Jussie's attackers: Nigerian brothers

Perhaps the most amazing thing about this analogy is the opinion of the world at large, including all of Twitter, is bound to a DWTS casting decision.

The worst thing about this analogy was that Lochte didn’t preplan what happened in Brazil and pay people to help him to stage it. Smollett allegedly did.

 

Well, for one, Lochte didn't actually lie to the police.

Bigger than that, though, he didn't spend weeks preparing his fake attack, enlisting others in his plan, building props, staging practices and faking letters. I think Lochte did think he got held up to a degree, albeit after doing something stupid. The swimmers had a gun pulled on them, and they handed over cash.

Jussie made this attack up from absolutely nothing. Lochte babbled about being held up while half drunk the next morning.

At the very least it's Jussie's murder to Lochte's manslaughter. They're hardly equal.

 

Amazingly, the case is still pending, or was into last summer, after having once been dismissed. I didn't realize this:

Prosecutors in Rio Are Cleared to Pursue Criminal Case Against Ryan Lochte

No question, though, he didn't actually lie to police. He's an idiot, no question, but that's a significant difference.

And don't forget, he also was on this season of Celebrity Big Brother, where he came off so stupid it's hard to believe it's very authentic.

 

That's fair. I'll take this L

 

The lesson learned here is that the Chicago PD, including superintendent Eddie Johnson are incompetent. Trying to deflect the blame on celebrities, political candidates and news commentators is bad political theatre. And of course they overreact on the other side, $100,000 bail.

Those who lament that this damages legitimate black and gay complaints are complicit in racist thinking that whatever a black or gay person does is reflective of the group while whatever a white person does, does not damage a group, because they are not a group, they are normal.

 

This is absurd on many levels.

 

Need to stipulate here that it was the story of "people," entirely fictitious, hating the guy.
If hate crimes are perpetrated to instill fear in people who identify with the victim, hate-crime hoaxes are perpetrated to inspire hatred toward those in the same group as the ones who purportedly committed the bogus crime. I think the latter are every bit as heinous as the former, once you go beyond the actual crime part (assault, whatever) and affix the "hate" adjective.

 

Indicted.
Jussie Smollett indicted on 16 felony counts by grand jury

 

16 felonies? That feels excessive

That’s like a month of Donald Trump

 

It's ridiculous political theater. So was assigning 12 detectives to the original investigation

 

If the attack actually went down the way Smollett said - it's absoultely a hate crime - when the "motive" of the crime is to inflict pain based on someone's skin color. Does the same hold true - more or less - if it is a false report and the intent (or result) was to inflict pain on those who supported Trump? I'll hang up and listen.

 

In order inflict pain, the recipient would have to feel pain.