So many hoaxes, so little time. That’s what the mainstream media seems to think of the fake hate crimes that are committed by hoaxers, who then blame the damage on Trump supporters.
Major media outlets will occasionally report on the phony crimes, but they frequently leave out the fact that the crimes were initially – and incorrectly – pinned on Trump supporters. For example:
“Congregant is Charged with Arson of Church,” says the New York Times headline above the story of the man who spray-painted “Vote Trump” on the side of his own place of worship before torching it. Similarly, CBS’ headline ignored the fact that the crime was initially pinned on Trump supporters: “Congregation Member Arrested In Black Church Burning in Mississippi.”
Fakers also gravitate to inventing tales of Islamophobia: A student at the University of Michigan made up a story about a drunk man threatening to set her on fire if she did not remove her hijab. (The CNN story does not call this a lie. The post merely says the event “didn’t happen,” not that it was entirely made up.) Similarly, a Houston mosque was set ablaze… by a Muslim man who worshiped there.
A search for “hoax” on the New York Times website yields a first results page with no mention of these fake crimes, but one mention of a Twitter hoax that falsely reported the death of Britney Spears.
These hoaxes are almost always initially reported as fact. The rush to publish misinforms people — people who vote, and people who share those fake stories with others, exponentially increasing the damage. Recent examples include the Muslim woman who claimed she was assaulted by pro-Trump men on the subway (she later confessed to fabricating the story), and another Muslim woman who falsely reported an attack by Trump supporters on an LSU campus.
In typical NYT fashion, their headline about the subway hoaxer didn’t include the fact that she blamed it on Trump fans: “Muslim Woman Made Up Hate Crime on Subway, Police Say,” doesn’t mention the Trump connection until the third paragraph.
Later stories that expose the lies and correct the record do not have anywhere near the viral appeal and vast reach of their sensational predecessors.
These hoaxes are hate crimes in their own right: The perpetrators are trying to drum up hatred against Trump supporters. And while there are certainly stories of Trump fans behaving badly that deserve to be reported far and wide (and prosecuted when a crime has taken place), a single fake police report is one too many. This is not to minimize the horror of real hate crimes. Part of the damage done by fakers is that they make people less likely to believe real victims who deserve compassion and justice.
