I'm sure that most people have heard the tragic, grisly story of the son who killed his father, decapitated him and then posted a video of it on YouTube, calling for a "revolution" against "the Biden regime" and "illegal immigrants." NBC News posted a tweet about the story on Twitter, which read, "A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after allegedly killing his father and displaying his decapitated head in a YouTube video."
I was curious, since that left out a critical part of the story, so I click on the link. The much longer story went into great detail -- yet for all the length, it too left out that critical part of the story. There was no mention at all of the man calling for a "revolution" against "the Biden regime" and "illegal immigrants." I can't imagine why NBC News did this. The only remote guess I can make is that they felt it was potentially "triggering" for other political violence. And if so, the point is valid -- but I don't think the omission is. Because without it, there can be no outrage at the political ramifications of Trump and Republican officials inciting such ghastly violence. To me, and some others with more substantive voices than mine that I saw, his is utterly irresponsible of NBC News. Hopefully when they covered it on television, they rectified this unacceptable error in judgement. By the way, what I also wrote on social media yesterday was that the story is not even remotely indicative of all people on the far-right, nor should anyone suggest that it is. However, I do look forward to Trump and Republican officials condemning it (and not leaving it to just Democrats doing so) and tempering their hyperbole out of awareness how their words can have a serious effect on those who are disturbed. That said, I don't expect Trump to do so, nor to I expect Republican officials to do so either. But I live in hope. And if they don't do so, their silence should speak volumes.
2 Comments
John
2/1/2024 09:37:08 am
Robert — As I lived in Levittown for many years this story resonated deeply with me.
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Robert Elisberg
2/1/2024 08:14:45 pm
John, thanks for your note. I'm glad to know that NBC did at least cover it in detail on the air. And that the local NBC station covered it so well. And to be clear, my piece about was specifically and solely about NBC's tweet and online article, not anything to do with MSNBC.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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