Only a Matter of Time Before the Social Media Mob Comes for You [incl. Reza Aslan]

Not content with the bonfire of journalistic credibility Buzzfeed set alight on Friday, much of the mainstream media have made matters worse. Over the weekend, they directed their politicized venom at a group of teenagers from Covington Catholic School in Kentucky. And because of their political bias, they got it very wrong, again.

As the March for Life in Washington wound down, a video surfaced showing what appears to be a group of Catholic students, many clad in “MAGA” hats, confronting Nathan Phillips, an activist from the Indigenous People’s March. This set off all kinds of social justice alarm bells. The media leapt into action, condemning the students with ferocity and even vindictiveness.

Journalists went on the offensive. CNN ran an article titled “Teens in Make America Great Again hats mocked a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial” but later changed the headline to “Teen in confrontation with Native American says he was trying to diffuse the situation.” Anna Merlan of Jezebel tweeted out a request for Covington Catholic High School yearbooks in what appeared to be an effort to identify, and possibly dox, the students. Former CNN host Reza Aslan tweeted “honest question have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kids” with a photo of one of the Covington students seen in the video.

[Editor’s note: This is an excerpt. To read the rest of the article, please click here.]

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