I realize I’m not breaking really new ground here, but it really is interesting to compare the reaction to Jussie Smollett and Christopher Paul Hasson.
Jussie Smollett
Smollett is, of course, the “Empire” actor who staged the fake attack on him that resulted in considerable outrage. Smollett told police that he was attacked outside his apartment building by two men in ski masks who called him racial and homophobic slurs, said “This is MAGA country,” and put a noose around his neck. Pretty inflammatory stuff. Turns out that Smollett had hired two brothers of Nigerian descent, who have acted as extras on Empire, and paid them by check.
Oops.
It’s very rare that somebody files false accusations in a case like this, but it does happen. Other famous false accusations include:
- The accusations Crystal Gail Mangum made against three Duke lacrosse players.
- The accusations Charles Stuart made against an unknown black assailant after murdering his wife and faking injury by shooting himself in the side.
- The accusations made against the Central Park Five.
Making these kind of false claims is especially pernicious because it then casts doubt on the credibility of future cases and future victims.
But mostly it proves how stupid Smollett is. In this day and age, with the sophisticated forensic capabilities that law enforcement has — and they are inclined to be especially diligent in an emotionally charged high-profile case like this — there was almost no chance that Smollett would get away with this.
Christopher Paul Hasson
Hasson is an entirely different matter. This guy — a former Marine and active member of the Coast Guard who identified openly as a white nationalist — planned on assassinating 23 specific politicians, media figures, and left-wing activists, planned on using biological weapons in other attacks, and professed his desire to “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen.”
Ever since Stephen Paddock , you know there will always be someone looking to “raise the bar.”
Presidential Reaction
President Trump, being the calm even-handed personality that he is, fired up a tweetstorm about Jussie Smollett. He wasn’t wrong about everything he wrote, but still. And Christopher Paul Hasson? There was only silence.
Trump and his supporters wonder why all of the rest of us accuse them of racism. Use this as example #1.
