The mainstream media, with few exceptions, have become haters. They don’t hesitate to ruin a person’s life if they think it will score points for the Democrats and against President Trump. Case in question: a young man at the March for Life, a student from Covington Catholic High School (Kentucky) was excoriated by all the big media outlets, except for Fox, for something he didn’t do, namely, castigate and racially demean Nathan Phillips, a native American activist.
The young man whose life has been permanently changed is Nick Sandmann, a high school junior, whose statement explains what actually happened. While waiting for their bus to return, the Covington students were taunted by four African-American protestors who called them “racists,” “bigots,” “white crackers,” “faggots,” and “incest kids.”
They asked one of their chaperons if they could sing a school chant to drown out the harassment. “At no time did I hear any student chant anything other than the school spirit chants. I did not witness or hear any students chant “build that wall” or anything hateful or racist at any time. Assertions to the contrary are simply false.”
That’s when Nathan Phillips and other Native Americans protestors stepped forward. Phillips puts his face in front of Nick’s face, invasively so, while he and his group beat native drums and sing tribal chants. “He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.” Nick did not speak to him and did not make any rude gestures. Things were said by the Native Americans, such as “you stole our land” and you should “go back to Europe.” But Nick remained never reacted to any of this aggression.
“I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.” Subsequent videos of the episode corroborate Nick’s statement. But that was after a video went viral making it look like Phillips was being mocked. Conservatives are always quick to betray their own. Some prominent Catholic bloggers swallowed the hook and had to apologize later on. Even National Review piled on: NR’s writer Nicholas Frankovich wrote, “it appears” that the students “mock a serious frail-looking older man and gloat in their momentary role as Roman soldiers to his Christ.” The headline read, “The Covington Students Might as Well Have Just Spit on the Cross,” The article was later pulled.
Naturally, both the Catholic Diocese of Covington and the high school both issued apologies before knowing the facts: much better to sacrifice the reputation, and ruin the future, of a Catholic teenager than being associated with the charge of racism. Institutional Catholicism lacks all backbone except when it comes to global warming and open borders.
Writing for Fox News, Todd Starns declares that none of the major media outlets who ganged up on the student from Covington Catholic High School will apologize. Even though, “now, thanks to irrefutable video evidence, we know that the entire story was a hoax – a flat-out lie.”
How many teenagers going to the March for Life expect to become a national object of hate while riding back on the bus to their home town? Nonetheless, Nick had the largeness of heart to congratulate the man who maligned him for his service to the nation: “I have read that Mr. Phillips is a veteran of the United States Marines. I thank him for his service and am grateful to anyone who puts on the uniform to defend our nation. If anyone has earned the right to speak freely, it is a U.S. Marine veteran.”
Faux Catholic conservatives like the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat pontificated, “Don’t let your Catholic school’s students wear MAGA hats on a field trip for the March for Life.” Seriously? Blaming the victim is bad enough but singling out for blame a “Make America Great Again” hat only confirms the media’s all-out effort to make support for our President toxic. Would Douthat blame Obama hat wear if white extremists taunted marchers in a Martin Luther King parade? No.
From the Book of James, Chapter 3, verses 5-6. ” Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” The lies were deliberately told and encircled Nick Sandmann so quickly they could not be called back. I hope the Catholics of Covington, KY, and perhaps elsewhere, will take this young man under their care. He will need support and prayers, and in the future, he will need friends who will defend his reputation and secure his place in the community.
The lesson to be learned here is not the supposed bad judgment in wearing a MAGA hat. The lesson is this: If you are a Christian and pro-life, the media hates you. And that’s a reality not just for those in the public eye, but any of us.