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The truth about Matthew Shepard???

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by BenPoquette, Sep 14, 2013.

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  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Nice job of building a strawman to knock down, rather than address the point made in the article (in the leading gay magazine).

    No one's made absurd claims, so you're mocking imaginary claims makes no sense.

    The question of whether a narrative was built up around this case immediately, and not challenged, is a valid question for discussion.

    And, even the basic truthfulness of an established narrative in a case like this doesn't make a narrative any less bad. Because, any change to the narrative is fought, as this one has been since at least 2004, we don't get the whole truth, and often we get something less than the truth.

    We should all be offended by that.

    We should also be wary of a media, looking for stories that will fit into the social agenda they want to push. If a story fits too conveniently, well, then maybe their more interested in the storyline than the truth.
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Why do you feel the need to disparage Abner Doubleday in this manner?
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    If you're reporting something that is true, I don't think that can characterized as disparaging someone.

    And, the problem with writing a jiffy narrative, that explains a case simply, and conveniently exposes the problems with society (or at least hateful right-wingers), is that it suppresses further reporting.

    So, when an alternate narrative is presented, the media isn't even in the position to label it as false, because they simply don't know if it is or isn't.

    And so, they either ignore it, or fight it.

    Getting to the truth of a story should be the goal, and media narratives get in the way of that goal.
     
  4. BenPoquette

    BenPoquette Active Member

    Pretty low bar for "disparaging" a person around these parts.
     
  5. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Is Michael Hastings with them, writing the story?
     
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Well, to say that Shepard was a meth user, and potentially a seller of meth, is a pretty serious charge.

    If Shepard knew his killer, had partied with him, and had sex with him, and we never learned it, it's a pretty serious charge against the media, and law enforcement.

    I don't know the truth.

    The problem is, neither do reporters who worked the case.
     
  7. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    People were found guilty in a court of law of killing Shepard because he was gay. Then again, it was a trial in that pinko bastion, Wyoming, so...
     
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    What's your point?
     
  9. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Yep, and actually, they're all in Al Capone's vault.
     
  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    It should go without saying, but...

    Questioning whether a media narrative is less than fully accurate, should not be equated with condoning anyone's murder, nor blaming the victim of any murder.

    To pretend it is, is just one more strawman.
     
  11. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    The guy who admitted killing Matthew Shepard because Shepard came on to him tells the exact same story to the "author" of this book.

    Here's the buried lede, in case you missed it: "Despite the many interviews, Jimenez does not entirely resolve the true nature of McKinney’s relationship to Shepard, partly because of his unreliable chief witness."

    So, the guy spent 13 years trying to uncover the "truth" about this and is not able to produce anything other than "concerning" anecdotes? Like, "Shepard was gay and a certain age in Wyoming, and we KNOW that gays of that age have used meth in Wyoming, therefore Shepard did too."

    And, you construct your argument as if it's not possible for a murder to be BOTH hate-driven and drug-driven.

    If I thought for even a second that you wanted to have an honest discussion about media and their strengths and weaknesses, I'd address that point, too.
     
  12. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    You are saying that as if the story you posted actually proves this, but it does not. It is weak reporting with an agenda, exactly the kind of thing you claim to be arguing against here.
     
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