Covington 2: Newsrooms falsely accuse West Point cadets of flashing ‘white supremacy’ symbol

Clearly, we have learned nothing from the Covington Catholic fiasco, an especially shameful episode in media malpractice for which several publications now face multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits.

The jarringly stupid Army-Navy episode begins with an obscure Twitter user, @BruthaManTho, who tweeted photos of ESPN’s broadcast with the accompanying commentary, “Just wanted to enjoy the #ArmyNavy. Didn’t expect or want to see the White Power symbol thrown up by cadets on national television.”

The person added, “They are well aware of what they are doing and think it’s funny. Disgusting. … nothing like seeing a bunch of cadets throwing up the white power symbol on national television.”

The tweets soon went viral, creating an entire news cycle based around the laugh-out-loud assertion that cadets playing the “circle game” had displayed “white power” symbols on national television.

The New York Times, for example, published an article on the incident on Sunday explaining how the “OK” hand gesture has “became a fraught one.”

This is so stupid. I genuinely resent everyone for making me explain this.

First, the “OK” symbol that members of the press and activist groups attribute to white supremacists started as a joke. Trolls on the internet thought it would be funny to trick the broader media into believing that a universally accepted hand gesture was part of a secret code used by white supremacists (the New York Times article mentions all of this). The “OK” gesture then became an inside joke among actual white supremacists, which resulted in activist groups and the press declaring the innocuous symbol off-limits for everyone.

In other words, the “OK” sign is “fraught” because the targets of a joke campaign by online trolls say so.

Secondly, the “OK” hand gesture attributed to white supremacists is right-side up (fingers pointing upwards). The hand gestures seen on national television this weekend at the Army-Navy game show the cadets’ hands pointing downward and sideways because they are playing the “circle game,” not pledging their allegiance to white supremacy, you unbelievable idiots.

Amazingly, the United States Naval Academy and United States Military Academy have launched separate investigations into their cadets. The media, meanwhile, are treating the story as though they’re near-certain the students flashed “white supremacist” symbols on television.

NBC News, for example, reports that military officials are looking into “what appeared to be white supremacist hand signs” made by students before the Army-Navy football game on Saturday.

Then there is the “Facts First” crowd over at CNN.

“A lot of people saw this as it was happening in real-time,” said host John Berman. “Very serious questions.”

Erica Hill called the incident, “Troubling.”

Later, host Dave Briggs noted that the Anti-Defamation League “does consider the OK gesture a hate crime in some cases.” Briggs then revealed that CNN would not “show the gesture.”

“Even the notion of it is very disturbing,” said CNN’s Dana Bash.

Then there those in the news media who saved their reactions for Twitter, which is home to just some of the dumbest people alive.

David Johnston, whose Twitter biography boasts of his 53 years of investigative reporting, asked of the West Point and Naval Academy superintendents, “Are you going to discipline the cadets & midshipmen who flashed white power signs at the Army Navy game? Note: video shows they timed their racist hand signals to make sure they’d appear on the Jumbotron. Expulsion?”

“White power symbols,” said NFL columnist Mike Freeman. “From Army cadets. Knowing they are on live television. Trump emboldens this trash. He absolutely does. These guys should be kicked out immediately.”

Another sportswriter, Nathan Bernhardt, expressed irritation that anyone would suggest that the cadets had not actually flashed symbols of white supremacy, writing, “are we all still doing that ‘oh they’re only throwing up that sign because YOU think it’s associated with white supremacy, don’t let them troll you’ thing or have people grown up.”

“Whatever it used to mean,” said CNN contributing opinion writer Jeff Yang, “this symbol used in this fashion is now indelibly associated with white supremacist individuals and agendas, and these cadets are making it on national TV, behind the head of a cadet of color.”

Put another way: Even if they didn’t mean it, they’re still guilty.

In January, newsrooms rushed to accuse a group of Covington Catholic students of racism when an abbreviated video of the teenagers’ confrontation with an elderly Native American protester went viral. It turns out the students were innocent and that they did none of the things of which they were accused. It has not even been one year, and the exact same story is playing out all over again with the media blindly rushing to accuse obscure nobodies of overt bigotry. The only things that have changed between the January incident and now are the names and locations.