Thunberg Versus Sandmann

Two minor children, both age 16, treated vastly differently by the Left and the leftists in the media who masquerade as journalists: one selected as Time’s “Person of the Year;” the other vilified for months by the legacy media. Let us compare and contrast.

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Nicholas Sandmann made national news in January when a video went viral that showed a confrontation between the 16-yr-old Sandmann who was on a capital tour with classmates and long-time Native American activist Nathan Phillips. The Washington Post and other legacy media used that misleading video to paint a false narrative of “confrontation and intimidation” by the MAGA hat-wearing Sandmann. After months of accusations and piling on by leftists seemingly everywhere, the real truth came out, as summarized in Sandmann’s $250 million lawsuit filed in August against the Washington Post for “compensatory and punitive damages” for defamation. Here is what really happened:

  • In a span of three (3) days in January of this year commencing on January 19, the Post engaged in a modern-day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann (“Nicholas”), an innocent secondary school child.

  • The Post wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red “Make America Great Again” souvenir cap on a school field trip to the January 18 March for Life in Washington, D.C. when he was unexpectedly and suddenly confronted by Nathan Phillips (“Phillips”), a known Native American activist, who beat a drum and sang loudly within inches of his face (“the January 18 incident”).

  • Nicholas stood quietly and respectfully for several minutes after being targeted and bullied by Phillips and Nicholas’ body language remained non-aggressive and passive throughout the incident.

  • Nicholas is 16-years of age, is 5’9” in height and weighs 115 pounds.

  • The school field trip to the Nation’s capital was the first out-of-state trip Nicholas had ever taken without being with his family.

  • In targeting and bullying Nicholas by falsely accusing him of instigating the January 18 incident, the Post conveyed that Nicholas engaged in acts of racism by “swarming” Phillips, “blocking” his exit away from the students, and otherwise engaging in racist misconduct.

  • The Post ignored basic journalist standards because it wanted to advance its well-known and easily documented, biased agenda against President Donald J. Trump (“the President”) by impugning individuals perceived to be supporters of the President.

  • As a 16-year old secondary school student, Nicholas’ political beliefs are anything but established and entrenched in his young mind.

  • Nicholas has zero history of political activism or aggressiveness and did not exhibit any such conduct even when confronted with unbridled racist attacks by activist bullies at the National Mall.

  • The Post’s campaign to target Nicholas in furtherance of its political agenda was carried out by using its vast financial resources to enter the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles which effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President.

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Sandmann deserved privacy and was instead doxed for political reasons by the left. He stands a very good chance of handing the legacy media a significant monetary defeat, but his notoriety in the minds of the Left has placed an indelible target on his back for leftist activists for the rest of his life.

Let us contrast his treatment by the legacy media and the Left with their ridiculous and gushing praise meted out to climate alarmist activist Greta Thunberg, also age 16. This is how Time recently summarized her rise to worldwide fame.

[S]tarting in August 2018, she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: “School Strike for Climate.” In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history. Her image has been celebrated in murals and Halloween costumes, and her name has been attached to everything from bike shares to beetles. Margaret Atwood compared her to Joan of Arc.

What a crock! The Left has created a poster-child to advance their climate alarmist charade in their socialistic push to take over – and ultimately destroy! – the world’s economy. This smacks as an act of desperation, as an ever-increasing number of climate skeptics continue to debunk the alarmists’ theories, as noted here. Oh, by the way, the purpose of that Time article extract above was to name Thunberg as Time’s “Person of the Year.” How absurd is that?

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Leftists and Democrats are now in an uproar over the President’s tweet that suggested Thunberg chill out and go see a movie:

Pardon me if I don’t share the Left’s outrage. Thunberg chose to insert herself into the political realm. In doing so, she cannot hide behind her youth and claim that she deserves “privacy.” That’s NOT the way it works. The President’s tweet was entirely appropriate given her overt political activism.

And that’s the difference between the legacy media’s treatment of Thunberg and Sandmann. The former chose to become a public figure for a favorite leftist cause and was subsequently elevated, praised, and now defended by the Left through a very public media campaign. Sandmann, on the other hand, was a minor on a capital tour with his classmates as a private citizen when he was singled out by the Left and viciously vilified nationally for the “crime” of being a Trump supporter. His privacy rights were violated for crass political reasons.

By all appearances, Nicholas Sandmann’s parents have done a great job raising him. GretaThunberg’s parents? Not so much.

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The end.

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