child!
We should not make a national issue out of the behavior of a teenager. They are all jerks, every last one, if you catch them at the right time. They may or may not grow up to be saints, but when young, every last one of us has been a jerk.
What I personally have done at that age is SO much worse, that's a fact. Thank god there were no cameras around. Things were better that way, 50 years ago, no cameras then.
I weep for America, going into paroxysms of anger at the antics of a kid.
People are arguing about what is appropriate adult behavior. That is a separate issue. That child did not display appropriate adult behavior. Agreed. How do you teach a child that has misbehaved? You can do many things, but NOT turn him into a national figure; the purpose of doing that is to satisfy OTHERS, it has nothing at all to do with educating the boy, rather it is using him to make a point, and to me that's not exactly fair.
5
NY Times once published a study about emotional intelligence which showed that people with high EQs could guess a person's emotional state by looking at their eyes. I scored surprisingly high on it and what I see in this boy's eyes is contempt. The smile confirms it. I hope the college admissions committees evaluating these students for admission take their behavior during this episode into account.
5
There is more than enough blame attaching to the boys too. They did a lot of negative things, hatchet chops and other racist motions and calls. They are not innocent victims in this.
6
Can’t wait to read Mt Brooks’ defense of the Covington students who appeared in black face at sporting events and how they are victims of political polarization.
9
Maybe if legal charges would start being brought against journalists and media for false reports and slander, and actually start charging them for it, then they might start actually reporting facts rather then destroying lives with lies all for the sake of ratings.
6
Choose your friends. Choose a school. Choose a hat. Choose a seat on the bus. Choose to stay put. Choose that space between a smile and nothing. Choose a PR firm. Choose Life.
1
Yes. David Brooks's message is correct.
What disheartens me the most is that the President's red MAGA icon is a symbol for white supremacy, white nationalism.
This is the President of the United States! His symbol incites racial division and hatred.
2
David, David, David,
Ok, one lone man beating a drum surrounded by smirking, chopping, laughing boys. That is a gang, he is solo. What is fair about that? I thought D.B. was starting to come around, but no, he is still the conservative apologist he always was.
7
Why did I even BOTHER to read Dave Brooks' hand-wringing cry for fairness and civility when it comes to these poor, angelic
Brett Kavanaugh prototypes ?!
10
Unfortunately these boys will continue to be victimized by leftists no matter how benign their actions were. Old-school classical liberals like myself, who pursue truth over emotional reasoning, will continue to part with the current Left as long as liberal mobs victimize innocent people like this. What the media did to these boys is disgusting. Thank you Mr. Brooks for setting the facts straight. It’s too bad your readers will be unable to process truth that counters their ideology.
7
I don't know .... You are in a strange city that does not have midwest sensibilities. Someone there is hassling you and yelling at you aggressively. You can choose to turn the other cheek and walk away, or you can answer and confront the offending individual. This was a group of Catholic school students. They should have turned the other cheek.
3
Mr. Brooks, you write, “I’m hoping that at least a few people start thinking about norms of how decent people should behave on these platforms.” People are bombarded with inaccurate and incomplete information (versus verified reports) and the response is their fault? I’m hoping a few publishers start thinking about journalistic integrity and remember that truthful, complete reporting is more important than being first. I’m sick to death of the “breaking news” syndrome and “you heard it hear first.”
2
Where was all the furor when countless lives were ruined based on stereotypes derived from race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation?? Oh, right. David has defined now as the moment for outrage and concern when drawing conclusions based on race and gender involves white boys.
Where's your outrage for the other lives destroyed David?
3
Lots of conflict and tension happen on the National Mall all the time. It is a place where drastically divergent opinions are expressed, sometimes in less than civil ways. But the image of the smug teenager staring down an elderly man with a smirk on his face is entirely separate from the larger context of the most recent event. It was shameful. No, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Phillips didn't bang, "his drum in the face of one of the boys." Looks like you only viewed one video yourself. What if that letter Mr. Sandmann had written said, "Dear Mr. Phillips: I want to apologize for my behavior. I disrespected you and I hope you will forgive me." But his "humane" letter was just a ridiculous justification for his shameful behavior. You ignore that look, that smirk, the condescension in his eyes. And you're just another adult who has given credence to his awful behavior.
9
David Brooks, I've watched the full video. I don't understand what happened that gave the Covington students the right to taunt and mock Nathan Phillips. I just can't understand why you are letting them off the hook.
They behaved like junior thugs. There can be no excuse for that. I thought you were committed to morality in public life.
I graduated from a Catholic high school, and I am deeply ashamed of these kids.
10
Regardless of the actual intentions of the boys from the Catholic high school, what charitable purpose could there possibly be in wearing MAGA hats to this event other than a display of defiance and provocation?
6
Combing through these (mostly) cheers for mob justice, I had a sudden revelation. This incident has nothing to do with civil rights and everything to do with the State.
I believe most Americans now believe that our civil rights are granted at the pleasure of the State - the "inalienable" is gone. The path to freedom/bondage is surrender to the State. We surrender our lives, our labor, our children, our babies, our conscience. Even mob justice is permitted on occassion.
For those whose choices are currently promoted by the State, beware that these choices can be taken away with a whisper. Today all of us can have our voices silenced and personal welfare taken away with a single word.
I once witnessed a minority, transgendered individual being attacked by a group that aligns with the politcal left. Intersectionality was no match for incorrect political opinions, and her voice and personal welfare were taken with one word and one punch. And yes, right wing mobs can inflict mayem and cannibalize their own.
If Jesus were here among us, he would submit to the government, but remain faithful to the truth, even unto death. More importantly, he would be washing feet - the feet of the Black Hebrew Israelites, the feet of the Native Peoples, and the feet of the Catholic boys.
1
Why is a video of Catholic anti-women's rights teenagers who support Trump mocking an American Indian drummer a nationally newsworthy story? Because the media decided it was. And so we divide the country even further...
And by the way, there were 17 gun-related deaths that day, according to Gun Violence Archive.
4
I read and watched all of the videos available. Sorry David. No conservative vindication today. It was awful what was being shouted at these Catholic students by the Israelite groups but what does that have to do with the intimidation shown by this Make America Great Again hat wearing obnoxious, disrespectful spoiled rotten teen? I was taught to always respect my elders. Not these kids today.
6
Pretty crazy to me that the author blames the lack of experience with social media as to why this story was made up instead of writing something along the lines that real journalism is dead. Someone could have easily made up any story on that subject or for example buzzfeed with the dossier or trump telling cohen to lie. Crazy to me. 5 more minutes of research would have solved thew problem.
2
After teaching junior high for 30+ years you learn a lot from the look on a kid's face. Nick Sandmann is the kid that every school teacher dreads, he's intelligent and knows exactly what he can get away with, and on top of that he has parents that will back him up all the way.
So you're thinking, "this guy got all that from one photo?". You'd be surprised how much you "learn" when you teach.
7
Interesting little ditty, but Mr. Brooks, where are you?
Why aren't you opining fiercely, shaming your brother republicans for their totally reprehensible behavior, locking arms with Trump, shutting down the government?
You must be in silent agreement with McConnell.
2
How long until Nick Sandmann is nominated to serve on the Supreme Court? An elite college education, law school, a bit of strategic clerking, feeding at the conservative trough and you're in. That old video? Fake, just like that Ford woman.
6
I see the PR company hired by his parents is doing its job.
9
I take some satisfaction in knowing that Mr. Sandmann’s parents are going to get hit with a bill from their PR firm well into six figures.
5
"In this case the facts happened to support the right-wing tribe".
That's just it---they don't.
5
Here is my small piece of advice to teenagers across the United States: If you don't want to be judged harshly by 60% of the population, I would recommend you leave your MAGA hat at home.
8
Oh, David. Calm down. These boys will end up on the Supreme Court some day if recent events are anything to go by.
6
All you have to do to cut through all the blather is both look at the smirk on the perps face and then look at how his buddies were reacting in the background.
You don't have to have a Master's degree in sociology to recognize what your eyes are seeing.
These retrogrades were clearly enjoining trying to humiliate and provoke a Native American. Why? I don't know.
Were they? What you see is what you get.
6
Every teacher in the world “knows” the expression on this kid’s face. It speaks volumes.
13
How can you possibly justify that young man’s rude disrespectful behavior toward that older man. I attended catholic school for twelve years, and if I had behaved that way, the nuns would have made my life not worth living.
10
How we destroy our own lives today is by behaving badly - as we all do sometimes - and not owning up to it.
Imagine how quickly this all would have died down if the smirking brats had said," you know, this is not what Christ would have done. And we were taught better."
Perhaps the real question is why that didn't happen?
7
It got media attention, so it's entertainment.
3
The kid in background though. Looks can be deceiving but he's about ready to unload.
Chaperones? Chaperones? CHAPERONES?!?
4
Was there a greater context to the original reports of what happened, and is that context relevant to explain what took place? Sure. Should that context have been plumbed more thoroughly before a print deadline? Maybe. Does that context excuse what took place (either by the Hebrew Israelites or by the young high schoolers)? Nope. David Brooks shouldn't pretend that it does.
3
Geez -- reading over so many of these comments, I'm pretty certain that many of you did not even bother to read this article carefully. Brook's point seemed to sail right past. Why? Because you on the left (I am in this number) are becoming just as reactionary as those on the right, jumping on any old band wagon that comes along, as long as it looks good, and reenforces your pre packaged view of the world. Who loves it? Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, Twitter to name just a few.
5
More "bothsiderism" from our resident apologist, pure and simple. Mr. Brooks writes that "In this case the facts happened to support the right-wing tribe. But that’s not the point." No, that is precisely the point. When the "facts" appear to Mr. Brooks to support The Right, they show up in his column. When the facts do not, we get a "good (or bad) people on both sides" fable and upper-crust victims with "ruined lives." I'm sorry. Your president and your party are ruining lives right now -- the Coast Guard and other federal professionals standing in line for free groceries. The tiny children ripped from their mothers' arms and hauled before immigration judges by themselves. People on food stamps calling into our local Catholic charity and sobbing because they're running out of food for their children. I dare you, Mr. Brooks, to get out of your comfortable office, don a disguise, and go among the real America. See what a "ruined life" looks like, up close, before lecturing to us from on high.
6
This entire story is a sad reflection of our "look at me" culture in our country. Both people involved here (the kid and the adult) are liars and grandstanders, pining for attention... let's not give it to them!
When words fail - a picture is worth a thousand words. Take one look at the smirk and decide for yourself what is happening here.
7
The biggest problem is were still talking about an event that had no effect what so ever on our nation in real terms, rather than talking about policies to fix what ails us.
3
Native American gentlemen is presented as 64 years old Vietnam veteran
Treaty ending this war was signed in 1973 between US and north Vietnam
He was 18 when it ended?
6
A good part of the problem here lies with the private school these adolescents are attending. Have you looked at the mascot of Covington Catholic High School? He is a bearded white male in a stetson hat named "Colonel" presumably a "Kentucky Colonel" and presumably a military officer in the confederacy.
Founded in 1925, this private all male parochial school appears to be in thinly vailed aligned with the worship of the "lost cause" of the Confederate States of America, the concept of white supremacy. The school appears to be a part of the move to private education as a means to avoid racial integration.
The behavior of the students from this school does not reflect well on their institution and the failure of any adult chaperones accompanying them to the "right for life march" to intervene in this debacle reflects pretty poorly on the ethos of the institution and the archdiocese to which it is affiliated.
3
The faces of the young men in the picture are not a picture of betrayed innocence. One picture really is worth a thousand words. Have you really looked in earnest at this picture Mr. Brooks? If so, what did you see? I see young men jeering and sniggering. I see disrespect at best. I saw no discomfort whatsoever. The boys could have chosen to walk away if they were uncomfortable with the Native American veteran banging his drum. They didn't.
I will say this, wearing a MAGA hat is in and of itself a statement of standing with an amoral man who made racism, xenophobia, and misogyny the central theme of his campaign. It is hardly a statement of Christian values.
This was no vindication for the conservative right, it was an affirmation of what they embrace. Racism and bigotry.
Mr. Brooks you simply chose to believe the story of the young men, while many of us did not. If you wear your political sentiments on your head, you have made a public statement of your core beliefs. There is no need to stereotype.
12
I greatly admire your concern with the character of our nation, Mr. Brooks, but this is one of those rare times your message contradicts itself.
First, can you not acknowledge that wearing MAGA hats is a statement of racist accomodation, if not outright racism? How is it that anyone is surprised when those targeted by the hats speak back to them?
Second, those boys actually do enjoy a great deal of privilege (as do I). That they feel safe shouting at African Americans (regardless of who started shouting) and mocking Native Americans in that public place proves this. Extreme racism as a byproduct of segregated, Roman Catholic K12 education is extremely well-documented, including by graduates of those institutions. Have you done the necessary homework to write this piece?
Lastly, you are simply jumping on the bandwagon of conservatives who say that because four Black men shouted insults at the youths first, the young men are vindicated and it's all everyone else's fault. So you are taking part in the same sort of wind-chasing, lay-media arguments you claim to oppose.
It's disconcerting to hear grown, African-American men shout at teenagers - but not difficult to understand, given the many MAGA hats (certainly hard for you and I to comment on what that feels like). Yes, the Vietnam Veteran who played the drum walked into the crowd of students (as he said he did). That doesn't mean those teens behaved acceptably, or that they weren't motivated by racism.
6
Joe,
Nathan is the Native American. The student is Nick Sandmann. I must say I do not agree with your statement. The Sandmanns are entitled to support whomever they like. I am glad they support our president as many of us do.
4
Trump is hurting our country.
3
"Our president" is hurting our country and our world.
3
@WPLMMTVThe Sandmamanns are certainly entitled to support whomever they like. But when you advertise that support be ready for some consequences. People who don’t agree with you support are also entitled to let you know wth any words they may know.
The Black Hebrew Israelites are as entitled as the rich Catholics from KENTUCKY.
3
Mr Brooks,
I could not disagree with you more.
While your articles and discussions on PBS are all well appreciated and anticipated, this particular issue is much more complex and disturbing. Your analysis is a bit off.
All of us bare consequences of our actions - the chaperons and the kids should be held responsible for their pitiful, disrespectful and irresponsible behavior. The parents of these kids should be ashamed of the actions of their kids and outraged by the lack of supervisions by the chaperons.
The PR lies of the MAGA boy furthers our fear that he learned disrespect and hate at home. He has no chance and unless someone other than his either of his parents make an effort to turn this boy into a reasonable responsible man, sadly he will earn what he deserves.
There is only one side to this story; its most certainly not two sided, and its a very disturbing snapshot of the current state of our country.
8
I was thinking earlier that the boy smirking at the native American elder may regret it someday. All of it part of Trump's poison.
5
Why are you leaping to the boys' defense? Yes, people were quick to judge, but as more information became available, it was clear that there was no one party that was completely "innocent." At a minimum, the boys were rude and disrespectful. They were no angels and the facts do not support the "right wing tribe."
5
I am still wondering why the MAGA hats and TRUMP sweatshirts. I saw several versions of this story via video and saw two interviews with Mr. Philips. Behaviors aside...I understand the students were taken aback by the slurs hurled at them by the Black Hebrew Israelites. As a more mature person I would have ignored them but I don't expect that level of maturity from adolescents. I also don't expect the flaunting of headwear that for some would be considered a micro aggression due to what it stands for. Xenophobia, racism, a definite relationship to a specific political tribe.
Mr. Brooks is right on the money about the technology we need to navigate and the failure to disengage from stereotype. I immediately thought of Brett Kavanaugh when I saw those young boys. Shame on me but yeah, I went right to entitled white privilege v the dignity of a Native American elder.
I read the "student's statement"
Or, should I say, I read some PR person's idea of what to say in order to not besmirch somebody's college prospects.
I have a suggestion for MAGAhat boy:
Bob Jones University.
You'd fit RIGHT in.
6
@rrr I suggested Liberty U only because I had forgotten about the Jones guy.
3
People can learn a thing or two from Dale Carnegie's books.
1
Stay calm, read on. Or in Mr. Brooks' case, stay calm and investigate a bit more thoroughly. I thought it was a timely and useful essay.
Could have done without the super hackneyed Mars reference though. If I were overly serious, which I am not, I could be insulted. Suggestion being that if you missed the latest media madness, you are a lesser citizen. Isn't the madness what is being warned about?
When I saw the initial post, I started googling. Not one person of color on the faculty. A mere pittance of students of color on the football team and none on the track team. The mascot--the "Colonels." Clearly a sports powerhouse and place of privilege and "Southern" pride. These days, outside of perhaps a few sports, usually means recruiting those whose parents have time and money to invest in their children's sports. Now the videos have surfaced of students wearing blackface at sporting events. This school needs to look at itself, regardless of what the actual events were. PS: Since Trump is pro-death penalty, how is wearing MAGA hats in accordance with church teaching?
6
Why anyone would believe ANYTHING on Twitter is beyond me. In between the bots and trolls are those waiting to pounce. One wrong word or one misinterpreted phrase and your whole life is ruined. Why even use something so risky with so little reward?
5
There are two sides to this story but David Brooks favors Nick Sandman. The boy is a teenager and so deserves part of a pass but let's hope the high school does sit him down and explain why it's wrong to get in the face of an older man.
And yes the boy's red hat does play a vital part in this. It is truly sad that these young boys support what is going on in the White House. Marching in a pro life rally is fine. Making it political with the Trump hats is not.
I taught in Catholic schools and know the world of good the Church has done and continues to fo around the world.
3
I have watched several of the videos being shared. Bottom line: I remain horrified by the mob-like behavior of the Covington boys--including that one who stripped down to perform a mockery of the Maori Haka--aggressively mocking Nathan Phillips who alone demonstrated his humanity with that song and steadfast even as he was surrounded by those youth wearing the Red hat symbols of Racial Intolerance that have become a signature of this terrible Age of Trump.
6
It is Trump's poisonous brew in our country's system.
3
This again is a consequence of what drives us. Greed in the social media age is down to eyeballs and 'likes'. We all seem to be driven to amass likes or loves or wows and there is a reason, the more hits you get, the more you get paid by advertisers. Truth, ahhh who cares!
Once the facet presented appeals to your bias, and ironically the worse it looks the better, it goes viral. Particularly with videos that has edited any context or lead up or ending, it looks like naked truth and our trigger happy thumb has pressed the forward button before the pixel has dried!
Here is a suggestion for tech companies and social media apps. When forwarding is pressed, ask a few questions to establish truth. Can you vouch if this video/content has not been edited or altered in any way? Were you present at the incident and does it convey the truth? Can you vouch for its authenticity and completeness? If a single No appears, then either disallow forwarding or mark the forwarded message as Not verified to be true or altered or suspect.
Social media purports to convey news without any editorial oversight. And the public is often ignorant about fact checking and the effort involved, or could not care less. If technology can change our behavior one way, why not to a better way?
1
These boys were not afraid or attempting to diffuse the situation. Are they racist? Who knows? But what's clear is these spoiled, self-entitled teens have the same problem as every other spoiled, self-entitled teen. They've never suffered hardship and have never had to work for anything.
If you were raised right, if you've ever worked to serve your country and your community, you know not to disrespect an elder. If this kid was honestly trying to diffuse the situation, he would have simply stepped aside and allowed Mr. Philips to pass. Since when is standing nose to nose with someone going to diffuse anything?
Now, should these kids be expelled from their school for simply being disrespectful? I don't think so. I agree there were mitigating circumstances. Being called the most horrible names can cause people to act out of character.
But don't lie and say you felt threatened by an old Indian man, singing and pounding his drum. The parents and chaperones need to step forward and lead by example here, since they failed so miserably this weekend.
Lastly, people sending death threats and other harassment should be found, arrested and prosecuted. No one involved in this incident did anything worthy of death threats.
1
The boys' parents sent them to the Mall to make political statements. What did they expect? No one would make a statement back?
2
Brooks finally takes a stand. And he declares the "red tribe" correct and vindicated.
Color me astonished?
Not really. He is a red guy. He will always be a red guy. trump is OK with him if he can stay on the red reservation.
"Thou doest protest too much!",Mr. Brooks.
3
The video of the boys feigning tomahawk chops and banging imaginary drums while dancing mockingly wearing their MAGA baseball caps screams reverential and respectful behavior. Look, kids can do really stupid and hurtful things, taunting kids and adults. We have all witnessed this and maybe some have even engaged in it as children. Wearing MAGA baseball caps and other MAGA gear is making a highly provocative statement that offends at least half of Americans. Why were these kids representing their Catholic school permitted to wear these hats while attending a large anti abortion public rally in DC? Regardless of Mr. Philip's contradictory accounts, these kids were behaving offensively and their racist head gear just exacerbated the situation. And where were the adult chaperones?
There was a report of a PR firm being engaged to represent these students and perhaps the school. It is not clear whether this is truth or fiction. If a PR firm was indeed hired, was the "humane" letter from the smirking teen influenced in part or written entirely by that firm? The presence of a PR firm would certainly raise all sorts of suspicions as their job would be to control a narrative and create empathy for their client even if that means planting seeds of doubt regarding the motives and actions of others. Did Mr, Brooks fall prey to right wing manipulation of this story not unlike the liberals he is shaming for rushing to condemn anyone or group appearing to support Trump?
5
@Jeff
Isn't it astounding? These high schools kids, who should be doing their their homework, are instead weighing in on the reproductive rights of adult women, and, after getting themselves in trouble, they will now -- allegedly -- be represented by a public relations firm.
I hope that last bit is false. I don't know what picture of the world a child raised this way could have.
1
Just to be clear, I hate Trump, support Roe etc, however I find the liberal rage about this incident sad. You may hate MAGA hats, but last time I looked political speech was protected by the constitution. You may not like the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion but freedom of religion is still the law of the land. You may think Catholic schools are the province of bigots but Nancy Pelosi graduated from one. (Incidently a great high school. It is located in the center of Baltimore. Occasionally referred to as Notre Dame in the Alley. Students are not necessarily privileged) When we make assumptions about a person's worth based on whether their beliefs align with our own we undermine the social contract.
Finally I will say that I am thankful that there is no video record of the dumb things I said and did when I was fifteen or last week for that matter. Few of us are saints every moment of our lives.
5
I suspect that Nathan Phillips life is no more "destroyed" than Brett Kavanaugh's.
4
Perhaps everyone is wrong, for different reasons, including Mr. Brooks? And how those kids ended up in the middle of this is beyond belief. It never should have happened.
If the kid stared down the Black Israelite, I suspect it would have been more than a drum beating he would have received.
1
Did you even realize how ignorant the title of your opinion piece is? This young man's life is not destroyed. He made many choices, including to be at a march against women's reproductive rights, and to act in a way that can be called rude and disrespectful at best to an elder Native American man. Which let's be clear is exactly what he was doing. The fact that there was another group there hurling rude comments at the kids doesn't change that. Do you really think him facing the consequences of his choices is unfair to him?
People's lives truly are destroyed when they are the victims of racism, police violence, injustice, sexual assault, all things that the man they wear those hats in tribute to, supports and teaches through his words and actions every day.
7
I wonder if any of these kids from this Catholic school in KY and wearing their MAGA hats in support of Trump wonder what it feels like to be accused of stoking hatred and bigotry.
While Brooks makes a good argument here about social media jumping to conclusions, don’t these kids wonder about Trump’s exhorting followers like them to:
1. Deny the birth citizenship of President Obama.
2. Mimic a disabled reporter.
3. Falsely encouraging supporters like them to lock up political opponents.
4. Falsely claiming that Muslims across the river in New Jersey were cheering 9/11.
5. False accusations of Mexicans as rapists.
6. Falsely accusing our intelligence agencies of wrongdoing.
The list goes on and on and no doubt, Robert Mueller’s report verifying some of the estimated 8,000 lies told by this president to date will be just as astonishing as the above.
These kids need to take some serious civics lessons and we all need to be more watchful in thinking critically about uses of social media.
6
It appears the massive spreading of the video was from a fake Twitter account emanating out of Brazil. The account is one that tweets political stuff 130 times per day at both sides...looks like another failure of Twitter to control foreign (or domestic) digital terrorists and the usual inability for the media to understand what they are actually dealing with.
3
This really is a sad column. It starts out saying that Mr. Phillips "told two stories" as if they are contradictory. They aren't really. Mr. Phillips explained on TV that he saw the Catholic school kids number grow from a few to many. He explained he was worried about the large number of MAGA wearing White boys, and thought he needed to get away. He then saw what he thought was those boys engaging with four African-Americans, and thought they were endangering them, so he stepped in. He was actually performing a Native American prayer, as he explained on TV, in an effort to diffuse the situation.
Mr. Brooks uses this premise to claim that the whole thing was a result of the four African Americans "viciousness," and the MAGA wearing boys are essentially innocent. There is no mention of them taunting a young woman on video, nor the claim that the boys taunted the four African Americans to start them going. There is also a video circulating on YouTube, showing some students from this high school in black face cheering when their basketball team played a team with Black players. They reportedly hurled racial insults there, too
5
At first I was shocked because as someone who was raised Catholic, attending a Catholic grade school, high school and university, I could not imagine any of my classmates presuming such superiority over someone they had just encountered on the street who looked less “privileged” than them. I wondered whether Catholic education had really changed so much - so that now behavior like this is acceptable?
But then I read the articles about the Covington, KY parents and community “circling the wagons” and the parents of the lead smirking boy hiring a PR firm... now I suspect that it’s not so much that Catholic education has changed... but the congregation has changed. When I grew up we still spoke respectfully about JFK and MLK, Jr. But the Catholic families I know have increasingly (and rabidly) swung toward Trump. I would be surprised if these families even know or care care much what the Pope or the Catholic Church are teaching... sure they oppose abortion... but they don’t have much use for the rest of the Church’s teachings (“love thy neighbor”, “turn the other cheek”, “do unto others,” etc.) they are just there for the echo chamber of MAGA.
7
I'm astounded by these comments; here are a few more.
I'm puzzled that so many students were wearing Trump hats.
During the primaries Trump admitted being a serial abuser of women; actually bragged about it.
He has displayed racism in his dealings with people of color as a building owner, during the 'harlem 5' incident and as president.
He demonizes the migrants at our southern border, lying when he calls them 'rapists, drug dealers' etc. 2 people have died, and many chidden are separated from their families. His lack of concern for others has percolated thru the entire immigration system.
Trump has displayed, even been proud of, thoughts and actions which run counter to basic christianity. I'm surprised that a catholic school would allow students to wear those Trump hats. Perhaps, like the white evangelicals, their religion is 'a la carte' - choose the items you like, forget the rest.
I'm still wondering about:
Feed the hungry.
House the homeless.
Clothe the naked.
Thou shalt not lie, steal, or kill -
And I'm sorry, but that student got in the personal space of that drummer, his 'innocent' face frozen not n a smile but a smirk.
It's true 'a la carte' - 1 from column A, 2 from column B
7
Least egregious? Why? There is no point in which that type of behavior should be condoned and or supported. You have no idea of actually what you are supporting.
What school have you attended where you would be allowed as high schooler on a field trip to display that type of behavior? It is bad behavior. Is this how you suggest that young people best express their disapproval?
It has barely been a week since the "Gillette" commercial aired asking essentially is this the best that you can do as men. Is this the best you can do and hope for...that young people aren't too boorish and too toxic?
4
A common defense of the accused is to accused the accuser of the same offense then depending on the circumstances claim next to sainthood. Mr Brooks would have us believe that theses kids (minors on dispatch some wearing MAGA hats and an associated grin) were all, what, choir boys. That defense reeks of (now unfortunately by virtue of deceit) Justice Kavanaugh's defense. Just choir boys. Sure. The main kid in question would have us believe he was internally praying as he was staring down the native American man. Well, maybe you believe that, but I have my doubts.
4
Wow! Finally someone in the industry trying to bring respect back to journalism and disavow fake news. You Mr. Brooks are a much needed breath of fresh air. Sadly this story may not win you accolades and advance your career because it most likely will not go viral on social media but it should. I thank you for doing your job and doing it well. The things that hate group said to the African American Covington student are beyond reprehensible, disgusting, and completely indefensible. Incredulously they were adults and until now given a hall pass by the press.
4
Mr. Brooks,
Your assimilation of the numerous accounts, the temporal state of the scene over two hours, and the actors involved, the ostensible Hebrew Israelites, the Roman Catholic contingent, and a man with a drum, is not your best writing act.
The Atlantic posts at least three different video streams and interpretations to support one hypothesis and there are others that support different hypothesis, however, it is a fools errand to assert that just one hypothesis is conclusory.
Keep workin' it Mr. Brooks, but loosen up a bit and drop the claim of pivot point, we are not there and likely never will be.
2
What is the purpose and meaning of this piece of writing ?
I will never understand, coming from Europe, this American culture of "opinion " . Who started this , who started that ?
How does it look ? How do the appearances make you think.
it is all about self and reflexivity of a behaviorist psychology that is outdated since about 100 years.
Still more than 2000 comments of each side showing its vision of the event according to its ideology.
1
@JPH
Knowing how appearances influence people to think is how some of the biggest fortunes are made.
So of course it matters.
I was one of those vacationing on Mars (actually in the north NH woods), blissfully cut off from the outside world, so heard of this only 4 days after the event. I never had a visceral reaction to the video. From that perspective, the initial media and individual responses to it just seem so ... silly, or absurd. But it's not. Such us-vs-them reactions to every bit of click/culture bait are tearing us apart. Brooks is right to point a finger at social media, and other MSM that follow its lead. This is a teachable moment, one we will hopefully learn from.
I don’t have much to add except my full agreement with most of these comments. I am astounded at what a well connected PR firm can do. The one kid is going to be on the Today show tomorrow. He is a kid. Where were the adults? And the Instagram video of that same group hassling a young woman walking by- who are these kids? And that picture of them painted black in a 2011 basketball game with a team with black players.
I know I am repeating other commenters. It seems like it takes a lot of voices to drown out a PR firm. I am learning about MAGA hats and teenagers. And I had no idea that busloads of boys from Catholic boys’ schools were bussed to anti-abortion rallies.
And of course my president ( legally he is my president) has to throw in his 2 cents. I believe what I see over some PR firm that insists on calling the Native American marcher a “protester”. That letter was not written by a kid.
5
That smirk. I know it well. That condescension and disrespect for anyone perceived as less than you. I know it, too. I know boys just like these so, so well. I grew up with them, went to high school with them, lived in neighborhoods with them, went to parish school of religion with them, and attended college with them. I know that smirk, that wild I'll-do-whatever-I-want energy. I am quite familiar with how groups of boys yell insults in crowds and chant obscene and disrespectful things at sports games, as a mob. But I'm not a child anymore. I am a mother of a preschooler now. If my son ever behaved like this I would place the blame squarely where it belongs - on him. My son turns out to be a disrespectful, hateful, entitled smirking brat over my dead body.
4
I have walked through New York City, especially on 7th Avenue and seen the same group of Black Hebrew Israelites prostlitizing. But you move on and really not engage. I realize in this video this group was more verbally aggressive than what I have seen, but that is how N.Y.C tempers people. Here, you had adolescents who needed direction from level-headed adults, which obviously was not given. In fact the opposite direction to verbally engage that group was approved. That approval removed intelligent restraints on what became an adolescent mob. When the Indigenous Peoples group entered, the xenophobic and mock Indian war chants began. Finally one teenager felt empowered enough by his fellow schoolmates to engage an elderly Native American in a stand-off. Instead of moving out of his way as any individual would do if not backed up by a mob, he blocked that man's path. The MAGA hats worn by many of the teens are now just the present day incarnation of the brown shirts of the 1930's.
5
I couldn't watch for more than a few minutes. I'm surprised Abe Lincoln didn't get up from his chair and run away. How embarrassing humanity has become; not a single brain cell on display there.
2
I don't see anyone whose life is destroyed. I see at least one young man who will grow up not only without regret or shame -- being so vindicated in the public square, he'll be self-satisfied, impervious and confrontational. He'll learn to get his way by throwing elbows and demeaning people and playing victim to the nearest Daddy figure when his aggravations provoke response. He'll be the boss your decent child hates to work for.
What I see is another little Kavanaugh being born. Destroyed? No. I think he's going to have a wonderful life, at the expense of others around him.
5
The problem is the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other established media outlets all published a story bending toward the narrative of "Catholic school boys in MAGA hats mock and taunt and Native American elder." All the early reports included the same video with the now iconic image of the two individuals facing off. I know because I checked multiple sources, as one is advised to do, before forming an opinion. Then, I found out about the other videos which enlarged my perspective and added much-needed context. This was a media pile-on before it became a social-media pile on. The failure was systemic and on multiple levels.
In truth, Mel Brooks couldn't have written a more comical bit than this cultural car crash that occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In hindsight, it's all quite absurd, isn't it?
This incident and the media and social media brouhaha that followed might best be read as a parody of ourselves. It's all just foolishness.
3
I'm absolutely shocked at how many commenters here don't think that the full video completely vindicates the Catholic school kids. I'm pro-choice and generally liberal and I absolutely despise Trump. So I'm not the kind of person who would normally sympathize with the Catholic kids in this case.
But if a group of men were shouting racist slurs at me and calling me all sorts of horrible names as happened to those Catholic boys, I would have handled it a lot worse than they did. Believe me. And is it so crazy and wrong that they responded to racist slurs with a raucous school chant? I think the boys kept their cool pretty well, all things considered.
And then this old man beating a drum comes up to them like they're the problem? And tries to walk his way right through them? And then, afterwards, he lies on TV about what happened?
These boys are owed a huge apology from very many people. It's as clear as day.
522
@Dave As a conservative it's refreshing to see that my counterparts on the other end of the spectrum can still have a sense of objective fairness, decency and common sense. Thank you for your answer. I hope to retain mine if the political situations were reversed. I also agree that a mob of prepubescent teens could TOTALLY have responded worse, even as they were wronged. They handled themselves quite well all things considered.
52
@Dave
Please. Watch the video for what actual adults do when the Black Israelite bigots with their posters and microphone get-up holler sexist and racist slurs at them : they walk away. They don't engage, do chants, take off their shirts or scream back.
An old guy "beating a drum" is NOT a threat. Good God- maybe we need to bring back the draft if these guys are this fragile in our democracy. And Mama calling a PR firm? Wow.
101
@Dave I'm not entirely sure this whole thing isn't stagecraft. I wonder how much they got per hour? By the way, has anybody checked Putin's internet specialist? Because this sure resembles a lot of what we saw prior to the last election. Time to rile the masses - again.
14
I am left-of-center and far from Mr. Brook’s core beliefs. His analysis of this incident is, however, accurate, and best summarized by two of his statements:
“If you want your story to be well placed and if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views — you have to incite social media.”
And:
“The crucial thing is that the nation’s culture is now enmeshed in a new technology that we don’t yet know how to control” - I would say the entire world, not just the nation.
I am not optimistic, however, about this or any other incident being a “pivot point” in human discourse. The human brain is still that of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, the weapons are infinitely more powerful.
3
Regardless of who started the confrontation or who instigated it or who failed to calm it down. All parties here are guilty of the incivility that is slowly eroding our society. Where has our civility gone folks? What happened to mutual respect?
Did a group of white male teenagers really believe that
the sight of them wearing MAGA hats would not provoke a negative reaction from some people? Really? They weren't trying to instigate a reaction? Really?
A group of black male adults hurling insults and racist remarks at a group of teenagers? Are you kidding me?
Were you not the adults in this situation?
An elderly man putting himself in the middle of a heated confrontation, then expects those involved to understand what the beating of the drum was intended to symbolize? Did he verbalize that he was trying to deescalate the situation?
These types of encounters are going to continue in America, and somebody is going to get seriously hurt if we cannot return to civility and mutual respect.
America is burning, and we are all grabbing the bucket marked "Gasoline" instead of the bucket marked "Water".
1
Mr Brooks,
I am called " The Luddite" in my house. I agree with your premise and I argue some of your points along with many others in regard to the negative impact to society from SM . My children have never been without it and are well versed in something that I never saw the value of. That said, I don't share your concern for those "good Christian kids". My children would never go to DC with their school to protest for a cause that was meant deny another persons right to control thier own body. They would not exchange taunts with other protesters who were throwing expletives and slurs at them. They would not see that as safe or the way to react in that situation. I would expect the adults there to take them out of that situation, tell them why it was wrong and not let them engage. My kids are appalled with our current leadership because they do not beleive ideas based in hate and lies, should be followed. I have not told them what to think. They are from a family that values and promotes empathy, integrity and the value in accepting differences as a means to learn from others. They are sad to see peers in MAGA hats expressing and reflecting the values of that group and its leader, and what his ideas represent. There is no excuse for those who support MAGA any more. It's soul is laid bare and hate is its core belief. The MAGA "Christians" should be ashamed for bringing their kids to this anti Christian movement. The drummer was brave, no matter his statements to the press.
2
Brooks: "It’s hard to believe that people are going to continue forever on platforms where they are so cruel to one another."
One Roman citizen overheard speaking to another after they leave the Coliseum 107 A.D. where a handful of Christians were martyred to the lions: "You know Flavius, it's hard to believe that our fellow Romans are going to continue forever coming to this platform where they are so cruel to others."
3
Dear Mr. Brooks,
You might support your point of view by asking the NYTimes to stop referencing ALL social media comments, videos, etc. They are news only in the sense that they are events that have a presence within reality. But most of the time, they do not document events that are newsworthy. Or, if they do, they provide at best a partial, and all too often, a biased (deliberate or otherwise) glimpse of reality. The NYTimes does not ordinarily publish rumors. Videos without context are unsupported rumors.
1
Bravo, David. You're more courageous then the rush-to-judgment crowd who never seem to learn that you can't instantly trust what you see on social media.
2
Children are not entitled to proxy adults. Not even Catholic kids. And not online.
The annual march for life in DC is a political event cloaked as a field trip. Most of the attendees are High School kids. I'm surprised more things don't go wrong.
3
It's time to change this dynamic: "If you want your story to be well placed and if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views — you have to incite social media. The way to do that is to reinforce the prejudices of your readers." And it's the responsibility of media outlets to change the metric of what defines a quality story, and how quality stories should be promoted - i.e. not relying on click-bait stories that will catch fire on social media. Time to reinvent how to encourage and reward quality journalism.
After reading a lot of comments here, I think perhaps the readers are getting the wrong message. I remember watching the video and feeling absolute disdain for this kid. I will now admit that I couldn't have been more wrong. I realize I'm an unknowing participant in these frenzies
The issue here stems from the rush to judgment of these kids. No one is saying they are perfect angels. Yet, they are still kids, and clearly not the kids the media made them out to be.
What I find the most interesting is how I have not seen a single article or viral condemnation of the the Black Hebrew Israelites. What I did see are a bunch of students, some a bit more amped up than others. I see some of them condemning the homophobic slurs as mean. I see some of them saying to the instigators that homosexuals are people too, and I also see some jumping up and down in a rowdy way and even mocking with tomahawk sports cheers. It's really not so black and white.
The greater issue here is not whether or not these kids made any mistakes at all, but rather the characterization of these kids as representative of pure evil. Yes, they were at a pro life march, but saying that is backpedaling, without admitting that perhaps it was a mistake to jump to conclusions. There is plenty of evil and hate towards minorities in this country, but this video is not an example of that. They weren't angels, but they definitely showed a lot of restraint. I'm not sure that would always happen as it did.
3
I'm sure the irony of this piece's melodramatic title appearing alongside other items from today's front page ("Supreme Court Revives Ban on Transgender Military Service," "GOP Bill to End Shutdown Draws Protest Over Asylum Restrictions," and "Federal Workers Scramble for Odd Jobs to Make Ends Meet,") isn't lost on other readers. And yet, whose lives have been destroyed here? Ah yes, the young men who for about 24 hours faced criticism and were in danger of facing consequences for their choices. Within a day this young man's parents have a PR firm doing damage control and prominent media figures have accepted their version of events, although every version of this video that we can all see with our own eyes shows these young men behaving poorly. It's now clear that there will be no consequences, but you don't get to gaslight us into doubting our criticism. No, I don't agree with internet commenters who wanted to see these young men's lives "destroyed" and feel disgusted at the thought of anyone sending them death threats, but boy has Mr. Brooks has really missed an opportunity to honestly parse the state of political discourse in our country, and instead uncritically accepted a hired PR firm's spin on this story which, with a chillingly Orwellian disregard for what is plain, paints these young men as innocent victims. I don't think Mr. Brooks is lazy, so I'm going to have to go with disingenuous.
2
It is where we are...what we have become.. divided by hate..
exactly what Trump wants and what other dictators have
wanted..It is a necessary step on the way to dictatorship.
1
Disclaimer: 12 years of Catholic school.
Why on earth would a chaperone let a group of school kids get involved in this situation? If the chaperone had done the right thing and told these kids no, the story never begins. No videos, no story, nothing. Letting them react to the hateful speech of others was very poor guidance and deserving of censure.
3
i'd like the chaperone who allowed the confrontation to step forward and to explain what her reasoning was, if indeed there was such a person.
3
David Brooks at his best on some of the hottest topics: P.C. and P.C. twitter mobs, the dangers of instant communication and interpretation, polarized politics and cultures. The instant P.C. stereotyping and hatred towards the students was appalling. A warning of worse to come?
2
David Brooks' essay make many interesting and salient point about todays technology, it's use and distortions.
The young man, in a stand-off with Mr. Phillips displayed one thing most clearly: Disrespect. A young person should defer to his/her elders. The young man should have moved away and allowed a Vietnam War Veteran, Native American playing tribal music: freedom and space to move.
There is no moral equivalence between MAGA hats and an elder Native American engaged in tribal music.
How responsible was the school for allowing their students to wear MAGA hats at the Lincoln Memorial, or in a diverse city such as DC? Wearing the hats is a tone deaf gesture in these woeful times of racism and national division.
Common decency, respect and politeness shown to our elders, go further than tomahawk chops and school cheers.
To the young man in the video smiling and blocking Mr. Phillips:
This image will follow you into your future, grin and all. Fair or not, that is the way it is in today's society. More than half of the country will look at that video as an emblem of everything that is wrong with our country under Trump's presidency: blatant racism, sexism, intolerance, populism, and a complete lack of decency towards others.
5
Mr. Brooks,
With all due respect, your piece seems only half done.
It seems the elephant-in-the-room question that begs to be asked (and answered): When Will it ever become acceptable to question, doubt, or critique the likes, say, a group of high-school students showing rather thoughtless (in my view) vehement blind support of politics that are at the very least: Complex, if not vastly more so, and deserving much more than jaunty, smug antics on the public square.
While I would certainly not engage in vilifying or demeaning, these kids, nor anyone for that matter expressing their views (as is the standard so often proffered and exemplified by our Executive)
... but, what is to be done?
There seems no real public discourse.
The combat over "ideas", if you can even dignify to that degree, amongst our political Leadership leaves us all mis-represented. And "Social Media" has proven to well-inadequate as a medium of actual discussion and leaves us all, essentially, un-represented.
This is a very complex time we are living in and the saddest aspect for me is all the rage, hate and animosity all round where we are unable to see people as people but as part of an group.
I experienced this just this weekend at the woman’s march in Calgary, Alberta. We were marching to city hall and had to cross between a group of protesters wearing ‘yellow jackets’ like the France protesters. These yellow jacket folks were protesting a hodgepodge of things: our prime minister Justin Trudeau (yelling he was treasonous); immigrants (yelling they should go home); and yelling the copycat Trump slogan “Make Canada Great Again”. Then there were big rig trucks going slowly on the street honking their horns and revving up their mufferless motors protesting the lack of oil pipelines. And then there were the woman chanting “human rights are women’s rights”.
It was a bit crazy to say the least so I can’t imagine what it was like for those kids and indigenous elders with the hate group yelling around them. It gets confusing in the heat of the moment.
There's a sad irony in adults busing teenage boys to the nation's capital in order to protest against a womans right to chose. Let's conflate being a "pro lifer" with rowdy school cheers while wearing a MAGA hat? After all, a big part of MAGA' s appeal is Trump's immigration policy of separating brown children from their parents at our border and locking them within chain link enclosures. Brooks should know better than to trot out his suburban, white Christian apologetics, this time. The PR spin is always to blame shift, claiming the need for civil decorum while directly aiming criticism at anyone of color or who is less privileged.
2
The boys in the video were NOT respectful, putting themselves between factions. Watch the boys in the background. They were hooting and laughing derisively.
The boy in front of Mr. Phillips did not look friendly. He was too close to the person he was mutely staring at and he was wearing a MAGA cap (as were his pals): not the best badge of inclusiveness!
And where were the chaperones, anyway?
2
The Chaperones failed miserably by not intervening so much earlier. Even allowing these students to engage with the Israelites with their school cheer was a mistake. Instead of finding blame - and there is plenty of blame to go around - much as President Trump said but different, there were bad people on all sides - ot would be refreshing if the Church, the School, the Media and even the politicians who now claim they "Are proud to represent" these rich entitled kids" would be willing to admit we are in fact at a breaking point. It is a grim future these kids hold.
I know how we destroy lives today. By not demanding the immediate removal from office of a President who shuts down the government and overturns the fragile laws designed to protect our even more fragile environment.
3
I think social media and the 24 hour cable news cycle have greatly harmed society. I got more information from 22 minutes of Walter Cronkite than I do from 24 hours of CNN. All the news divisions have gutted the news gathering divisions and present blathering talking heads. And don’t even get me started on social media.
1
The real lesson from this dust-up is in the "MAGA" hats, which demonstrate that the Democratic message is not popular among a substantial proportion of the population, rejected by more than just a fringe of crazy die-hard right-wingers.
Where they got those hats I don't know (probably from a souvenir vendor in D.C.), but the fact that a group of middle-class teen-agers decided hat it was "cool" to wear them is not a sign that they are brainwashed evil frat boys, as stereotyped by many commenters, but a warning that the Democratic message is not popular in the hinterlands, and not just among the uneducated unwashed, and in spite of, and not because of, Trump's boorishness.
Whatever Trump's eventual fate, the left will continue to be on the outs with voters unless it acknowledges the concerns of flyover country and stops labeling all policy differences and opponents as racist, homophobic, misogynistic, paternalistic, or worse. Solid evidence of this conclusion is in the devastating losses by Democratic state and local office-holders in state after state where, in the last ten years and long before Trump, the Democratic party has been all but wiped out.
3
This writer couldn't be more superficial and therefore more wrong in his thinking. Yes, media images definitely inspire quick judgement based on social typing or whatever term the guy used, and that's unfair to individuals. I'm in a mixed relationship myself, (I'm the white one here) and it got pretty heated when I tried to point this out to my wife. And the fact is that she did jump to the wrong conclusion if you ask me. But the deeper, more powerful fact is that she jumped to that conclusion because the image ramified throughout her own experience- for example,when she was a six year old girl, some old biddy told her "This Walmart is only for white people" 35 years ago, and that still burns inside her. Nothing like that has ever happened to me, nor anything even close. And, believe me, that is a true bonfide factual social issue. And this writer displays a distinct lack of emapthy when he describes it as anything else.
1
There's no "rush to judgment" when you see someone in public wearing a MAGA hat. Two years into Trump's presidency there is no way to assume that the wearer is simply nostalgic for the Normann Rockwell's America. The act of wearing that is that of political tribalism (jingoistic, xenophobic, and intolerant) and of defiance (whatchagonnadoaboutism). The extra data (all-male Catholic pupils marching against other people reproductive rights) fits perfectly on that curve. The fact that, when confronted by unhinged members of a fringe religious sect, the students happily engaged in a shouting match ("trying to drown out" the opposition) betrays the attitude of a defiant mob. Absence of deference to the Native American Elders is also quite in line with the not-so-rush judgment: Catholic Church doctrine is based on obedience and subordination, but not to heathens and savages. So when these student are trying to spin the narrative of confusion and fear, I must admit - I don't buy it. Everything they did speaks to defiant intolerance of everything which is not them.
1
When I attended Catholic schools, we were taught the 10 Commandments (8th of which is “Thou shalt not lie.”) and to conduct oneself in a respectful manner. So, the question is — why would a Catholic school permit its students to wear MAGA attire which says you support Trump when he lies almost every time he opens his mouth? The video clearly shows a Covington youth making a tomahawk chop which, in my opinion, is more egregious than Mr. Phillips’ drum playing. Watching the video, it’s hard to believe there were chaperones present. There is a war on truth in this country and the charge is being led by Trump, much of it being done through tweets. What are the chances he will “start thinking about the norms of how decent people should behave on these platforms?”
3
I think the sentence, "The Covington boys eventually asked their chaperone if they could do their school cheers" comes from Nick Sandmann's letter. I did not watch the very long video on Youtube, just clips. But the only two places I have seen this comment is here and in Sandmann's PR statement. Do you really think the students did that, ask for permission to chant school cheers? And why did the chaperons get involved enough to respond to that question but not to quell the incident? I doubt that it happened and doubt it should be in Brook's piece as fact. It's clear that both Nathan Phillips and Nick Sandmann could have turned and walked away had they wanted to.
2
I haven't read all the comments. Did anybody mention "Rashomon?" In any case, I concluded that Brooks was mostly ranting about the corrosive effects of social media, and I certainly stand with him on that one.
2
I attended Catholic school and have been employed by the diocese of Las Vegas for 20 yrs. No child attending a field trip, sponsored by a Catholic school should be allowed to wear any clothing or hats or buttons that profess one's party affiliation. as other people have written, where were the adults?
7
I'm not a mind-reader. What this appears to have happened, as far as I can see (not project), is that three groups of protesters - the Catholic High School kids, the Black Israelites, and the Native Americans, got into a spitting (euphemism) contest.
Everyone acted aggressively and rudely, and we are now projecting our political views and opinions into what was essentially a contentious, disrespectful convergence of three political factions in a public place.
No one was hit, no one was pushed, no one was threatened and no one got hurt. David is right, albeit not just about the kids. We can't use these people as avatars for our personal or political hostilities. Everyone should have been better behaved - Twitter and Instagram should not be a place where we hang the villain of choice out to dry -- and this incident should be declared "over."
1
Mr. Brooks, have you stopped to consider that your decision to highlight this unfortunate event is, in itself, an example of what you are disparaging? And that the spotlight you are shining might be more fruitfully turned on the real issue of boorish, bullying behavior now so common that is emanating from the top of our government? I take particular offense that you have added "boo" to the descriptors that, believe me, have nothing to do with my reading of this situation. As a parent, I cringe at how badly our young people behave toward elders regardless of race. Disrespect is the real issue here, and I wonder why you cant see that, Mr. Brooks. Our nation has taken a great deal from the Indians. Can we not, at long last, leave this one native man with some vestige of self respect? Or is it important for you, Mr. Brooks, to exploit this old man and his quest to be heard? I am again left to wonder: what is wrong with people like you -- or, rather, what happened to people like you? It's not just that we disagree; it's more about the fact that you and so many other have no respect for anyone who is isn't playing by your Trumped-up rules.
2
I have watched several videos of this event from several different perspectives - those kids did not do one thing wrong, not one thing! They are victims of a "progressive" media and a "progressive" mob. The activist Native Americans approached the kids, and got into the face of the kid that has been so demonized by the mob. The kid was obviously uncomfortable, didn't know what to do so just smiled hoping for it to end.
Those here attacking those kids should be deeply ashamed of themselves, and the "progressive" media should apologize.
6
Trump opened the door to a lot of vicious, negative stuff. There is still the chance that mercy, compassion and lovingkindness can squeeze in.
2
Mr. Brooks, I fully expect a chapter on the upstanding young man Sandmann in future editions of your bestselling book, "The Road to Character."
Which other profiles in courage should we expect in future editions, by the way? How about the men who dumped ketchup, mustard and milk shakes on sit-in protesters in the early 1960's? After all, they were provoked by those college students illegally sitting at their lunch counter. Or the screaming citizens of Little Rock trailing behind the Little Rock Nine? After all, they were provoked by those dark-skinned kids de-segregating their blessed school.
I know, interview the "good people on both sides" of the Charlottesville protests and car attack. That driver was certainly provoked by those marchers illegally marching in the street.
3
Social media reports, okay, we should eventually train ourselves to disbelieve them from day 1 until we get the entire story. You can't contain social media but we can train ourselves how to consume social media.
Now, CNN and other outlets that don't want the 'fake news' label having any credence, they MUST stop this behavior. No excuse for it. They MUST wait for the full story to come out before they public this stuff as gospel. Otherwise you give a lot of credence to the biased media and fake news angles.
First, I recommend that folks quit getting your news from social media. It's most often biased in some manner and unverified. It is not worth your time.
Second, look to the few news sources that seem to limit their op-eds, their use of biased words in their articles, etc. Solid mid-market papers and the Wall Street Journal come to mind.
Third, if you are pursuing the major outlets, read the same story on CNN, Fox, WSJ, NPR, Times, Post and Examiner and you might be able to cobble together the truth.
Fourth, ignore blatantly slanted "news" outlets like Breitbart, Slate, Vox the HuffPo and such. They are op-eds, they are NOT valid news sources.
I don't know if this question has been asked of the school administrators but... why exactly were a bunch of H.S. kids on a school sponsored trip wearing MAGA hats? Does this school sponsor a political agenda? Is that appropriate for a school to do regardless if it's public or private?
2
The chaperones have no power. Kids on school trips pay no attention to the parents/volunteers riding the bus with them. What's a chaperone going to do if a student stands in an adult's way and stares/smirks at him?
2
The story of the story is getting seamier with each revelation.
The go-to that Nick's parents went-to, is none other than political operative/turned commentator/PR man Scott Jennings- a former George W. Bush political appointee.
"Between 2000 and 2003, Jennings directed the political operations for George W. Bush's presidential campaign, Senator Mitch McConnell's reelection campaign, and Ernie Fletcher's gubernatorial campaign." (wikipedia)
Jennings was also involved in the firing of New Mexico US Attorney David Iglesias in 2007.
It appears little Nick has some very heavy hitters going to bat for him. All because he was respectfully praying during a non confrontational eye exchange.
1
Sometimes (well, most of the times) there are no clear good guys or bad guys in Life. A well-meaning person can play a bad part driven by emotions, bad decisions and yes, prejudice. We Humans are always covering for our limbic brains. That said, those boys were disrespectful and careless to say the least. They did nothing to deescalate possible confrontations with older (and much older) people. Their hearts were not in good place, they were out for trouble. Many of us, I believe most of us as kids would simply say "Sorry!" and get the heck out of the way. It's hard to say if that boy was passive-aggressively "standing his ground" or was just frozen, but he seems to had put himself in that position very willingly. As teenagers they are not yet fully equipped to judge their best behavior, but the instincts they were putting in play are scary ones. They seem to be graduating in Bully School, and that was Mob class. Even the young man's public arguments look like an exercise in Trump's style. America keeping this way, he has a future in Politics and this incident will actually make his career.
Brooks' defense reminds me of something George Orwell wrote in "Homage to Catalonia". He was defending the Republican cause in the Spanish civil war-a noble position. He wrote any defense must be based on the values of that cause-what are they fighting for and how do they hope to achieve it. The defense should not depend solely on the recitation of atrocities of the other side. As he wrote, all sides commit atrocities in the heat of war. It is after the war that you must look-it is after the war that the values of the cause can be discerned. In the case of fascism, it became apparent in the institutionalization of those very same atrocities that were committed during the civil war. I suspect the same will be true of Brookes and his merry band of obfuscation-ists.
1
I’ve watched several of these videos and anyone who has raised teenagers knows a smirk when they see one. That said, these are sixteen year old boys with teenage brains. That’s pretty obvious.
Aside from the fact that these kids were in DC for a rally to take away the right of a woman to control her own body; where in the world were their chaperones?
I’ve chaperoned a few school trips in my time and there seemed to be no chaperone with any sort of common sense on this trip.
And aside from all of that, there’s video of these supposedly stellar young men ogling a group of young ladies.
College applications should be very interesting for CovCath students in future. I think that smirk isn’t going to fade from memories to easily.
2
This most recent Brooks essay is a great example of hyperbole and gaslighting. No one's life was destroyed, nor would it have been. Even if Sandmann was expelled, he would have been just fine. The brief moment of fame (shame?) would have passed and he would have still been white, male in a culture that continues to value those qualities above all else.
We recently saw this play out with the Kavanaugh hearings--again, another pearl clutching, crocodile tear shedding display for the poor innocent life being destroyed. Guess what? His life wasn't destroyed, he's now a Supreme Court Justice for life.
If Brooks wants to point out that we might be (over)reacting a little too quickly to stimuli, he should make that point without the dramatics. It just cheapens the real struggle that many people go though on a daily basis (let's start with family separation at the border and continue onto over policing in minority communities leading to disproportionate incarceration which disrupts families and communities.
In the end, don't let Sandmann and his school off too easy because some important facts of the story didn't come out until later. He and they made many poor choices on that day. If there is a real threat that his life may have been destroyed, then he and they dodged a bullet. It's a perfect time for some self reflection. Why were so many people so ready to believe the narrative in the first place? That might be a good place to start.
1
I am late coming to this story and wish that I had not heard about it at all. In a few days it will disappear into the dark haze of our collective angst.
My wife asked me today after I described so many horrors evident in our news whether I could tell her one thing that might lift her spirits. I could not think of anything with the possible exception of the new crop of women elected and aspiring to be president. In this Trump era how miserable we have become.
5
Thank you, David Brooks for leaving the fist fight on the surface and diving into the wreck. But I agree with Heather in San Diego that letting these boys off without acknowledging that their incendiary response contributed to the problem is not right. We are deeply wounded as a culture when we simply do not know how to treat one another not just respectfully but with loving kindness. In such a hateful environment, there is no clear interpretation of intent—and no one is safe.
3
The first two paragraphs are very strong statements and I fully agree with the columnist. The rest of the piece accentuates the points in the wholeness of the controversial events. There may be subsequent news revealed after the publication of this column, (I just don’t know), but I like the flow of his reporting style for its build-up structure. Without his concrete indication in the piece, I sensed also the columnist’s concern about non-professional and casually self-declared local amateur-journalism and its danger. Any photo and video alike, are prone to be commented on by anyone today in a most plausible way. The speed of posting can draw the first-come-attentions. If inflammatory aspects are on, the attention value will become high. Besides, as the column describes, one comment can gather its sympathizers promptly. The divisive comments do quickly the same on the preferable basis of each. If no one seems to be alarmed enough by the phenomenon, we may already live in a social media dystopia. The column’s last paragraph made me, by the way, think how Brooks jumped down from the mervalous first two paragraphs onto this end. The reported event made it in actual twists.
Mr. Brook's analysis of this situation rests upon a huge double standard. He is quick to defend these teens of privilege, going so far as to suggest that their lives may be ruined. I would argue they will be fine, and they will probably incur some benefit in their circles.
Meanwhile people of color regularly have their lives destroyed by false accusations and assumptions. People literally spend their lives in jail for crimes based on false accusations. People get shot and killed because they look suspicious.
Being infamous on social media hardly compares to life imprisonment or death. But, people turn a blind eye to the challenges of people who aren't white and/or privileged.
I do agree that social media amplifies situations, sometimes to negative effect. I agree that people jump to conclusions without complete information. I agree that we should strive for more civility on social media.
13
I've watched both videos. The second, longer one, gave much more context and it changed my opinion from my original one condemning the boys, to raising some unanswered questions. Has anyone asked Mr. Phillips to explain why he gave conflicting stories to the Detroit Free Press and the Washington Post? I'd also like to hear why the chaperones of these boys thought it was OK for them to wear MAGA hats while representing their school.
14
They were in DC for a right to life rally, so expect many who attended the rally had MAGA hats, given the Pence’s alignment with this cause....I question the chaperones for a number of reasons, but not choice of headgear....
2
@TRF
We don't know much do we about Mr. Phillips except that he was a Veteran, a Marine, that he is an advocate for indigenous causes, and that he is elderly?
Apparently Mr. P has no lawyer spinning his inconsistencies like the barely believable Eddie Haskell imitation that Mr. Sandmann performed with his "I was saying a little prayer" in his PR firm's press release. What high schooler doesnt have help "managing perceptions"??
Maybe we should wait until Phillips gets a Kickstarter for his own lawyer and PR firm to judge his story too.
3
Justified moralizing and blaming social media for an act of obvious juvenile immaturity, or a more complex set of random circumstances? We're inclined to believe the latter, for no amount of righteous indignation voiced by Mr. David Brooks will bring us back the peace and civil tranquility which we so sorely miss. Not at this point and time.
1
Give it a rest David. Your little angels were wearing MAGA hats and shirts, all of them and you know what that means
27
Look, I get it, there was likely bad behavior all around. But these were also kids, and for that, they do deserve a modicum more grace and forgiveness than the screaming internet hordes appear willing to concede to them.
I am really frightened by the statement from Mr. Green - "No one need ever forgive him." As a society we have finally started to come around to the idea of forgiveness and mercy (vs. endless and cruel punishment) for criminals, drug abusers, and others who have violated our accepted norms of behavior. Can't we do the same for some 16 year old boys who may have found themselves in a situation way over their collective heads?
12
While Mr. Brooks is right to point out how many people have still not learned to withhold judgment about an event shared via social media until time allows the opportunity for a more complete picture to unfold, he misses and underplays completely the seriousness of the fundamental situation: there were 5 loud and ‘out there’ black protesters, a small group of native Americans with an elderly man at the lead, and a very much larger throng of high school boys, acting like reactive teenagers, at times teetering on the edge of mob mentality and all the volitile potential violence that represents.
In the clips I saw (probably not the whole story) only one adult attempted to move the kids back. How did accompanying adults let things get so out of hand? Hopefully this will be used as a teaching moment when they get back home.
9
Disclaimer: 12 years of Catholic school.
Why on earth would a chaperone let a group of school kids get involved in this situation. If they had done the right thing and tell these kids no, the story never begins. No videos, nothing. Letting them react to the hateful speech of others was very poor guidance and deserving of censure.
17
One thing every observer agrees on: these young men had no idea how to respond to an Indigenous elder with a drum. They appeared to have idea their presiden't temper tantrum over the wall has put their government in default of it's treaty obligations: to put it in simple terms, the US government is defaulting on the rent. Whatever you think of their behaviour, their lack of knowledge has done them a disservice, and the blame for that goes to their educators and to the numerous people in American culture and the American body politic who obviously believe that when it comes to Indigenous issues, and American obligations to the Indigenous nations, ignorance is strength.
16
I am extremely disappointed in the Catholic Church and some prominent Catholics as well for jumping to conclusions about the guilt of these boys. As far as I can tell, none of these boys had ever been in trouble with the law before. Also, they were pro life and from all appearances law abiding pro life Catholics. They did not strike me as being on the wild side. The Church was as guilty as anyone in their condemnation and owe a very sincere apology to these youngsters. I am Catholic and always defend my Church when they are wrongfully accused. Today I am not able to give them this privilege. They must say they are truly sorry and mean it.
6
Then defend the hats. Your Church sanction those?
1
@WPLMMT -- MAGA hats aren't any part of the Catholic church I know, or the Catholic church I sent my daughter to.
MAGA hats are about groping and adultery and hating people who are browner and poorer than you are.
1
As someone who grew up in the area, individual and small groups of zealots, mostly religious, have always populated these tourist- and protester-heavy areas of DC. I saw them as a curiosity, never had any interest in dialogue with them because their's is a one-way channel. I can see how out-of-town high school students might be drawn by the provocative nature of the rants. But Mark knows there was never any real danger of physical harm to the youth--its the most heavily policed spot in the country. The BI are beyond fringe and the 70-year old drummer was hardly a threat. Whats telling to me is that the template for boorish behavior of white boys so quickly moves to a repertoire of racial tropes that mimic the hatreds and prejudices of many adults. That's where an enlightened parent-teacher-priest might step in and provide a little education. I imagine a gathering of a more mixed race high school student body would have produced a more mixed response.
10
I am going to use your letter, if you don't mind, in my media literacy class. It reinforces what I teach: make sure you know the whole story before judging any of the participants in the story, and with social media the game changer of how a news story is pushed sometimes before verification, this article reinforces the need for being rationale, not just emotional.
7
I do not feel these young men did anything wrong.
However, I would like to request they all read "Becoming" and always remember the wise words of its author - "When they go low, we go high".
I bet the good Bishop of Covington would feel better had this admirable philosophy been practiced over Martin Luther King weekend.
6
Nathan Phillips has a large Constitutional right to demonstrate against abortion.
However, he is going about it the wrong way wearing a MAGA hat. I just can't believe that a Catholic, schooled in the catechism of the love of Christ and with a knowledge of the Sixth Commandment of the Catholic Church, "Thou Shall not Commit Adultery " is willing to support an immoral, licentious individual like Donald J. Trump.
Apparently, Nathan, mom and dad, you think that Trump with his decades of grabbing women and trysts with porno girls never came to anything?
The Pro-Lifers using Trump as their stalking horse denigrates themselves, women, and political discourse in general. Hence, this confrontation. One could reasonably assume these young men were spoiling for a fight, regardless of their sanctimonious intentions.
Before I read this article and the quote by Reza Aslan, I thought "Look at his visage and the faces of his comrades. Those punks need a good punch."
These kids fancy themselves privileged individuals, morally superior, and above retribution. The MAGA hats underscore their misguided arrogance.
10
@Joe. You got the wrong guy. Nathan Phillips is the Native-American activist.
@Joe The name, Nathan Phillips, is that of the Native American activist. Nick Sandmann is the name of the Covington Catholic High School student.
1
@Joe
Actually, Nathan Phillips was the Native American elder, not the 16-year-old boy. It's probably best to identify the correct person in your defamation – "These kids fancy themselves privileged individuals, morally superior, and above retribution," – otherwise, innocent people get hurt in the process.
You are coming off a little morally superior and infallible yourself.
1
"Of the major players, the boys’ behavior is probably the least egregious." So, basically, because one group of angry crazy people acted badly, it's OK for another to respond in kind? What happened to "turn the other cheek," Mister Brooks? And if the situation were reversed - if it had been angry white pro-lifers harassing young black men who acted like these kids, would you still feel the same?
9
It’s pretty wild to see how many journalists and other prominent individuals (on Twitter, etc) are ready to self-flagellate and backpedal from telling the truth about the Covington boys in the interest of seeming “reasonable.”
Sometimes snap judgments are correct, especially when they are informed by a long and consistent American tradition – racism and white supremacy. When we see a smirking, laughing, jeering crowd of white boys surrounding a Native American elder, outnumbering him many times over, shouting and hooting... sometimes the spectacle is exactly what it looks like.
If I had no concept of American history, of lynchings attended by smirking white people, of Black schoolchildren being jeered by segregationists, of nonviolent Black civil rights activists being hosed down and chased by dogs, I might believe Mr. Brooks' version of this weekend's events. But context matters.
We don’t need to gaslight ourselves, ignore the uglier aspects of American history, and bend over backwards to give a group of disrespectful Catholic school boys the benefit of the doubt. Racism and this particular brand of white male entitlement are terrible and upsetting enough without the creepy 1984 revisionism and handwringing from the press.
18
The young man did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing! Thank you.
14
@Southern Boy
Surprised your comment made it through the censor. I agree 100%, that young man did nothing wrong and neither did any of the other kids. The same cannot be said of those demonizing those kids.
6
@Southern Boy
"...Hurrah, hurrah, we bring the Jubilee.
Hurrah, hurrah, the Flag that sets you free!
Oh that's the song we sang
from Atlanta to the Sea
While we were marching through Georgia..."
We will again, too, if necessary
MAGA hats are the new tool to tear down our country. Why were the kids even allowed to wear such hats in the first place? Religion is a farce, always has been. MAGA is a hat that surely Christ would have worn for all the good a religious education usually achieves. What it all usually boils down to is, "I'm saved, you're not," I'm better than you. I know what's right, always." Experienced this all my long life. At age six, i knew better. Treat your elders with respect. Period.
8
Nice try David. A well intentioned, change the subject piece. Yes, yes...social media is all of these things you describe, yes we are tribal, yes that is not good etc....perhaps there was a liberal “internet mob” ....but there was certainly a Covington High School student mob that came first. And they deserved to be denounced and apologized for by their institutional leaders, not excused by a moralist preacher.
13
Mr. Brooks, who I listen to once a week on my local PBS station should analize the facts: The person who accompanied these "boys" blew it. 2nd, those with the MAGAhouseholdshats learned their philosophy at Home from their "parents", compliments from the "Hater in Chief" 3rd, most are from Wealthy households! Lord help us, for they know not what they do!!!!!
7
There are so many lessons to be learned here.
Perhaps there is a learning moment in all of this.
To begin wth, wearing a MAGA hat is a form of protest. Let's face it, this wasn't just some MLB logo hat even if the young men wearing the hats were ... young?
And if you ever had to chaperon a trip for young people, you know that keeping them on a tight leash can be the difference between a nice trip and calls back home to parents. The boys are not innocent but they are also simply just boys.
And then there were the four members of the Black Hebrew Israelites, how I wish they had adopted a different name, who were clearly taunting the growing group of young men.
And then you have Mr. Phillips, the native American Indian pounding his drum.
So what if we were to simply audio edit out the sounds from the ranting Black Hebrew Israelites and also the raucous chants from the group of Covington boys. What would be left with?
Essentially, a young white student ... still a child, staring (perhaps with a smirk) into the face of an older man who was not banging on any heads, but simply creating a sound of his people.
Boiling this down to just that scene, all I saw was communication, albeit perhaps non-traditional communication. But given that this was taking place in Washington D.C., not too bad for the week for communication.
There was no shoulder or drumstick tap. Instead it was eye to eye contact. And hopefully Mr. Sandmann took something useful away from the conversation.
7
this is entirely true. we're all so committed to our positions we leap to any conclusion that justifies us. it's constant work to try to stay level.
3
Had the video of the encounter between the young men from Covington Catholic Boys School and Mr. Phillips not gone viral, we might not have become aware of the link between Roman Catholic parochial education and American partisan politics. Many of the young men wore Trump’s brand. Red hats declaring “Making America Great Again” were the headwear for numerous Covington students. Does the diocese, the priests and the parents believe Donald Trump is a moral role model for the students to emulate? If Covington needs a role model to enrich the religious education of the students, the diocese, the priests and the parents can surely find an appropriate role model among the Saints of the Roman Catholic Church rather than a contemporary political figure of questionable moral behavior.
20
This young white man is no danger of having his privilege taken away.
13
Chaperones could have prevented this by moving the group away. BUT then the chaperones showed really poor judgment by allowing the kids to wear MAGA hats which are worn to provoke the people viewing them. Not surprised the mother of this kid hired a PR firm to spin his being a jerk into being a victim -- after all, the parents bought the MAGA hat for the kid so the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree when Trump is another smirking jerk just like their son.
Plus -- why are high school kids being bused to an anti-abortion march on a school day? Obviously academics aren't as important to Catholic schools as controlling the reproductive rights of all women.
Disgusting on every level.
15
@Amanda Bonner
It would be interesting to see how big the crowds would be if the Catholic church stopped sponsoring these get-out-of-school junkets.
When I look at that kid, I see a smirking, arrogant, entitled brat. Probably not a coincidence that I see the same when I look at Donald Trump.
24
You know what most normal people would do when walking by 5 Hebrew Israelites spewing invectives? They continue walking.
23
How we really destroy lives today: police kill unarmed sons, brothers, fathers who are Black. David Brooks only cares about rude boys who look like him. And, yeah, sure, that mob of boys was in DC to pray for the unborn. Do you really want them to be in charge of women's reproductive rights? I know Brooks is okay with that. Which is as terrifying as anything else about this story. A story being managed/lied about by a high-end right-wing PR firm. Shame on the media for buying more lies from the people and party that brought you Trump.
23
Welcome to the town square in today's America.
Since these boys took a trip to DC to march in the anti-abortion protest, I assume they had adults accompanying them. So, when they "asked permission" to dance "sports cheers" in response to Group A (I'll call them), where was the adult saying: "No, you can't. This isn't a football game. We need to leave. We don't need to create more confrontation."? That voice was nowhere because they had already come to DC to shout and wear hats and be seen. So, they were seen.
I assume that parents and others will clean this up and keep them in school and ship them off to college. Certainly Liberty University, etc., won't mind, and then in a few years, they can come back and give permission to the next group to march and wear hats and dance sports cheers.
I can't see what breaks the cycle, certainly not me by commenting. Remind me of all the benefits of social media.
6
These boys were waiting for a bus. Where were they to go and how was the bus driver to find them. I assume they were told to stand in this particular spot.
11
@WPLMMT
There dozens of them. they could have walked 100 yards down the mall while the chaperone waitied for the bus at the Lincoln Memorial steps. The entire confrontation could have easily been avoided.
Or- instead of chanting and getting themselves riled up- they could have said The Hail Mary.
2
To those that criticized the boys, then and still now: Admit it, it's the MAGA hat that you hate.
You all let Trump get the best of you.
15
@MM -- a hat is a hat. Even a conical white hood is a conical white hood, and in other circumstances looks like a dunce cap.
But the decision to wear such things is a statement; in this case it's a statement of identification with a groper, a multiple adulterer who committed felonies to keep his adulteries out of the public eye, a defrauder, and to announce that "Making America Great" means hating people who are browner and poorer than these oh-so-privileged Trump-Wannabees-in-Training.
There's nothing "christian" at all in MAGA; it's beyond "deplorable," it's revolting.
Yet another apology for the vile behavior of these spoiled, arrogant baby boys.
10
My unambiguous takeaway? Going forward, every thinking person needs to assume they are being manipulated by moving or still images.
Any half-competent editor know how to add, delete or manipulate an image, or filmstrip, to completely change the narrative. This was more of a group-scam, than from anyone else. Half-truths, mixed with changing narratives, but all based on individual's personal motivations.
It's so important now to keep our emotions in check and especially to not join in when a mob is forming. I've found that, more often than not, if most people are really excited to believe something, there is a huge fallacy at the center of it.
8
Interesting you call the Black Hebrew Israelites a hate cult. Maybe they are, but so are the Southern Baptists. Also that smirk tells all. That must be the same smirk of 'love' that Brett Kavanaugh has when he thinks of the young woman he loved so much (Renate) that he wrote love poems to her in the year book. David, you, yes you, are part of the history of the GOP, who they were, who they are now, and how they got here. The protectors of these smirking boys are also, and the protectors of smirking Kavanaugh as well. Don't scratch your head and wonder how your party has gotten to where it is. Look inward, at the seeds and the seed sowers
12
Funny how our wonderful president hasn't gone to great lengths to express how there were good people on both sides. No, that's only for neo-nazis. In this case, he is quite sure the kids are as white as snow.
3
Perhaps the Black Israelites were incensed by the MAGA hats. Then we can pinpoint where all this hatred comes from. Our president. The one at the top sets the tone.
4
Inaccurate. Hate doesn't stem neatly from a single instigator. The blame game is only worth playing when the goal is to save face. Objectively, everyone involved shares culpability. Where the responsibility lies, however, is on all of us. It's easy to blame Trump, but he didn't actually start anything; he only capitalized on what was already there.
@Patsy - Take a listen to the audio. The Black "Israelites" are incensed at reality, logic, and the very existence of white people. Think Farrakhan but with somehow even less logic. There is no excuse for them. I highly encourage you listen.
2
I absolutely agree with the majority of comments here. I too have watched all the videos and it comes down to no matter what racial slurs and insults were previously slung at these boys, the manner in which they reacted to and treated Phillips is disgusting. There is no denying what is going on in the video showing them doing tomahawk chops and shouting build the wall. The smirk on Nick Sandmann's face does not say he is trying to distill anything. It's pure disrespect. Sure, they were hyped up, immature, and probably running on adrenaline, but they still have to be held accountable. If not, I tremble for the future of our country. If he were my son, I would be deeply ashamed and I certainly wouldn't hire a PR firm to defend him.
19
@janrogers i agree 100%
This is David's way of bashing the left. Funny the title of the piece is "How We Destroy Lives Today." I wish he had gotten this upset over completely false and much more dangerous right wing videos produced by James O'Keefe, or by David Daleiden's Center for Medical Progress, or anything produced by the nut job conspiracist Alex Jones and his InfoWars'.
Staring at someone close in their face while wearing a goofy smile without saying a word is extremely weird, and for those NYT commenters who don't get it, IT'S A PROVOCATION. If it wasn't a provocation the boy or boys should have said something comforting to the Native American drummer to help end the tension. I don't want to hear, "Oh but they're only inexperienced young boys." Really? Weren't they taught good manners and how to behave well with others by their parents? I guess not.
Here's a little test to try out. Walk right up to a complete stranger, stand about a foot or so from them, then stare at them with a disingenuous smile. I have a feeling the stranger will feel confused, threatened and provoked.
11
@Gaston Corteau
"Here's a little test to try out. Walk right up to a complete stranger, stand about a foot or so from them, then stare at them with a disingenuous smile.."
You clearly are misinformed, or didn't take the time to research what happened. The Native American got into the face of the kid, not the other way around. Given the aggressive behavior of the Native American activist the kid did a good job.
4
There is blame to go around, and part of that blame still lies on the shoulders of these teenage boys wearing MAGA hats. What if my high school friends and I were wearing a Nazi flag on our baseball caps in front of a chanting Jew? What if we were wearing a Confederate flag in front of a black gospel choir? What if I was waving the Bible and shouting "You're damned!" in front of a gay couple? Get it? MAGA = Hate/Racism/White Supremacy. So don't go easy on this boys. Their parents, high school, and chaperones should have known better. But what do you expect from Trump followers?
7
Those kids behaved poorly in public, and that's the most generous perspective I can manage. I don't see anything "complicated" about it or "inaccurate" in the initial reports, but then again, I never acted that way in public when I attended all-boys Catholic high school, and I didn't have adults willing to cover for me if I did.
I will make damn sure my kid never acts that way, and if she does, I won't be turn to a right-wing PR firm to spin it, or conservative columnists to justify it.
11
@Pat Blue Ribbon
Those kids did nothing wrong, not one thing.
7
@jaco
If that kid was my kid I would tell him exactly what he did wrong.
2
Whooping and hollering at a small group of annoying strangers in a public place is considered par for the course where you come from?
15 years ago I taught high school in Charlottesville, and I had this one student - a girl - who used to have that exact same smug look on her face when she got called out on her bad behavior, and no matter what, her father backed her up, every time. She was a master manipulator - of most of the other kids around her, of her pastor, of her parents. Sort of a leader, if you will, but through the kind of social standing that is gained by being ruthless on the playground. I saw through her, and so did a couple of other teachers.
It seems like a lot of the viewing public sees through this boy too, but many, many do not.
He says in his statement: "I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation."
But what did that smile say? That defiance in his gaze? It says: I'm better than you, and I'm going to stand here and say nothing, but you know it, and I know it too.
Someone else in this forum described it as a look of menace, and he or she was very right.
12
I have a different take on the videos than David Brooks.
My husband has a UCONN School of Engineering baseball cap, a much-loved souvenir from an educational seminar he attended a number of years ago. When it was looking a bit the worse for wear - around the time the Trump phenomenon was in ascendancy - he saved it for when he mowed the lawn. From a distance, it was difficult to tell it apart from a MAGA hat. I couldn’t stand the thought that my husband, a most gentle, caring, and thoughtful soul, could be mistaken to support all the vile values a MAGA hat represented and continues to represent. I dyed it into navy blue. All our friends and family approved. We will never buy another red baseball cap again.
13
@KC Yeah- I threw away my Red Tie after a woman did a double-take when I walked by. I won't wear a red baseball cap either- and Red is the Phillies' color.
1
So good; truth so often in in the middle & the ends don't meet.
2
As a high school administrator, my focus would be on the teachers accompanying and supervising this group of boys. Any field trip should have a specific learning purpose, a means for achieving that purpose, and a means to assess the experience. Sadly, many school field trips are not regarded by staff as learning experiences at all and the result is often as big a fiasco as this incident.
8
Simply a well thought out opinion on the quickly concluded online reactions of people with too little information and too much room to criticize any and all from the safety of anonymity. If though, a reporter, or law officer were there and questioned everyone at length to match their words to their actions and had gotten responses that include sincere apologies and some degree of understanding about what had happened I doubt that disparate view points from many parts of the public would have softened in the current environment of distrust.
2
I do not think it is a stretch to say there are parallels between the conduct of the Covington students (and their parents, alumni, etc.) and the alleged actions and sense of entitlement of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his prep school peers. (To be sure, Kavanaugh was accused of a serious crime.)
Activism among high schoolers is a good thing. But it is vexing how high school-aged kids could be such fervent supporters of President Trump. Much of Trump’s support is from a generation of people who feel overlooked by coastal elites and left behind by globalization. Those are very real fears. I do not purport to know the Covington high schoolers or their backgrounds, but it is hard to see how the children of parents who pay thousands of dollars in tuition fall into this category. Furthermore, the students were attending a pro-life rally – a stance that President Trump did not assume until he was running for office as a Republican.
8
Letting a group of teenage boys stand around in MAGA hats near left-wing protestors seems to me to be a provocation, even if you're just waiting for a bus.
I am a retired Catholic high school teacher. As I've been following this story, my first thought was, "Where were the adults - the teacher/chaperones?" Apparently, as more details emerged, encouraging their students to sing their school's sports cheers.
This wasn't a football game and the adults should have sensed this. Even grading on a curve, I give the adults an "F."
27
.Sad to read the unthinking responses of my fellow progressives. These comments indicate that we're as bad as the Trump supporters we deride for holding "alternative facts" and reacting emotionally. And, who cares if some parents hired a slick p.r. person to represent their son? Do we attack those on "our side" when they hire fancy lawyers and call in Al Sharpton et al.?
Face it: the extended video shows clearly that the Black Israelites instigated the debacle. The Native American drummer offered differing accounts of the event, which cast the nature of his role into doubt. If you are a h.s. student in this situation, i.e., someone approaching you, drumming & chanting, you would most likely be confused by the situation. Teenagers are jackasses in general.
While I am opposed strongly to the young men's politics, the failure our liberals and progressives to acknowledge a mistake is what causes deep cynicism. Social media and the rush to judgment corrode civil society.
22
@Killoran
Oh Lordy.
Adults can hold 2 facts in their heads at the same time.
The Black Israelite guys were jerks AND the students were jerks.
They are both responsible for their behaviors. Being "confused by an old man" is not an excuse.
13
@Kay Johnson
A little less pathos, and a little more logos, please. On Saturday the young men were denounced as the sole perpetrators of a vicious "attack" on an innocent elderly Native American who happened to be in the area. Now we learn that the teenagers were first verbally harangued by a group of adults, and that the Native American man approached them as this was occurring, not the other way around. (Wouldn't it have been better if the Native American man explained what he was doing, instead of banging a drum and chanting right in front of them?)
The upshot is that there were three groups present:the Black Israelites, the Native American man and a few friends, and some white teenagers. The vitriol is aimed solely at the teenagers. I despise the kids' politics, but a reasoned assessment of the evidence indicates that they are the least culpable for what happened.
The anger is triggered by their MAGA hats and their presence at the Pro-Life rally, not a reasoned weighing of the facts. The argument by many here seems to be that the teenagers are wrong because Trump supporters are always wrong.
9
@Killoran
The teens were wrong because of their behavior.
Any teen anywhere who acted like they did as a group of disrespectful jeering kids should be called on the carpet. If you claim to be religious, don't be surprised when the public points out that you are ditching those beliefs at the smallest provocation.
The Black Israelites announced from the get-go their racism and sexism. That the kids engaged with them instead of ignoring them like everyone else is on the adults who are not training them to be functioning adults, much less empathetic ones.
As additional facts have been discovered and come to light, you have seen the media -- especially those outlets conservatives love to brand as "liberal" leaning -- continue to post additional stories seeking to clarify and provide greater context. The tone, which began as noticeably critical has softened and become more nuanced. in many respects, the Trump supporters are being vindicated by those outlets they so often excoriate. Does this piece recognize that reality? No.
And would conservatives do the same if the tables were turned? Would they recognize error or that they were too quick to judgment and continue to publish articles clarifying their earlier reporting. Hell no. In fact they would seek to twist the truth further. In their opinion, admitting they were wrong only lends support to their opponents ideas. Does this piece recognize that reality either? No.
3
I want to thank David Brooks for writing this excellent piece. He has been one of the few who was willing to tell the full and truthful story. My faith in the NYTimes has been restored.
9
@WPLMMT
If you were a democrat your comment would carry more weight.
3
How about the school invite Mr. Phillips to visit and meet with groups of students to share information on his Native culture and forms of prayer, including what he was singing and playing on his drum when he met the group of boys in Washington DC? Wouldn’t this be a wonderful teachable moment and opportunity to create understanding of other cultures.
11
I wonder, how emotionally taxing that may be for Mr. Phillips?
@DeborahIt would be a wonderful idea except for the fact that approximately 2 dozen Native Americans showed up at the Covington Arch Diocese this morning to protest the student's actions and were [approached by a man who was trying to have a conversation with them to try to diffuse the situation. It was shown on MSNBC
@Raegani am a strong defender if the rights of Native Americsns and Mr Phillios is a long time protestor who is not a shrinking violet and who can take care of himself
1
I like David Brooks very much and feel he most often offers a valuable hybrid perspective between the political left and right. In the case of this article I would simply like to make the following comments. He uses the term "liberal" in the following context in this piece to make a point, "If you are trying to rub the pleasure centers of a liberal audience, this is truly a story too good to check". If I have a general criticism of Brooks, it is that he throws the term "liberal" around too freely, too often. It's hard not to see it as seasoned by his truly conservative roots. In this article, I feel it may have been more appropriate to use the term "anti-Trump". I believe there are a growing number of people who may be conservative but are strongly anti-Trump. One need do nothing more then remember the 2018 elections. They too are being incited by the moral corruption Trump has delivered to our society and culture.
8
I realize this is supposed to be a column on evils of social media (although David should have been speaking out when Michelle Obama was being accused of being a man ), but I must add my voice to the others here: Where the heck were the chaperones for the high school students when all this was happening? If the students were there for the March for Life, what briefing or guidelines were they given about how to act courteously to all people they would encounter during the event? The school does need to do an investigation but it must include the organizers and chaperones for the trip not just the students.
16
The Sandmann family's PR firm is definitely getting its money's worth when they get David Brooks to claim the rowdy teens are the true victims. Mr. Phillips did not tell "two different versions. He thought a bunch of kids were verbally harassing some Black men. It developed that there was mutual name-calling between those men and the boys, but Mr. Phillips' origlnal impression was not-irrational, even if not completely correct. So...the appropriate response by the boys was to have a smirking, chest-to-chest interaction, mimicking and mocking the older man's drumming and chanting? (By the way, when my children misbehaved, I did not hire a spin doctor to justify their conduct.)
29
I have been a teacher for 43 years and the expression on Mr. Sandmann is a disrespectful smirk if I have ever seen one. I have also raised three children...two of whom are boys. If my sons (or daughter) treated an elderly person in this way, there would be a serious conversation regarding respect for one's elders.
As a teacher, I have chaperoned numerous teenagers on overnight trips. The role of the chaperone is to keep the students safe and make sure they are representing your school and community in a positive way. I wonder where the chaperones were during this interaction when the boys began chanting cheers, pumping fists, taking off shirts and doing the tomahawk chop? Those actions should have been stopped and the boys instructed move away. It is fortunate that no one was physically hurt.
Lastly, parents of these boys could use this as a learning experience for many life lessons: "two wrongs don't make a right", respect elders even if you don't agree with them, walk away rather than engage in negativity, accept responsibility for your actions. It does appear as if the students involved are being allowed to learn from this event. So sad for everyone!
37
@kat
I meant to say it does NOT appear as if the students involved are being allowed to learn from this event.
14
@kat
Bingo!
My son goes to a similar school and that kind of rowdiness, even if provoked, would not be tolerated. “But he started it” doesn’t get you very far past the age of about three.
1
Instead of trying to moralize and point out some bigger lesson, why doesn't the Times just admit it was wrong and apologize? The Times and many other major outlets were quick to condemn when their own internal biases and desire to hate the students compelled them to do so. But even now, when the lies are apparent, you can't bring yourself to call the native american man by his name and accuse him of lying--which he did. We should never judge the reporters too harshly? Do reporters feel this way? They don't seem to extend that courtesy to those they deem deplorable.
19
What lies... more context was added but the boys from Covington still acted like the bigots we are now learning they are.
You justify others racism to validate your own
8
Wow, talk about blatant rush to judgement! I am disgusted that Mr. Brooks should use HIS media platform to further propose adamant and harmful opinions.
Not too long ago, Mr. Brooks spoke at my high school, all boy, Catholic, alma mater. I'm grounded in the world he lives in. But he's off track here.
There are many questions left unanswered. And the best response from all should be to let the school to wisely disregard all media and conduct an unbiased investigation.
Yes, Mr. Phelps contradicted himself. But he also wishes to meet with the students. The young man, Mr. Sandmann writes a letter which states that the school chants were "all positive." I take exception. I believe that the Hebrew Israelites may well have insulted the boys with no other cause than the hats they were wearing. But confronting them was a juvenile action of retribution. I also find it hard to believe that no words were exchange as well. It is obvious in the videos that the boys were reacting in an ugly fashion. I blame the chaperones for the escalation.
Mr. Sandmann refers to Mr. Phillips as a protester who got "in his face." This belies immediate credulity. If anything, it needs a better explanation. Why did he stand in front of him. To pray? At one point he motions to a friend to cool it, but it is obvious that Mr. Phillips was not a threat, where as the boys were sickeningly obnoxious. If this is not the case, it certainly bares greater explanation.
18
Cry me a river. This article exemplifies how "benefit of the doubt" is a mask for white privilege. These boys may just go on to become president or a federal judge. Their lives are certainly not ruined.
30
Agreed...
But times are changing and Covington has a racist streak going through if that is now in the public’s view. This is not the first time this school
has produced racist behavior in its students.
I imagine Mitch McConnell is quite "proud" of these boys.
Judging from their demeanor, actions and the premise of their ideological raiment future constituents and supporters of his abhorrent policies all. Being sponsored by their catholic school is a particularly noxious detail. How's that new testament thing working out for them???
13
Great article! When you say "if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views. . . The way to do that is to reinforce the prejudices of your readers," you hit the nail on the head. How can we redesign incentives to drive the behaviors we want?
10
My feeling is that as representatives of the march, they had a responsibility to de-escalate the situation. Certainly they could have moved further away from the handful of nutty people yelling at them (which happens at EVERY MARCH). These kinds of problems will always dominate the news coverage and drown out the original message. If you have thirty thousand people march and a dozen people get into a violent fist fight, the fist fight is what will get covered. That is why good march organizers know it’s very, very, very important to avoid conflict, and they usually have volunteers to intervene peacefully if tempers seem to be flaring.
Given that I am strongly pro-choice, I can only say that I’m happy that this is the publicity that came out of the March For Life — a bunch of young, male punks in MAGA caps who wouldn’t know a woman’s right if they tripped over it.
19
Yeah? Who's going to teach them any different? Doesn't seem like sanctimonious vitriol has done the trick yet. I suppose enough irony just might, though....
Most of these comments are absolutely bewildering. All of you should read the transcript of the NPR interview with Nathan Philips that took place early Monday morning. It's verging on uncomfortable to see how NPR's David Greene leads the witness and helps Phillips concoct a new narrative on the spot. Early in the interview Philips confesses "In the moment, I didn't realize what I was trying to do or if I should be doing anything." As Phillips story further wanders into conflicting areas, Greene recognizes the inconsistencies and attempts to weave a scenario together recasting Phillips as a heroic victim protecting homophobic radicals, to which Phillips gratefully responds "Yes. Thank you for that clarity because that's that's what it was, in my mind and in my heart." Read the transcript...look at the whole videos and get over the red hats.
25
@BostonStrong
Look, Phillips could have been stark raving mad and a large group of high school aged young people who are supposedly trained in the ethical requirements of one of the world's religions should have something more than jeering, tomahawk gestures, jumping, and having a stare-down to offer as a response.
Do you require nothing of these young men in public in the nation's capitol - not one thing? The fact that this was an elderly man and not a threat in any way defies your "bewilderment". It is a choice to believe that this is OK.
1
@BostonStrong - Yup. Reading the comments here it is quite obvious that the left is just as illogically tribal as the right when it suits their narrative. The amazing part of this whole thing is that there were no goods guys and no victims. Obnoxious punks wearing their red hats to provoke, a group of crazy racist conspiracy theorists hurling insults at everyone, and an older solitary man who threw himself into it and then falsely claimed to be a victim. I've decided to side with... none of them.
2
Why were these teens there, dressed as they were? Why were the indigenous folk there? Welcome to trump’s America.
4
So where were the Chaperones? Weren't they supposed to be the adults? And why are teen-age boys protesting about a subject they probably do not care about? This is not a typical Class Trip.
This is what happens when you indoctrinate children. They do not question, they just go along with what ever the teachings are. But at 17, even if they did not get the lessons about right and wrong from their parents or school, they have been on earth long enough to figure out what is right or wrong. No excuses one way or the other.
Disrespect from kids or adults is just wrong. Sounds like there is plenty of blame to go around.
15
@Jean I agree wholeheartedly! In addition, there's no way that little twerp wrote the statement suggesting he was just "smiling"!
Another reason I've avoided twitter and facebook.
8
just more proof that the modern conservative party stands up for nothing besides in defense of the indefensible.
12
Spare me. Interesting how right-wing PR firms and moderate, reasonable high profile journalists are eager to have these white young men never learn about facing consequences for their actions. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school. We were taught, like Dr. Christine Ford to play nice, be good girls and do our best to please others. Funny, our brother school, populated by the young men who we were supposed to marry, were taught other values. When we were together, boys and girls, the boys would run wild! I'd ask the authority figures, why were they allowed to behave like that when we girls weren't. I was told: "They're boys." So it is at a young age these Kavanoughs-in-training are prepared for running the world (and that includes supervising the bodies of women and people of color apparently).
32
These boys are garbed in pro-Trump clothing and ready to make trouble. SO called 'right to lifers' are exposed as a branch root of incivility and the intentional destruction of civil discourse. Accosting women seeking legal abortions and accusing them of murder. They love the fetus but dont want to build a world that supports mother's and infants. Try being poor and pregnant. Plus what ever the circumstances, it is only the women's business. Her right to control her own body. Men like these boys have no place in that conversation.
Trump and his GOP want people at each other's throats. IT is much easier for the powerful to control people if they can divide them. He willfully sows discord and hopes he can parley his 30% into a permanent Kingship.
17
Well put!
Plenty of "blame" to go all around. The Black Israelites were spewing hatred and taunts, the youngster staring down an elderly man was totally disrespectful, the elderly man was in the middle of a bad situation and could have stopped drumming & left and the kids on the sidelines had no business escalating things with chants, chops and taunts of their own. Where did they learn that hateful behavior?
The chaperones should have intervened at once and gotten them out of there. Kids that age have poor judgement and they were in over their heads. The kids have a free speech right to the MAGA hats but also should be told that they are provocative.
Then the media escalates the whole thing with snippets so the sequence of events is not clear and the editing suspect. A lot of people participated in this shameful event.
12
Where there “good people on BOTH sides” too
The real tragedy is that neither side chose to walk away.
14
@Eulon TaylorI believe there were three sides involved in this, and that includes the hate filled Black Israeites who started it all spewing homophobic comments at the white boys.
3
I am dismayed by the chaperones of these high school students. The first thing they should have done when things started to become ugly was to remove the students from the area. To then allow them to do their high school cheers only served to be a further provocation. What were they doing when the young men were doing tomahawk chops and chanting "build a wall"?. Did the adults think they were at a Trump rally and this was appropriate behavior at a national memorial honoring a great president. Perhaps we need to look more closely at the adults in this situation. Chaperones (teachers or parents) need to know and make clear to their charges that they are representatives of their school and their behavior is always being observed when they travel. They are also responsible for the students behavior. Teaching everybody involved that there are consequences for actions is the first step, not spinning excuses. I worry about this generation not being carefully taught. Talk to educators, especially those who have taken teenagers to Washington , Mr. Brooks before you draw questionable conclusions.
18
@Melicent Rothschild and the fact these punks have culturally appropriated the Maori Haka dance for their sports games or in this case to intimidate others is reprehensible. And let's not even get into the tomahawk chops in the face of Indian Americans. White entitled privileged bigotry at it's best.
6
Let's not forget who is the master at destroying lives, 'branding' beleaguered migrants (mostly women and children) as "invaders, criminals, terrorists" and the like. The toxicity of the environment was increased significantly by the brew master himself. It makes every situation charged, even if only because the hat signifies the charge.
11
What were the parents and school officials thinking? It is appropriate to wear MAGA caps to the city? Don't they appreciate how offensive they are?
13
The boy looks like an interested and interesting young man. There is a certain tension in his face, but why not call his expression intelligent and mesmerized? It’s not a smirk. Give a kid a break!
12
You can try to spin it any way you want, ma’am, but what I saw was the always smirking face of White Entitlement, there for all the world to see. Tell me, would you invite this “interesting” kid, with grinning, empty eyes full of hate, to have tea with you in your home? And how about his fellow felons-in-training? He was simply toying with the old man, much as a cat toys with its intended prey. And the MAGA hats make it abundantly clear that they are following in the footsteps of elders who are bigoted racists and misogynists first and foremost - behavior of that sort is LEARNED. Nice job, Kentucky. Now I understand a little more clearly what Mitch McConnell is all about.
1
Another opinion article with comments from people who obviously did not read David Brooks words .. and did not see to avail themselves of the fuller videos available.
They were kids with MAGA hats -- that's enough for most. Guilty ... no need to know what really happened.
The saddest comment. They were wealthy white kids because they could afford to drive across three states and take the day off -- what have we become?
18
I watched some of the videos and I certainly would not have been able to create the smooth narrative you're giving us. Based on the comments I've read here and your description, I'd suspect that your narrative depends largely on the PR firm's press release. If not, then where does the tomahawk chop come into play?
8
Reinhold Niebuhr published "Moral Man and Immoral Society" in 1932, dealing with untoward human behavior that becomes so common for individuals when their accountability is obscured due to being part of a crowd. There was nothing new about the incident the other day in front of the Lincoln Memorial ... of all places ... except for the "advanced" technological means now available to make the proclivity to spread anger and self-justifying bias, if not hatred, easier to achieve. Our society, so free, seems not only pathologically affected, but getting more ... seemingly through addiction of some kind. In many ways, the question of democracy being a healthy form to live by as opposed to suffer from, is now before us.
1
With so many comments I doubt this will be seen. But, the boys from the Catholic school should not have been wearing MAGA hats. Their chaperones and teachers were wrong to allow partisan political promotion to take the front line if their point was to promote a POV that they felt committed to. If the boys had not been promoting a political candidate their message would have been clear when they marched. As it stands now, the message of hate promoted by their HATS takes center stage. David Brooks' column, likewise, also promotes hate by not seeing and calling out the message the MAGA HATS as medium promote.
Furthermore, the school should fire the teachers and chaperones, as they should have removed the boys from the situation before it started. The MAGA hats might just as well have been swasticas. What they stand for is toxic. David Brooks should know this and should have called the school on it.
25
Regardless of what happened before, the more extended video does show the teens making fun of Mr. Phillips. That was wrong. My biggest concern is with the chaperones who allowed the boys to stay in a situation that they had no idea how to manage. As a parent and former school administrator who took a lot of field trips with children, I would not have let them be involved in such an "Us and Them" interaction with the first group, so they would not have been there for the second confrontation. The adults could easily have taken the boys to another pick-up place, either calling the bus driver or leaving one or two adults at the Memorial to explain when the bus arrived.
14
I do not see how the boys going after African Americans makes this a better story. Also no one says they weren't chanting build the wall. They were also wearing MAGA hats. What is their idea for making America great again? I do not see how either version changes the real story of digraceful behavior.
14
If a "destroyed life" looks like this (wealth, status, education, and white privilege interrupted by a vicious social media campaign which i can combat with my rich parents' resources and very own PR team, comforted by the sympathy of the public), can my life be destroyed please?
18
Excellent analysis of the encounter! I have watched a number of the videos of this incident, and I do not agree with those that see the child as the aggressor or even that the child engaged in inappropriate conduct.
The Native American and his group approached the children, moving through the boys until they came face to face with the child in question. Videos taken from the right of the Native American show him pushing his drum against the chest of the child and beating the drum repeatedly. You can see the child's eyes blink with each strike. At the same time, one of the cohorts of the Native American, standing to his right, uses vulgar language to tell the other boys to "go back to Europe." When one of the boys responds to the taunt, the child facing the drum motions to the other child to stop. After standing his ground, the child eventually turns and walks away from the drummer.
I did not hear any taunts about walls, although a child may have said something. What I saw and heard was an adult attempting to get a reaction from a child. The man was not afraid or intimidated; he had his cohorts standing beside and behind him, filming the encounter.
As to the new MAGA hats that were worn by some of the children. Souvenirs.
Were the child mine, I would be more concerned about the risks of interacting with an adult with an unknown agenda. The child was targeted and should have immediately moved away for his own safety.
23
Everyone, even children of this age, knows what the MAGA hats stand for. And regardless of who was right or wrong in the confrontation, we mustn’t forget why those Catholic boys were in Washington to begin with. They were there to participate in the annual “March for Life,” which aims to remove human rights and bodily autonomy from reproductive-age women. For that reason, I have no sympathy for those children.
Once again, if you see it on social media, distrust it. Any and all of it. Left, Right, and Center. This is why we have to keep legitimate media strong. Actual unbiased reporting is in short supply. Who can you trust? I would start with
1) New York Times
2) Wall Street Journal
3) Washington Post
4) LA Times
and even there, they sin by omission, so you have to read across the spectrum.
6
Catholic Schools—please stop using your students at PL (pro-life) rallies. It’s not fair to expose such young people to the potential dangers of a highly charged political venue. My nephew, while attending an elite Catholic School in Austin TX, was taken by his school to a PLR at the statehouse during the school day when he was eleven years old. He was saddled with a huge sign and in the crowd, he tripped going up the capitol steps and fractured his wrist. My sister (his mother) had not consented to and was not informed that my nephew was going the statehouse as part of a rally. She found out when she was called to take him to the emergency room. Let these kids decide when they are adults whether they want to participate in political rallies without being in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. They are too young to process their own views let alone confront opposition speech (or worse) coming at them. And as we saw on Saturday, they respond poorly. These students reflect what they hear, see, and learn from their parents and their teachers. Cov. Catholic and similar schools doing this need to reflect and think about protecting their students first.
17
“The incident actually started when members of the hate cult — the Black Hebrew Israelites — started hurling racist and homophobic slurs at the boys.”
Here Brooks reveals the myopia of his lens, the distortion in employing such a tightly tiny context. Surely the deep origins of this incident actually start with the colonization of this country by Europeans & the attempted annihilation of its original inhabitants, a violent beginning almost immediately made worse by the implementation of slavery.
Viewed against this deep backdrop, the decision of 120 white teenage boys - with the at very least tacit approval of their adult advisors - to wear MAGA hats into a public space where an indigenous peoples’ gathering was taking place could be considered a deeply provocative taunt and the “actual start” of the incident. At best, many of those students have no real understanding why the slogan MAGA is so hurtful and offensive to many citizens of this country and why their massed presence is so frightening; that ignorance is one of the reasons this incident calls out for restorative justice.
Every person in this event - the Covington students and their chaperones, (especially the chaperones and school leaders), the Black Hebrew Israelites, and Nathan Phillips - made questionable choices and can be critiqued: but that critique must be made from a thorough understanding of the actual history of the United States and the relative power, privilege, and oppression of each individual.
14
The incident actually started before the boys arrived. The black Israelites were already on scene spewing hate to the native folks.. listen to their speech in the long video
2
I watched multiple videos of this incident and read multiple accounts of events.
Every day, in our nation and around the world, young men end up dying in violent confrontations. All too often, these encounters are over minor things: a parking space, a girlfriend, or who gets to hold the remote control.
At the heart of confrontation is understanding our power as individuals. No matter what someone else does, we each have the ability to choose our response. Other people do not “make you” behave one way or another. You choose your response to other people.
These young man choose to shout back at the Black Hebrew Israelites, they choose to shout an aggressive sports anthem “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes, a song that riles up sports fans with a determined and obstinate lyric, “I’m gonna fight ‘em off!”, they choose to jump up and down, do fist pumps, and mockingly mimic the singing of a Native American. One of the boys chose to tear off his shirt and run about half naked.
None of the youth was forced to act like a rowdy group of fans at a soccer meet.
If the boys had decided that the best way to deal with the rudeness of the Black Hebrew Israelites was to gather in dignified rows and loudly sing "Amazing Grace", there would have been no video clips to provide any outrage.
Today's media does rush to judgement. People should also accept responsibility for their own choices rather than blaming others for forcing them to take choices that they freely made.
1071
@Heather
Today's upper middle class youth are champions of self-esteem, and confident that nobody will ever hurt them. They are fearless; their parents didn't beat them, their teachers are all nice to them; that is how we raised them. Yes, they tend to be smug.
112
@Heather Superb post. I was trained to participate in marches during the Civil Rights era, and, yes, we were taught a menu of nonviolent responses that included singing a hymn or song meant to defuse the tension and present us as peaceful participants.
These boys were organized and the adults knew exactly where they were going and what they might expect. That they were not coached in nonviolence is inexcusable in a Catholic institution. That they asked to chant a school cheer shows a complete lack of preparation for this school sponsored march.
Incidentally, the group in which I participated, in the late 1960's, was Catholic. Our tradition of peaceful protest is long and time-honored. This crowd, particularly the adults in charge, disserves that history.
117
@Heather
IMO you have pointed out a most important element: No matter what someone else does, we each have the ability to choose our response. Other people do not “make you” behave one way or another. You choose your response to other people.
Other people (and events) do not “make you” behave one way or another. This is so important.
78
After the Rodney King verdict it became clear to me that no short piece of video can present the "truth" to an outside observer. There is no truth here, just biased viewing from everyone's previous programming. All the arguments here are just people defending their biases and previous programming. The facts cannot be taken out of the emotional, cultural and personal context of the participants, none of which is verifiable or can be observed from the outside.
4
I applaud David Brooks’ efforts to cast a rational analysis of the recent debacle at the Lincoln Memorial. I agree with many of his points.
I know I still live in a free country because I am irritated every day by fellow citizens who exercise their pursuit of happiness and freedom of speech.
That said, I remain stunned and shell-shocked that half the electorate could vote for Donald Trump, a man of consummate evil and ignorance, and that he would “win” even though losing by nearly 3 million votes.
I am stunned that Protestant leaders like Rev. Franklin Graham could construe Trump as a tool of God.
As we sift for facts, I remain dumbfounded that students of a Catholic Christian school were wearing MAGA hats as if Donald Trump had anything at all to do with the love of Jesus Christ.
12
What is the point of this Opinion piece? There isn't much insight other than a glib understanding of social media and sociology and a seemingly unsubstantiated dismissal of Nathan Phillips' account of the situation. Nothing about the young man's press release correlates with the video. Does staring at another person inches away from their face for minutes on end constitute as the diffusion of a tense situation, a prayer? Have a behavioral psychologist analyze the video and ask him/her what the body language says.
And to disregard video evidence in favor of blaming unseen Muslims is embarrassing.
5
I have been horrified by the violent language regarding these children (many variations on wanting to punch them in the face) and how accepted it has been. These comments have been met uncritically by the ostensibly principled and compassionate left. If we were to hear a Breitbart or Infowars type speak about the progressive teenagers in the same way, we would be rightly horrified: that kind of behavior is unbecoming of adults.
This all goes to demonstrate Mr. Brooks larger point, that our Jets vs. Sharks attitude is preventing us from considering the morality of our own (and our group's) actions.
12
@MP
"I have been horrified by the violent language regarding these children (many variations on wanting to punch them in the face) and how accepted it has been …"
I haven't seen a single comment like this on this site.
2
Mr Brooks decries the rush to judgment that accompanies the stream of social media fragments as they settle into place and form a more complete picture of events. Yet even he has been swept up in the rush to judgment, defending those boys, whose actions that day were deplorable both at the event in question and before. Those boys are the perfect expression of what is wrong in this country, pious blowhards convinced of their divine and political perfection who derive pleasure in bullying others from the hermetic safety of their gang.
Let me say, Mr. Brooks, I was not spending the weekend on Mars. In fact, I chose not to look at any of those videos and I still refuse to look, as I see it as a form of voyeurism. Now the pieces are falling into place, and your job is to provide an analysis that takes the longer view, that incorporates as much information as can be gathered. This is the dilemma of all news reporting in the era of flash reportage, when is there enough information to comment?
I’d say your piece today suggests that the answer to that is it’s a work in progress
4
All the rationalizations in the world for the behavior of these young men can't outweigh the undeniable video evidence. It also doesn't really matter what another group of young men said to them before the Native American man came on the scene. End of the day, this group of white faux-christian boys acted like thugs. They deserved to be ridiculed because of it.
15
I think the article makes an excellent point about our inability to deal with the technology that now engulfs us. But let's be clear here: NO ONE'S life has been destroyed by this situation. This newspaper published an article about how America destroys lives a few weeks ago. It looks like this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/27/magazine/ms13-deportation-ice.html
9
Years of discrimination and oppression will always require white males to back off when confronted by a person of color. As a nation we cannot continue to drown out the voices of the oppressed. These young high school thugs need to learn that the paradigm has changed. We owe it to our disadvantaged citizens to listen to them and learn from them.
5
@Marc82 - Please tell me this is satire. Nobody is required to back down in the face of any confrontation; they may CHOOSE to do so and demonstrate greater character. But there is no obligation.
8
I have to say there is something creepy and deeply disgusting about privileged immature young men being sent to demonstrate about how women of all ages should be allowed to manage their lives.
Instead of sending their young men on this inappropriate errand, the "pro-life" school should be educating them about the responsibilities of fatherhood--that, if in the folly of youth they "get some girl pregnant," they need to be prepared to take full responsibility for supporting the child for at least the first 2 decades of the child's life, if the girl is willing to bear the child and adoptive parents are not found. They should be lobbying for the government to keep a DNA database of all males, so paternity of a child not otherwise claimed by a father can be determined. And then the government requires the father to contribute his share to raising the child.
Where is the biological father in all this "pro-life" discussion? Does the Catholic church honestly believe that babies are conceived by immaculate conception, so the only person on hand to take the consequences of the pregnancy should be the woman?!!?
These smug smirking boys clearly have no idea what responsibility means, let alone Respect for Life.
And the adults on the scene are not educating them on this. Sad and dangerous.
26
@SusannaMac -- it's worse than that. "MAGA" is support for groping and adultery and the privilege of white males to do what they want. These young men are not just being indoctrinated into "right to life;" these young men are proudly marching with their hats supporting the groping, and assaults that they see as their "rights" ... and their station on top and free to do as they want, because they are white. Little Trumps, marching in their red hats.
Who did or said what to whom, when, where and how aside, why did the school &/or chaperons allow the students to wear MAGA hats in the first place. The students were supposedly in DC for a March For Life parade, which is supposedly predicated on moral and or religious beliefs that existed long before the purely political MAGA hats appeared. Question: did the school send students to the event in years prior to 2016? What hats did those students wear then? It's seems apparent that the school and students were at the MFL event for purely political reasons that had little to do with the abortion issue, which has divided the country for 45+ years. Shame on the school and the students for using the pretense of preserving life in order to inflame political passions.
13
Whatever happened on the various videos, (Mars vacation..no internet), I understood Mr. Brooks' piece to be referring to the incident and it's aftermath as an example of our polarization and how social media is weaponized in our culture wars. That concept rings true with me. My news feed is filled with 'gotcha' ammunition from all sides. That's how it is...sides, and whatever side is advocating, finger pointing, raising the alarm of doom....there's always plenty to spin. My experience has been that there are events that are right meets wrong, no rational dispute existing. These are rare events. Given time for a slightly deeper examination, there's almost always nuance in any news story. Using any event to advance a point of view is the easiest job I can think of when we are so very eager to score points for our side.
2
The school allegedly took the group to demonstrate against abortion. Why? How can any high school politicize a highly volatile and polarizing issue, regardless of their religious beliefs? Second, how was the conduct of Mr Phillips supposed to defuse the situation? He was not verbally calling on them to be calm and respectful. His conduct could be described as aggressive, as drums have traditionally been a sign of warfare (and of peace). The message was ambiguous and this was destabilizing, again, in a volatile situation. Even Mr Phillips realized that he had interjected himself inappropriately.
This in no way excuses disrespectful behaviour. The school ought never to have exposed their young students to this.
4
There is one crucial fact you are leaving out Mr. Brooks. Those boys had no need to stay there, no need to "do their school chants" (which included insensitive tomahawk chop and a Maori war chant -- why I have no clue). The "adults" should have shepherded them to do what good Christians are advised to do -- turn the other cheek. They should have walked away. But they didn't. They chose to stand there and assert their privilege and power. Regardless of how the event began, they had choices, and they made poor ones.
15
They were told to stay there because that is where the bus that were to bring them home would meet them.....
1
@Nikolaj Lemche -- so who told them to do what they did? And why did they do that, even if so?
Sorry, the picture accompanying the opinion piece speaks 1000 words: a teenaged boy, egged on by his shouting classmates, confronting an elder.
Rude boys. No manners.
22
@Rita You have it reversed. Nathan Phillips approached the young man, got up his face and was beating the drum inches from his head in an aggressive manner. The elder was trying to provoke a confrontation but the young man didn't take the bait.
1
The Lincoln Memorial incident reminds me of something that I was involved in about 40 years ago. I was on the bus on Riverside Drive heading back to Columbia from a part-time job with one of my classmates. As we got off the bus at West 114 Street we saw a young man and woman in a physical fight. The guy was twisting the woman's arm. She appeared to be hurting. We ran to them and said, "Knock it off, pal." The woman responded, very angry, saying, "This is my husband. We are having an argument. Get lost." We then followed her advice. Evidently not everything is what it seems to be from a narrow prism.
5
@Ted Faraone
LOL- I saw a homeless guy beating a woman-also obviously homeless- one day 30 years ago on 15th Street near Chestnut at 530 in the evening. I intervened.
The woman said "...It's okay. He's my boyfriend...".
1
I believe you did the right thing by trying to intervene. I hope that woman eventually found a life of peace and security, and perhaps a husband who didn’t abuse her.
Thank you Mr. Brooks for telling the whole story. What is so disturbing in the media today is that they often only report part of a story, which favors their political agenda. The failure to report an entire story in a balanced fashion is equivalent to "fake news". It's a sad commentary on news reporting today, which often leads the public to the wrong conclusions and often their harsh negative reactions.
7
I expect you'll get a lot of love from conservatives for this article David. I know you don't always fall in line so easily. But this is their exact narrative. Exact. So well done.
But the facts are that wearing a MAGA hat and smirking say things without words don't they David? I know conservatives want to pretend that those things don't make a statement but the rest of us don't have to buy into that ridiculous premise. They make a statement just like a burning torch, a confederate statue, a white hood or a swastika make a statement. MAGA stands for people screaming Lock Her Up, laughing loudly when trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford and cheering when he calls our neighbors rapists.
I'm not going to pretend these are nice sweet boys getting a bad rap. Nope.
29
@Jenifer
Yes. Yes. It's all Trump's fault. He (not you?) has poisoned our discourse? Those young kids were fine. Perhaps you hate that they were in DC for the Pro-Life March For Life that you may condemn. So you're perhaps inclined to think ill of the young boys. Just watch the long video of what happened. They are waiting patiently for a bus. All the while being verbally assaulted by a group of cultists spewing all manner of hate AT them. They ask for permission from their adult monitor to give a school cheer. They do so. A perfect response to the hate cult. They are cheering. Not spewing hate. Then the fake Vietnam vet (as falsely announced by many news outlets), Phillips, saunters over banging his drum. Come right up to the kid and is banging away on the drum right in the kid's face, flailing away with that stick on the drum within a few inches of the kid's face. The kid had the patience of Job and smiled back. Said nothing to the fake vet. Wake up. This was a media creation. And many (you?) are just venting your political spleen on the kids.
1
What in God's name was the chaperone doing? These kids, and I mean kids, hardly understand life. That's why they have a chaperone. Yet a chaperone allowed the kids! to confront this group of men, the Black Israelites to diffuse the situation? If one is to believe this, it's one of the most idiotic chaperone moments in the history of chaperoning kids!
And once that stare down (the kid!) started, where was that chaperone? So scared about the dangerous unfolding situation that getting the kid! out of the situation was not possible?
And I don't care who started it, or what the story was. The end result is the image of that kid staring into the face of the Native American. Claiming that a stare down was beneficial is disingenuous. Claiming this stare is liberal or conservative is ludicrous. It was simply a danger no one would want their kid! exposed to, and every parent I know would sit down and have a talk with their kid! about this.
Which brings me back to the point. They are chaperoned because they are kids!
10
@Martin -- why does a "christian" chaparone lead a troop of kids dressed in MAGA hats?
Ah. Very nice of Mr. Brooks to tell us that this (and by extension, you see, the fake UVA rape case, the Duke lacrosse case, etc.) is how "we" destroy lives today. Please let me know when Mr. Brooks writes an opinion piece on lives actually being destroyed, not by the media and whatever partisans are out there, but more often by the state. When he shows equal concern for, say, Tamir Rice, Botham Shem Jean, Stephon Clark -- the list, sadly, is too long to complete here -- maybe I'll care about his thoughts on people's rush to judgment online based on incomplete facts and how that "destroys" lives.
11
Having watched the 1+ hour video shot from the perspective of the Black Hebrew Israelites, I continue to reserve my opprobrium for the Covington Catholic school, it teachings, and its chaperones. The hallmark of Christians, as I understand it, is encapsulated in the quote, "See how they love one another," as early Christians were being fed to the lions. That is, you can discern the nature of a group's ideology by observing their behavior. The behavior on display by the young men was just the opposite of love. I saw how they participated in a warlike, chest thumping cheer led by a shirtless cheerleader. I saw how they responded to the Black Hebrew Israelites' insulting taunts by invoking the slogan and products (Trump water) of a racist fascist. I saw how they did a tomahawk chop when the drummers approached. Covington Catholic should be ashamed that they failed to teach the basic principles of the religion that they claim to represent. Demonstrating love in the face of taunts should have been the only response of Covington Catholic. Instead, they wore hats with a hateful slogan (which, I wonder, do they even understand), engaged in warlike mob behavior, and made racist gestures.
20
@lisa I also watched the entire video and I am amazed that the conclusion you came to was that the Catholic teenagers were wrong, not the grown men who insulted women (around 7:30 in the video I saw), Indians (the Indian historian proudly claimed that name), and called a bunch of teenagers offensive names (future school shooters). You blame teenagers for acting inappropriately. I blame (in order) the Black Hebrew men, the school chaperones, Mr. Phillips and then, and ONLY the , the students.
2
Mr Brooks:
The question is not whether this fiasco will change social media. The question is will it change the New York Times,
“Boys in ‘Make America Great Again’ Hats Mob Native Elder at Indigenous Peoples March."
The comments indicate that many of your readers falsely believe the kids were chanting "Build the wall." That's on your newspaper.
11
@Edward Boyle What difference does it make it they were or were not chanting build that wall? Their racist behavior is on full display. That's not in question to anyone with eyes.
4
@Edward Boyle
Wearing MAGA hats are equivalent to hate speech.
1
It is so funny to sea a Catholic school does not teach thst build a wall is against the christian values.
6
“it’s important to remember that these days the social media tail wags the mainstream media dog. If you want your story to be well placed and if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views — you have to incite social media. The way to do that is to reinforce the prejudices of your readers.” Isn’t this an extraordinarily lazy interpretation of what reporters should be doing? Shouldn’t the journalists be rising above the chaff asking probing questions and providing wisdom to a confusing situation? What purpose is the news if it not to serve the public useful and accurate information instead of knee jerk responses? Mr. Brooks as established figure in journalism couldn’t you also signal a higher standard?
1
I wonder if you hold right wing media to the same standard you appear to hold the mainstream media?
Fox does this a dozen times a day and every day. Is it acceptable when they do it?
The mainstream media got infront of this but directionally they were correct! So what’s your real point?
What I saw and what you see in the picture with this article is what I believe is the truth. It has nothing to do with 4 black activists shouting obscenities at the boys. You see an elder being taunted by a crowd of boys, taking photos and enjoying themselves at a face down that appears to be racial.
7
Mitch McConnell's PR firm reached out to these kids, their parents and their school and has changed the narrative by lying.
We were right when the video was first seen. These kids were nothing but a racist mob, TAUGHT to do what they were doing. All these 16 year olds BOYS, bussed to Washington for an ANTI-ABORTION RALLY. Their rally being over, they were milling about with their left over, hyped up emotions and testosterone, in their MAGA hats looking for someone or something to victimize. Enter Nathan Phillips and his band of native Americans.
16 year olds don't do this sort of thing unless they're taught to do.
Behold you sin and your shame America. It's RACISM!
11
David,
Your use of the word "hate cult" to describe the Black Hebrew Israelites group severely undermined your argument and revealed your position in the right-wing tribe. Had you provided some context, instead of epithets and labels, to describe the Black Hebrew Israelites group, you would have advanced the cause of national tolerance that you claim to espouse.
Jacob, San Francisco
5
All I can say is that if it had been my white teenaged son behaving that disrepectfully to anyone, he would have had to face some consequences for his lack of manners and inappropriate behavior.
19
This is one of David's worst columns. Idea and concerns fine and valuable, but one episode after another of the brat behavior is coming out. David's assumption is completely wrong. One letter writer below has helped greatly by reporting that the Covington"s rich hired the Louisville PR firm RunPro to gaslight and undermine the story. Was bad enough when bright people were first taken in by the pr, but David has days to have caught up on the truth.
5
Of course all of this plays on a backdrop of a country where whites have stolen land, labor and lives from people of color for centuries.
4
"An older Native American man banging a drum."
"Banging a drum"? That's a pretty rude way of putting it.
9
@John Rundin Yeah -- you know -- "banging a drum" -- just the way more primitive peoples (those further down the evolutionary ladder) always do. Nothing racist, elitist or condescending about such a characterization . . .
It’s unfortunate that David Brooks has chosen to misrepresent what the Covington boys actually did and how widespread and numerous their disruptiveness was. It is also a disgrace that David Brooks had chosen to side with conservatives snd conservative media, who have bought into the studens’ proclaimed innocence, an insult to thinking, rational readers. Seemingly, David Brooks has joined the Trump/Guiliani mantra...you can’t believe what you see and hear or, there’s no such thing as truth. The Brooks piece is beneath the dignity of the NY Times-very disappointing. While sharing different points of view should be valued by the Times, total disdain for facts, as demonstrated by David Brooks, threatens the credibility of the paper, and should not be acceptable.
3
The boys were the least egregious? The main boy wrote a public letter that was humane?
ARE YOU KIDDING?
These kids are still trolls wearing MAGA hats and anyone that completely believes the letter that the Sandmann family's PR firm wrote is naive.
My favorite line is when "he" wrote "I said a little prayer."
LOL.
15
I think Nathan Phillips should have gone over to the Black Hebrew Israelites and starting banging the drum in their face since they were the ones causing the disturbance and he wanted to keep the peace. I can't help but wonder why he didn't?
Secondly there seems to be a lot of people making comments who have only seen one part of the video. Watch the longer version as it shows Phillips for some reason marching right up to the student and banging his drum in his face.
9
Careful, Mr. Brooks, you are treading close to the "moral relativism" you are so swift to condemn in liberals. The Black Israelites behaved vilely, but what does that have to do with criticism directed at the boys for *their* vile behavior?
The intentions of the boy who ended up in a stand off with Phillips are arguably debatable, but there just isn't any way to doubt that the crowd of boys performing the tomahawk chop and mimicking Phillips' voice were mocking him and contemptuous.
They don't deserve to have their lives destroyed, but exhibiting obnoxious racism is rightly going to draw condemnation––whether it is the taunts of the four black Hebrews or the taunts of a crowd of white boys who should know better.
10
I’ve watched the videos that purport to vindicate the students and I still just see a horde of bratty punks engaged in a pretty ugly display of male mob mania. Hateful behavior anyway you spin it. Maybe it’s a Rorschach test or a “Is this dress blue or gold?” kind of thing, but to me those red-caps are beginning to look a lot like brown-shirts.
11
A few questions. The smirking 'boy' in the picture didn't write up the account, his handler at the school did. I know, I teach boys that age, they don't write law-office letters.
Second, the black group were manifestly a crazy cult. Yet the story says there was a "guidance" or "spiritual" chaperone for these parochial-school boys; and, that he was in command. Why, then, did a responsible Catholic adult not order them away from both dangers, the crazy black cult and the Native American? What exactly is his role? Third, the boys are, indeed, seen swarming the Native American. Once again, if a 'counselor' is present, why did he let that happen? Oh, and how did a meticulously filmed video lasting 1 incredible hour get done by the school group, if all this is spontaneous?
9
Sorry, Brooks, as much as I might like to give these kids the benefit of the doubt, those MAGA hats tell me everything I need to know. Stop gaslighting.
14
The provocative MAGA hat a non-verbal statement of support for racist, sexist and anti-LGBT policies. I'm so tired of people supporting racist policies then getting upset for being treated as a racist.
As for your Mr. Brooks, here's a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
6
"...an older Native American man who was 'banging a drum'." Oh please, all of the different views into the situation not withstanding it's clear how you came up with praise for the MAGA capped school boy and his story and the conservative tribe. Try out the WAPO fact checking and still try to reconcile the young fellow's truthfulness with his also red capped role model occupying the White House. Also, do a fact check with anyone who has observed and/or been the target of blatant bigotry, then look at the video of the interaction between the youth and Native American man 'banging a drum' and school boys in the background and try to justify the youths' behavior as anything but racist.
9
The Indian was on NPR the other day. I thought he had the greatest line. "Those Israelite people are like a Black Westboro Baptist Church group." Now there is a world class insult!
8
@Matt -- bang on, too.
1
Mr. Brooks: the "Native American man" wasn't "banging a drum". He was _playing it_. Choose your words better, please.
11
I do not with Brooks assessment. The students were clearly making fun of the Native American and everything from their ‘get-ups’ including the MAGA hats says ‘racist.’ KY basically got rid of public schools after ‘Brown’ and pays teachers like $15/hour. So white kids go to private schools and minorities get sub standard education— just like other southern states. Here rub, we in coast states pay for it. KY gets $2.20 for everyone $1 they pay in federal taxes and they rank near the bottom of every human capital measurement. Why should I have my tax dollars be basically thrown away or eaten into by corrupt politicians? They might hate our ‘tribe’. Fair start showing up and taking care of your own and not come with hat on had to DC for hand outs then
9
Hilarious Mr. Brooks. Do you really believe the red-hatted boy was smiling in that man's face as an act of friendship and acceptance while he blocked his path and his friends howled with laughter?
Good heavens we're not idiots.
19
"If you want your story to be well placed and if you want to be professionally rewarded, you have to generate page views."
Since when is real journalism about making money? The point of journalism is to investigate all sides of a story and find out who's lying, not pander to the greatest number of people.
6
your words may be pretty, but just another case of "what aboutism." not all sins are equal.
2
The New York Times Just won back some of my respect with this article. “...it’s about confirming stereotypes about people you don’t know”- hit the nail on the head. Social media is becoming the downfall of our society today, in more ways than one!
2
Unfortunately this is true both ways. My conservative & liberal friends are "worried" about how their sons are being treated in light of #metoo (especially the ones who only have sons).
Interestingly they feel the same way about people of color who are "taking jobs from their sons".
It's classic political division... remember how the Germans blamed the Jews for their issues? Never white boys fault, is it?
3
It's pretty sad to read the comments, and realize that so many of the comments have been written without bothering to read the story they are commenting on.
4
"Reza Aslan, the religious scholar, tweeted a photo of the main Covington boy and asked, 'Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid’s?'"
What kind of religious scholar advocates violence against minors? Wow.
8
uh, chaperone, parents; where were you? turn around and take your children, yes children, away from an obviously incendiary moment. ultimately, they were responsible for the welfare of these children and handled it poorly. Failure to recognize the Black Hebrews as an intolerant and hostile group put these children at risk.
4
It actually isn't hard to believe anymore, Mr. Brooks.
1
Cell phone videos notwithstanding - a picture is still worth 1,000 words. Me thinks I recognize the smug and contemptuous faces of entitled white boys. These young men chose to make a statement when they donned those over-priced, made in China hats; and they can and should be judged on it and their behavior, just as everybody else present.
And, to be clear, only in entitled, white America does a family hire a PR firm when their snotty kid gets busted for behaving badly in public.
11
David Brooks wrote:
"For those of you vacationing on Mars this past weekend...."
I wish writers would stop writing phrases like this one. Not everyone is glued to Twitter or cable news like a NYT opinion columnist needs to be (or wants to be).
Some of the best times in my life have been when I had no idea what else was going on in the world, like when I was backpacking and didn't learn about the OJ Simpson episode until three weeks later. Chill.
6
No matter how it started or how you spin it, the boys are shown disrespecting an Indigenous elder.
9
What's the point of sending children to Christian schools if they behave like everyone else?
11
@wanda -- worse than everyone else's. I sent my daughter to a Catholic school, and trust me ... it was a genuine christian school. I would not have sent her there were it not.
MAGA is completely unchristian. These boys are not being raised or educated to be christians. The school is not supervising them in any christian way ... if it were they would not have been wearing these MAGA hats.
What would Jesus say about Trump? Do you need to even think for a second?
I watched all the videos. Yes, the Black Hebrew Israelites' behavior and insults were appalling. But Phillips was not banging his drum in Sandman's face. Phillips was not looking at Sandman who was staring at Phillips and smirking. Other kids were mock singing and giving the infamous Florida State "tomahawk" chop. I would add that the MAGA hat is a de facto symbol of racism and militant nationalism. Wearing one in public is a deliberate provocation and an indication that one is a moral imbecile. Brooks is way off base, way,way off base.
11
Those kids were rude and obnoxious to the native American man. Whatever happened previously with another protest group had nothing to do with this. Nasty bunch of kids. PR firm says it all. They were taunting and jeering at this old gentleman. Look at the tape. So sick of lying spin afterwards.
11
Mr. Brooks, I found your writing insightful and recommended it to others. I watched you on the talking head shows and found you thoughtful. But having read several of your last few columns I suspect that somehow something’s happened and I no longer think that way about you. I’m disappointed.
6
What would Jesus have done Nick?
8
Don't forget pro-life (double, double boo!) Don't forget Catholic (triple boo, boo, boo)
And guess what? In one news cycle no one will remember anything about this. Without googling, tell me the name of the woman killed in Charlottesville less than 2 years ago. You can't.
1
I attended a nearly all white men only Catholic high school.
These clean cut white males behaved like jerky teenagers. They had been bused to a demonstration about an issue they undoubtedly cared little about. Undoubtedly, they were not prepared for our much more diverse national capital.
I would add that as a Catholic bred physician I am saddened by every abortion that takes place. But I am not a mother and ultimately the woman has to decide. I also care for life after birth.
They were also wearing MAGA hats with all the baggage, white supremacy, hate, misogyny, corruption and white male vulgarity that hat has come to represent.
There is a Rashomon dimension to this confrontation. But the fault lies with the suburban school and our silo like segregated education that makes such confrontations inevitable.
The hats served as bait. Why did the school permit them to be worn?
Was the school's basketball cheer appropriate at that moment?
At the same time, these white students seem to fail to understand and appreciate that they live on land expropriated usually violently by their equally white ancestors from native Americans.
So symbolically, they are on the wrong side of the image. This country will be minority white soon. They are also on the wrong side of history.
It is exactly this type of behavior and confrontation that our country must learn how to avoid if we are to remain one country.
Bohdan A Oryshkevich, MD, MPH
12
Young Sandmann could go a long way in rehabilitating himself by seeking out Nathan Phillips and apologizing to him. That's what one does in a civil society.
8
Since he's wearing a MAGA hat it wouldn't matter if the kid was videoed telling the older man "I love you". 99% of NYT readers would still hate him (for the hat) and determine that he was fake, or condescending, or.... any number of other "deplorable' things.
6
Interesting how Brooks' reasonable interpretation of the facts causes still emotional responses from the readers, showing how strongly we have retreated into our corners. Apparently we only want to see and desperately want to confirm our viewpoint rather than maybe even considering that who we perceived as the "villain" might not have been the bad guy after all. It sure seems that there is less and less common middle ground. A lack of common sense. A loss of reasonable thinking. And for all of us over 40, obviously a complete loss of memory as to how obnoxious we were as teenagers.
7
As a black man, I've been subjected to the "rush to judgement" many times during my life. How I stand, dress, speak, look have all -- at one time or another -- been analyzed, dissected, scrutinized and ultimately summarized by someone who claimed to know what was in my heart.
I honestly don't know what this young man or Mr. Phillips were thinking. I do believe, however, that all sides (including the Black Hebrew Israelites and the school's chaperones) contributed to an unnecessarily confrontational event that served no purpose but to stoke the worst fears of "the other."
13
Some of the commentary here is precisely the problem of which David writes. Given broader evidence we see the boys did not engage in bad behavior. The smirk on the boy's face may be annoying mainly because it seems to belie a sense of undeserved privilege; but that is your bias, not his. At worst it is a measure of adolescent behavior, to which the boy (and I emphasize boy) is entitled, but by no means is it criminal nor something that warrants disciplining by a worldwide mob. Technology and our own biases have eroded any sense of due process ... at least in the court of public opinion.
12
I'm not so sure that "In this case the facts happened to support the right-wing tribe". No matter who started it, those
kids were being disrespectful to an older Native American.
13
One positive thing that came out of this is that the big media outlets immediately ran the counter stories when they became available, without excuses or equivocation regarding the earlier versions that they ran, even running the "main boy's" account.
I also read that twitter deleted the account (based in Brazil) that seemed to intentionally incite the original "version" with a misleading account. Hope the media outlets learn something from this incident.
4
Being only a few years out from raising teens And the private school environment, here is my take:
1) Of course a portion of a video of a longer event does not illustrate the entire story
2) Highly likely that the group chose to pick on students from a private school, no matter how modest the school, because that is how things are.
Followed by that school community saying THEIR student would never do a terrible thing (unless it is incredibly obvious). They are grasping to any counter argument.
3) I know that smarmy, “What? I’m not doing anything” teen look when I see it. And so do most other people. That boy, although he may have been acting as his parents and community taught, nevertheless was antagonistic and disrespectful. Period.
Seriously, would it be tolerated to get in your boss’s face like that (or Anyone’s)? If not, then you are raising your kid wrong.
9
You don’t need a PhD in body language to see that that kid was being overly antagonistic and not the actions of the poor, downtrodden, confused students you try to paint them as. If he was that confused and concerned, he could’ve stepped to the back or side - two paces was all that was required. But no, he squared his shoulders and stood less than a foot from a man playing a drum, while staring fixedly at his face, wearing an oily smirk.
Where I come from that body language is “come on, hit me, you know you want to - I need you to make the first move before I lay you out”.
24
Mr. Brooks, I read you regularly, as I respect your thinking and your writing regardless of whether or not we're in agreement. In this case, however, you may be impaired by your own confirmational bias blind spot.
Why were these kids laughing derisively while mocking Mr. Phillips' heritage by tomahawking the air and imitating his chant? And, as they were there presumably representing a school, an institution and a philosophy, why were they allowed to wear political caps? Was there no dress code?
Yes, there's usually more than meets the eye in overheated situations like this, but some of these things are overt and unjustifiable. Apologies are in order.
I am in agreement with your general premise on the febrile nature of social media, though.
As a friend recently said, "If the last five years has taught us anything, it's that humanity was not ready for social media."
13
I certainly agree that rush to judgement is problematic. Indeed, it is an eternal human failing. I am not sure attempting to extract that message from this event, embedded as it is in a morally reprehensible practice of religious weaponization of children. We will never, as a species, really control rush to judgement. We could probably have greater success in resisting the urge to weaponize children.
3
I'm one of those -- to quote Mr. Brooks -- "vacationing on Mars this past weekend" who didn't follow the story. Not on social media, don't watch cable news.
From what I can tell, I didn't miss much. The tweeters raged, the pundits blathered, the centrists offered both-sides-isms, and all the noise made the ideological echo chambers extra disorienting.
For someone who tries to live outside the echo chambers, I have to say I agree with Mr Brooks: "It’s hard to believe that people are going to be content, year after year, to distort their own personalities in service to a platform, making themselves humorless, semi-blind, joyless and grim."
3
David Brooks condemns hatred and blatant rushes to judgement. However, he labels the Black Hebrew Israelites a "hate cult". The fringe of the movement preaches racial hatred, just as Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic fringes do. Without further research, swallowing Brooks' label hook line and sinker adds to the very breakdown he laments.
2
This is a Brooks Jedi mind trick attempt. We did not see smirking, mobbish, young white men acting boorish. Wearing the racist MAGA hats to convey their real feelings on all subjects non white. This did not happen. Look over there.
"These are not the boys you are looking for..."
13
Thank you for illustrating the moral dangers of bothsiderism. Yes, the Black Israelites were despicable, but decent people, when confronted with despicable, don't reach for racist slurs in response. Clearly, these kids did.
Similarly, decent people don't chant and intimidate a guy singing and banging a drum. Those facts haven't changed and they're as detestable as they were when the story first was published.
And to say that that's somehow less egregious than the man who took up a drum and song to interpose between two antagonist groups? How is what Phillips did anywhere near egregious? This claim is often repeated in an effort to provide cover for the behavior of the white kids, but never can anyone point to anything egregious involved in intervening where violence looks likely. Surely the egregious action would have been to stand aside and do nothing but watch.
Again, this is the kind of response to actual egregious behavior to try to find or imagine fault in other parties in order to use bothsiderism to provide cover for genuine egregious behavior. You've provided a nice example of how that trick is done. Congrats.
6
You may want to watch the video in it's entirety with the audio on.
6
This entire episode is but another sad chapter in the rapidly devolving and unraveling of the social fabric being perpetuated by the original wearer of the MAGA hat. This in combination with social media, with both fake and real accounts, to fan the flames of righteousness, intolerance and division. Let this serve as a wake up call for all of us to begin behaving like adults, resisting temptation to react, and, most importantly to start finding the humanity amongst our fellow citizens. Maybe if we the people can behave in a mature manner our leadership in Washington, DC can begin to do the same.
5
Nick Sandmann and his family hired a PR firm to help with his "from the heart" 3 page statement in response to the incident. He (they) carefully crafted his response about his Christian and Catholic beliefs that he devoutly practices in his MAGA hat. I am also a product of private Catholic school and grew up with these so-called "christians". Many are actually living up to or trying to live up to the "christian brotherly love" ideal and then there are the Nick Sandmanns with their arrogance and rallying support from the seething throng of white privilege. I too am suspect of viral news reporting and videos and editing and context and watch, read and listen to it all from every perspective to make an informed decision and guess what? It still looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck.
20
The boy standing there staring at the Native-American drumming with a supercilious smirk on his face is not humane, no matter what happened before then. He clearly was defiantly standing in the drummer's space. So don't tell me, David, that the Covington boys' behavior was the least egregious.
21
Kids whose families can afford to hire a PR firm can always count on Brooks' support.
33
@lgainor . Bullseye.
8
Cry me a river. This article exemplifies how "benefit of the doubt" is a mask for white privilege. These boys may just go on to become president or a federal judge. Their lives are certainly not ruined.
Also, this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SthI4oRPH8k
(Covington High School students publicly displaying their proud use of black face.)
14
An interesting irony in this admonition to seek the whole story of individuals rather than buying into prepackaged stereotypes: calling the instigators' religious movement, the Black Hebrew Israelites, a "hate cult". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites
1
@Will O. I noted that too. I don't know anything about the Black Israelites (and am not prepared to dig in to find out) BUT where does Brooks get off on labeling them? Did he do his research? Has he chatted with them when they set up displays on street corners (I never have - they are WAY too intimidating to interact with).
There's SO MANY problems with this piece - not the least of which is that the MSM didn't get it wrong; Sandmann's parents hired a PR firm and are messaging this as much as ANYONE!
A decent reporter would acknowledge that there are multiple sides to this debate - and not pick sides...
1
Are you sure your read the Wikipedia in its entirety? It goes on to state that the group has been identified as a hate group by the SPLC and adopts many of the same tactics as white nationalists...
1
The NYT completly failed at adequately covering this story. They should have pieced together a mass of inputs from cell phones, comments, and info like a Louisville PR firm gaslighting. Then, assembled the best truest story of the day's events to help all points of view. Keep worrying about the NYT and its coverage. Seem to miss so much.
2
A picture tells a thousand words... a video that includes audio tells a million. Sorry Mr. Brooks, you're way off on this one.
15
Shouldn't the smirker have confronted the Black Hebrew Israelites? I guess he figured he could look tougher facing off against a single native american banging a drum and singing.
12
@RNS You do know that the native american approached the young man and got up in his face aggressively banging the drum inches from his head trying to provoke a response. I commend this young man for not taking the bait and remaining calm, even smiling peaceably. This was nothing but a concocted hate smear and you fell for it.
So, the problem is technology? Really? No, it's the media that have stereotyped a political group. The use words like deplorable, sexist, racist, Nazi and homophobe to denounce half the country. The media has embraced Antifa and the Resistance, where Republicans can't even go out to dinner. They embrace violence and bullying and doxxing.
And the media gives these lies credibility. If the media didn't report it due to the lie it was, it wouldn't be a big issue like it is today.
7
Please. Let us take a moment to reflect on this- honestly. A large group of black middle school and high school teen males bused in from Detroit. They are verbally harassed by a small group of white nationalists with confederate flags (a counterpart to the black Hebrews spouting indignities at the Catholic boy's contingent).
An older man with a bagpipe steps in the gap in the only way he know how; starts playing.
Suddenly a cocky handsome black male teen steps out of the crowd, deciding to go nose-to-nose, staring/smirking at the bagpipe playing elder. A look of smiling disgust written all over that handsome face.
The other 50-100 boys yelling, hooting gawking their approval of their teen leader?
Video goes viral. The black teen's parents hire a PR firm that submits a 3 page professionally written account- purporting to be the words of the remorse teen.
What do you suppose David and many others would say?
7
The real fiasco is that the school apparently condones the wearing of MAGA hats. Would Jesus wear a MAGA hat?
16
@1640s Full marks.
An interesting screen name. I, too, am a Philly guy.
Does your name relate to the English Civil War?
@1640s
Right. Because leftists hate free speech. Make America great again! Vote Trump!
oh please--they are wearing MAGA hats, broadcasting to the world how they support an openly racist and hateful president. They were marching to support patriarchal control over women's bodies. They aren't victims. They appeared to be exactly what they are: entitled white supremacist bullies. What a disgrace that Brooks came to their defense. (But not a surprise.)
"Boys " like this are always given a pass. Some of them end up on the Supreme Court or in the White House.
20
David Brooks wants his cake and eat it too. The ever “reasonable conservative” he is - but one who has no moral compass when it comes to basically supporting Trump and his ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ Mitch McConnell’s of the world . Never ever says a bad word about the Orange Man outright.. It’s always fence riding with David “there were fine people on both sides in Charlottesville”. Sooner than later, David, you will look back and say “what was I thinking” relative to your tacit support of Trump and the current republicans. That day will come.
Great column. Both sides in today's controversies have learned how to make videos lie. The Russian social medial disinformation efforts during the 2016 election was puny compared to everyday manipulation of reality by issue advocacy advocates.
Let's not talk about the video showing these sweet Covington boys chanting "It's Not Rape If You Enjoy It!" at the time of this incident.
Lets not talk about the blackface worn by students during a basketball game where they catcalled black players.
And of course there's the ugly rape accusations against the recently graduated Covington football star that have emerged.
David Brooks is spearheading the "MAGA reputations matter" movement.
I sure hope having that school on your college application doesn't matter.
Send them all to Liberty University.
Poor babies.
14
@Jerry
I doubt if Liberty accepts Catholics and no well-taught Catholic would go to Liberty.
The Evangelical/Conservative Catholic political alliance is strictly a marriage of Convenience. In their hearts, each group thinks that the other is going to Hell.
Maybe there were "very fine people" on all sides of this controversy, but I think the facts have shown no one was without fault here. These kids were there to express their First Amendment rights, which they have every right to do, but they were not acting respectfully, something schools, especially religious schools, should be inculcating in their students. They are kids, though, so Covenant Catholic and the parents should bear much of the responsibility for sending them into this situation unprepared. Either the chaperones weren't doing their job or there weren't enough of them for the number of students.
5
"I’m hoping that at least a few people start thinking about norms of how decent people should behave on these platforms."
And I'm hoping that at least a few people start thinking about norms of how decent people should behave in public.
2
The additional videos don't actually support MAGA Kid's narrative. Nor are Mr. Phillips' statements contradictory - he tried to find a way out of the potentially dangerous situation, and he did so by trying to defuse the situation with a prayer chant/walking through the groups.
Now, the additional videos show:
1. That while Mr. Phillips was walking through their group, most of the children moved aside to let him through, while MAGA Kid deliberately stood in his way, smirking. His denial, that he was merely smiling and trying to not be threatening, is belied by the fact that he could've simply stepped out of the way, but instead chose to block Mr. Phillips' path.
2. That the gathered MAGA kids were doing 'tomahawk chops' and mocking the Native American chant that Mr. Phillips was using.
3. The fact that the MAGA kids felt the need to remind each other "don't touch him!" is probably the most damning piece of the whole event. What kind of people need to be *reminded* not to physically assault an old man? If this was a group of Jainists, would they have had to be reminded not to assault someone?
4. Yes, we can play Pollyanna, but all honest observers know what Trump and Trumpism stand for, and what those red hats actually signal. Trumpism is not politics as usual, and pretending that is, does a profound disservice to the wounded soul of America.
There's a reason that "Trump! Trump! Trump!" is a chant used to racially intimidate people.
13
This is spot on. To pretend that the wearing of a MAGA hat is ANYTHING but a hostile, threatening middle finger directed at the most disadvantaged of our people is to be oblivious to reality. Mr. Brooks proves his obliviousness over and over.
4
Wanna bet this kid gets an invite to the White House now?
9
You know, I used to disagree with but respect David Brooks as a conservative with integrity and interesting food for thought. The Trump Presidency has really taken off the veil. This man continually misses the political moment and offers tepid, bland and ultimately insight-less commentary.
People were outraged because they saw with their own eyes what those boys were doing. You don't need to be in MENSA to have grasped that something probably happened before that moment to escalate it to that point, something that could or could not have been their fault. But that snapshot in time screams everything those boys were doing and everything they are, and subsequent clips online of their behavior in other incidents they precipitated vindicate that perception.
What Mr. Brooks has failed most in is with his CONSTANT moral equivocating. The problem in this country isn't both sides or outrage culture; it's a political movement run by a quasi-authoritarian who lies, bullies and demagogues constantly and has unleashed a wave of hate crime and intolerance the likes of which we have not seen in decades. The responses of decent people are not "outrage culture" or operating with blinders, but that they see exactly what is happening. And these young men, in their behavior, could not have been less ambiguous in what they did and what they represent.
It's time to take Mr. Brooks out of the circulation; he's past his moment and does not grasp the political moment anymore.
10
I am no fan of the MAGA hat. For many, it has come to symbolize a racist, reactionary agenda to social and cultural change in America. And living in liberal Los Angeles, the sight of a MAGA hat here is rare and extremely jarring.
But I agree with Mr. Brooks that the impulsive and angry judgments triggered by the video are not the best representation of us as Americans. The boys portrayed have been characterized as mob mentality in action ... but that same mob mentality is at work in the social media and press reaction to the video. That video does not even begin to show the truth of the event or the moment in question. It's a snapshot of a "protest" that in the current cultural context takes on greater meaning than it deserves.
I can't even begin to know what transpired in that scene because no one has bothered to dissect it. And I watch a LOT of news. And I watched the entire video of that boy's frozen smile, unable to discern what was going on in his brain or the man he was facing. Others seemed to know exactly what was happening, somehow privy to the inner thoughts and motivations of the two human beings captured on that one dimensional plane of a smartphone camera.
Like a lot of moments today, this one can't be digested because the next "moment" is already upon us and the incredible convergence of social change and social media threatens to destroy us.
8
make this a social media story all youd like, mr brooks, but the fact is that a group of white privileged young men, gathered in a public space, each wearing like a uiniform hats and scarves with a specific political message and political endorsement, antagonized people of color and indigenous americans, displaying without relent or remorse only cruelty, contempt, and unkindness
they were there. face to face. they were close enough to feel each others breaths on their faces.
it was not virtual. it was not media.
4
"I’m hoping that at least a few people start thinking about norms of how decent people should behave on these platforms." --- Brooks
Me Too!
Apparently we need pivot points like this...I hope they work beyond thinking about it...but we may need a lot more.
This is a fairly easy one, despite context issues in differing versions.
When is the last time you stood right in the face of someone who was walking toward you, such that you absolutely refused to give way? A long time? Never?
That is an utterly provocative thing to do, especially if you wear a big smirk while doing it.
This boy can write all the "this is what it meant" rationalizations he wants (and Jesus certainly has no problem with it, since he is such a good Christian!), he could even have been in the right if he had stood aside and taken some slight offence at someone barging past them, but what he did was a completely juvenile act of disrespect.
Oh, but he is a juvenile you say? Fair enough. That doesn't make it any less juvenile and disrespectful. And there is a pretty darned good chance there was more to it than just that as well, but that certainly is speculation at that point.
8
Is it more adult like to instead call for a acts of violence against juveniles on social media? Heaven forbid modeling how to create dialogue in a responsible manner.
1
@Ethan
What does your point have to do with my comment? I don't disagree with you, but it does not follow what I said.
It's easy to avoid being caught up in the social media rush to judgment. Just ignore social media. I do. Had Mr. Brooks not written about this incident, I never would have heard about it. Find better things to do than tweet and retweet memes.
5
High school is - or was- a time for learning about others so one could develop one’s own sense of beliefs and view of the world. If this group of young men is so indoctrinated that they wore MAGA hats to the Right to Life March their school attended, I would suggest they have little knowledge or understanding of what they symbolize by wearing those hats, which perhaps were provided at the March or by their parents or school. It frightens me to see youth so influenced by issues of which they have so little knowledge or experience. I wonder how they’ll feel looking back at these photos and videos in 5 or 10 years. While they may still be proponents of RTL beliefs, I suspect they will cringe at their own lack of judgement and respect. Shame on their chaperones.
6
Mr. Brooks notes: "The crucial thing is that the nation’s culture is now enmeshed in a new technology that we don’t yet know how to control." I suggest that what is needed is simply self-control.
2
I am neither a Catholic, a conservative, nor a Trump supporter and for once I agree with David Brooks. I just see a group of schoolboys, not a mob. It is so disconcerting that so many see something else. They asked permission to sing their school chant in the face of provocation. I fail to see what was so terrible about that. A video was shown on Channel 2 of Mr. Phillips running towards the group, standing close and banging his drum. The boy's face next to him seems to be more mesmerized than mocking. Maybe what is really needed is how to interpret cultural clues in relation to other groups so we know how to read them. Categorizing the boys as a mob seems extreme. No matter what our race, or what politics we favor we should always at least try not to demonize those different from us. That has been done enough in the past. It is time to stop it.
14
Having watched the video, it is clear that whatever the provocation, these kids were acting in the full knowledge of the intimidation inherent in their actions. Especially privileged kids growing up in the digital age.
Yes they are "kids acting out". But why is it MAGA kids, Mr. Brooks?
And why are they mocking a Native American chant?
This feels like the Tomorrow Belongs To Me" scene, in Cabaret.
Or the Catholic boys chanting, turning to oaths, in Lord Of The Flies. . .
13
I personally oppose the anti-choice movement, and wouldn't wear a MAGA hat if I was on the beach and suddenly turned 120 degrees. That being said, it seems to hurt one's argument when commentators ask " what were the young MAGA hat wearers doing at a anti-choice rally anyway?" It's obviously presented to attribute more bullying characteristics to them, and to offer it as fuller proof. Although it seems logical to draw to that conclusion, it still gives people that support the boy's behavior fuel to say, " see, the liberals are losing their minds, they see the boys supporting the president and assume their horrible bullies." Falling right into their hands. In this day and age, people feel they have to offer fuller proof than what is clearly visible to our eyes because we are subconsciously complying with the latest message of " "don't believe what you see. We will tell you what you saw." My reply is ," I know what I saw." Yes, I watched all 2 hours, and for them to try to excuse their behavior because of another groups taunts, and make any sort of connection between the two, is so laughable and disgusting. Again, I know what I saw.
"
2
Didn't start this weekend. Consider Shirley Sherrod or the misleadingly edited planned parent hood baby part video.
2
Whether the news was reported accurately or not, the image of that young man smirking at a Native American sums up the Trump era very well.
13
"Before you judge the reporters too harshly...."? I hope that was meant as sarcasm. Nothing that follows this clause provides a basis for not judging the reporters too harshly. Although everything stated in the remainder of the paragraph is correct and quite astute, the fact that reporters need their stories to turn into click bait and that social media is the tail that wags mainstream news' dog, does not excuse abandonment of basic journalistic precepts regarding accuracy, and ethics.
9
American colonists had the stockades to punish & humiliate. As with many other things, we've developed more efficient methods. In this case social media. More effective, just as cruel.
3
"For those of you vacationing on Mars this past weekend, a video went viral showing a group of boys, many of them in MAGA hats, surrounding an older Native American man who was banging a drum."
Didn't see it. But no, I wasn't vacationing on Mars. Just at home playing with my 1 year old daughter. What was I thinking?
5
You left out the part where the Native American activist and provocateur walked out of his way to confront and taunt the high schoolers. They surrounded him only because he deliberately walked into their midst and obnoxiously banged his drum in their faces.
3
I appreciate the thoughtful commentary. However, there is another aspect that was missed. This is what REAL NEWS looks like.
Newspapers, reporters, and media outlets make mistakes. This is of two possibly blockbuster reporting errors this weekend, the other being Buzzfeed's report that President Trump told Michael Cohen to lie in his Congressional testimony. Major news outlets ran both stories. However, when inaccuracies and inconsistencies emerged, those same news outlets quickly printed corrections.
President Trump claimed both examples demonstrated fake news. That is false. Real news organizations value accuracy above all else. As with all human endeavors, and with the added fog of conflicting accounts, reporting mistakes inevitable. Real news organizations publish their mistakes and issue corrections. Look at the corrections page for The New York Times. That is what truthful reporting looks like.
So, yes, these teens deserve due process, not a viral media frenzy. However, let's not lose sight that the same news organizations that rushed to publish the story also rushed to correct it.
REAL NEWS is alive and well. That may be the bigger story from this weekend's reporting kerfluffles.
4
There are always several sides and viewpoints to every story. Here is mine.
I grew up in Oklahoma, as red a state as you can get. I am Native American and there's no getting around it. I grew up getting looks and stares, and at times I was followed around and spoken to slowly as if I couldn't understand something simple. All this before I turned 18.
I couldn't even watch the videos that surfaced this past week. Why? The look the young man giving one of my elders (yes, I'm claiming him as my elder, even though he is another tribe than mine) triggered me. It triggered my boyfriend who is also Native and grew up in rural Montana. We know the look all too well, and it's not a smile and it's not a look of defiance. It's simply: I am better than you.
I could feel this same sense of entitlement bleeding through Mr. Brooks' column. His column jumps into the fray by assuming Nathan Phillips told two separate stories. But did he really or was it the same story expanded upon? Did Mr. Brooks think to ask him?
Mr. Brooks also repeatedly says that Mr. Phillips was "banging on his drum." Well, Mr. Phillips, a veteran, isn't some kid pretending he is Dave Grohl in his parents' basement. He was singing a prayer song. These statements alone demonstrate Mr. Brooks lack of cultural sensitivity.
I would love to read an article by a person of color reviewing this situation, preferably by someone Native American who understands their roots. Although, I doubt the Times has someone on staff...
28
@Tana
Thank you for your perspective. I am not Native American and I was triggered too. The look on this kid's face when confronting a Native American man while wearing a MAGA hat sickened me.
Maybe the boy's life was altered by this spotlight but it is not ruined. Actually, let's hope these boys get a good close look at themselves and see how bad things could go if they don't restrain aggressive behaviour and the spot light on social media wakes them up that their actions have consequences.
Nathan got between two bad groups. Why David, are you choosing to side with that boy who tried to intimidate an old man who was trying to neutralize violence? That young man needs to learn that it's better to walk away from conflict, not throw gasoline on it. Social media has acted as a mirror, that is all.
This is not left verses right, this is about raising decent children. Sadly we see a lot of this kind of yelling and intimidation by the Trump base at Trump's rallies. Now we are seeing it in kids wearing MAGA hats. It's wrong. It needs to be highlighted and debated and analyzed. Now it is.
David Brooks, your article is off. Possibly the worst off I've read of yours.
13
This kind of thing is one of the main reasons why I avoid social media.
7
The hate on the left is unprecedented in my lifetime. We are doomed.
13
You and I agree on the doomed thing. But I think the Neo-Nazi tiki-torch folks and the child/parent asylum-seeker separation policy worker bees have cornered the market on hate.
1
But not on the right. Everyone on the right are all puppies and smiles. No hate mongering over there.
1
Anyone-anybody-can be redeemed and forgiven. Right up to his or her final moment. Michael Green gives us lefties a rotten name. Top that off with the truth being diametrically opposite what he believed (and we wanted to believe).
4
This kind of snap to judgment has been going on a while. the difference is, it used to be mostly a snap to judgment against minorities. They are lazy. They are predators. See: Trump and the Central Park 5.
The difference between sides now is that mainstream media tries to correct stories. We are still waiting for Trump's admission he was wrong in calling for the death penalty for the 5 whom DNA later acquitted.
2
I really do not know what happened or why. My biases today are against anyone wearing a MAGA hat who has just come from an anti-choice rally. Not so long ago my biases were against anyone carrying a Confederate battle flag and defending “Separate and Unequal”.
I somehow suspect I’m looking at the same people...
10
All one has to do is look at the short 2 minute video at the faces of the kids and of the American Indian vet drumming. We can draw our own conclusions, each and everyone one of us.
As to the "story" that both sides tell, It's been said that at the scene a car accident, ten strangers can often tell ten very different accounts. So, I would expect that some will see "poor little boys being attacked" while others will see a "proud Native American" being told to get off "their" white-kid land. (Or whatever.)
Yet, beyond all this, America got to look into all their faces, and see for ourselves something iconic that lives beyond words or story.
Images have a life of their own, beyond words. Recently we saw Kavanaugh screaming about his right to a good life and career. Christine Blasey Ford politely deferred as she explained why he was not a fit candidate, only to have her right to fair due process subsequently denied. these images too how have a life of their own.
Mr. Brooks, you have added your comment, your viewpoint, and your rationalization. But you cannot wipe away what each of us has seen with our own eyes.
Whatever you see. That lives on. This video is part of our history now. And our pain, too. And our shame. Our sadness. And so much more.
Those who try to explain it away will never do so in neat, tidy packages.
5
@Patsy. “All one has to do is look at the short 2 minute video...”. Exactly wrong. This is a case where the 2-minute video does not tell the whole story, and in fact will lead you to the wrong conclusions. There are at least 3 videos out there and you need to watch them all to figure out what happened.
2
@Overpop Thank you for your comment. But... exactly the opposite of my comment. A picture tells its own story. I can look at one picture and see an entire story in an expression.
Not to say there are not other stories. But there is not just one truth, of course. The picture is ONE TRUTH among many that is indisputable, it brings out a gut reaction to me, and my reaction may differ from yours, but it is mine.
And I don't need two hours of "story" written or otherwise. I see an entire story in that one moment. That is the gist of my post. Love it , like it, hate it, think meh, or otherwisemove on.
I respect your choice. Don't diminish my point, please.