COMMENTARY | The Dillon Taylor shooting, which involved a 20-year-old white unarmed teen and an African-American police officer, has gone largely unreported save for The Inquisitr’s own Jonathan Vankin and numerous conservative blogs.
The relative lack of media attention and the White House’s lackadaisical attitude toward the death of Taylor — though to be fair, they may not be saying anything because none of the so-called “serious” journalists are asking about it and they may not know, though we doubt it — has fueled the anger and outrage of many on the opposite side of the Michael Brown shooting.
Ferguson, Missouri, has become a hotbed of protests and protesters demanding answers as to why Brown, an unarmed African-American teen, was shot six times by a white police officer.
In the Brown case, evidence has surfaced (via Washington Post ) that calls in to question the original narrative sold by the Ferguson protesters and the national media.
Furthermore, the reported vicious attack to the face of the police officer and the manner in which the shots were fired have gelled with opposing testimonies that the Ferguson cop, Darren Wilson, may have acted in self-defense.
Yes, six shots seem a little much to shoot anyone unarmed, but there is still a lot we don’t know about that situation, such as the full toxicology report of Michael Brown (We do know there was marijuana in his system, but the autopsy results are unclear at this point).
However, there has been an active willingness to convict Wilson before a proper investigation can be conducted.
In an effort to win sympathy from what the Ferguson protesters are going through, President Barack Obama has even called for a review of the military-grade equipment and gear that has been issued to the Ferguson police and departments in general throughout the country (Something I’m not entirely against).
Through all this, we’ve heard so much talk of race being the primary motivator for the death of Michael Brown.
With the Dillon Taylor shooting, however, we’ve heard nothing.
Nothing from so-called journalists, who seem to be creating news instead of reporting it. And that’s a shame, really, because it highlights the conversation that Ferguson protesters should be having instead of the racially-charged animosity that has broken out as a result of the Michael Brown shooting.
And that conversation should be over this: how we allow the news to influence our actions.
As with Michael Brown, the Dillon Taylor shooting still has a few variables we know nothing about. For instance, the cop responsible for shooting Taylor was wearing a camera at the time. To date, the police have not released the footage captured in Taylor’s final moments.
There could be an entirely plausible reason for this delay; then again, they could be stonewalling with a more sinister motivation.
We don’t know. And this is why we shouldn’t be taking to the streets and social media spreading misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies.
We are so quick to latch on to our version of the truth and blast it out to our followers on Facebook and Twitter without showing discretion; without checking all the facts; without drawing a well-thought-out conclusion.
Unfortunately, when we do this, we get the media we deserve, and we drift further and further apart as a nation.