This time it was four members of a Georgia high school marching band during their halftime show spelling out a racially insulting bit of slang which provoked instant outrage among the unthinking and uncritical. They blamed racism. They blamed Trump. They blamed white people in general.
Here's a sample of the Twitter comments:
- “If I ever seen one of those white band mates at Brookwood in Gwinnett County just know I’ll be [sic] the s**t out of them,” one user wrote. “Those kids need a** whoopings. I have that.”
- “At times I attempt to convince myself that racism isn’t A BIG THING … in youth/HS sports,” another user said. “But then things like THIS happen. Thank you Brookwood HS for showing your True School Spirit!”
- “Brookwood has been a racist ass school forever why is anyone shocked,” another remarked.
- “The hate is real,” one user commented.
- “Inspired no doubt by the words & vitriol spouted by the Great Leader in the WH — what an embarrassment 4 all the good people of Georgia, of Gwinnet [sic] County & of Brookwood High School,” another user said.
- “There should not remain one black student in the band, in the football team, or at Brookwood High School,” another user offered.
Except, the band members who performed this "prank," it turns out, were two African-Americans, one Asian and one Hispanic, all of whom thought it would be "funny". In a way it was. It was funny to see the knee-jerk reaction of the folks quoted above who literally didn't know what they were talking about.
Perhaps the lesson here is that when political and/or social decorum appears to have been transgressed, and before we begin willy-nilly calling down fire and brimstone upon the offenders, we should at least wait until we know the facts. It would keep us from looking foolish and spare us a lot of embarrassment.