Wow.
Just….wow.
Wow.
OK…if I had to accurately express the way I’m feeling right now, I’d say that for about four hundred more lines. I’m just…wow. You probably want me to get right to it. So I will.
I just wrote about Kaepernick. And in the fallout, I’ve heard some pretty damn racist things about Kaepernick.
Usually, you hear a racist story being pushed and you fight it, and the reaction is, “Naw, man, I don’t mean it to be racist. It’s a fact.”
These things aren’t fact. They were made up to attack Kaepernick. They are the typical tabloid bs. And the only reason they are gaining traction is because people want to believe it, because they think it will cause people to disregard Kaepernick’s protest. It’s proof positive that this is a racist, sexist country, people know this is a racist, sexist country, and they will push stories — even spurious ones — based on that assumption when they need to use that racism and sexism against someone they don’t like.
It’s beyond despicable. It’s beyond infuriating.
I thought we were past this. But no. We’re not. The very people who deny these stereotypes exist use them and traffic in them to discredit people they don’t like, and it’s bloody infuriating.
OK, so the first way they thought to discredit him is saying that he’s a Muslim.
Once you trace the claims all the way back, you find the evidence, as Snopes discusses, are these pictures:
No, I’m not about to just say that his being Muslim doesn’t matter. I mean, it wouldn’t. But usually when I make that argument, the response is, “Well, I’m not saying it would matter — I’m just pointing out a fact.” And then the person just keeps sharing the information, damaging the person’s name without saying that’s what they’re doing.
That excuse isn’t available here.
Remember that game of “spot the differences” you played when you were the kid?
Let’s play.
These are the originals. See if you can see anything different.
Look carefully. Ready for the answer?
Someone photoshopped that Islamic symbol on his chest. And another one photoshopped his face onto a well-known photograph of Osama bin Laden.
I’m done.
I…what the fuck do you say to that?
I mean…think about it…someone not only took the time to do it — the right was so eager to have their racist stereotypes confirmed that they spread the rumor like wildfire.
The only reason this story went viral is because people are bigoted as hell against Muslims, and they thought saying he was a Muslim would just invalidate his entire protest.
And they thought people would believe it because Kaepernick is black and his girlfriend is a Muslim. But worse than that — this untrue story got spread like wildfire because they thought it could hurt him.
If you need proof that America is Islamaphobic, it’s right there. That’s some extreme Islamaphobia right now. It’s the definition of a racist ad hominem.
Speaking of his girlfriend, the other rumor is that Kaepernick’s girlfriend is pushing him to protest. That, supposedly, makes Kaepernick a “cuck” and not worth listening to.
If you trace this rumor back, you’ll see it goes back to this guy. It’s all of one paragraph long, written yesterday, and claims that “we’re now hearing that it was actually his girlfriend Nessa’s idea for Colin to protest.”
No sources. But that’s good enough for the Internet.
I mean, seriously. Who the hell cares if she DID persuade him to do it? He still made his own decision. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that this was an attack on his masculinity — a rather baldly sexist one — so that people would stop listening to what he says. A black man who isn’t a “real man” — hen pecked by his black girlfriend. All the stereotypes there, perfect.
And so, a terrible story spreads like wildfire, even though, even if it were true, it shouldn’t indicate that he was wrong.
I mean, seriously. A tabloid gossip columnist? Get outta here.
But it gets worse, folks. Because just ten hours ago that same gossip guy using the exact same source said this:
Yesterday we posted about Kaepernick’s Girlfriend Nessa may have been the one responsible for his Protest, today it seems Nessa is distancing herself from him, and the rumors. We received this in our tipbox, ” I was able to confirm today that Nessa is NOT kaps girlfriend. She has been leaking stories for months. The Muslim connection is her trying to get some fame off this. However, it can get him hurt by some crazy person. She’s trying to push off on him being Muslim and he is NOT. He is indeed a Christian and does not have a formal relationship with Nessa. He has helped her through charitable donations and that’s it. From what I hear, he has been dating another women for a while but keeping it lowkey for privacy.”
This story has been out for ten hours. Who has been talking about it?
Virtually nobody. Because it doesn’t make a racist, sexist attack against him.
This is racism and sexism at work.
At its worst.
You know…you talk about this kind of thing and argue about it…then you see bald-faced example of it up close and personal.
It catches you off guard. Shit, I was right.
But the “I told you so” fades into a depressed sigh, because for awhile you hoped that we were better than this.
Unfortunately, we’re not.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. I have a Patreon, if you want to help me keep doing what I’m doing.