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The story of the first day is never all history.
This is one of the most important lessons I have learned as a journalist and consumer of information. This is the one I repeat every time I am tempted to talk too quickly about the latest public scandal.
The story of the first day is never all history.
The story of the first day is never all history.
The story of the first day is never all history.
In other words, when it comes to important events, and even those that do not seem to matter much, more things are happening than the initial reports. The facts take time to emerge. They take the time to find. If you want the truth, you have to wait.
We are now on the ninth day of Jussie Smollett's story, with its twists, mysteries and mysteries, and we still do not know what happened.
I have a presentiment. You have a presentiment. Everyone has intuitions. The intuitions are not facts.
Fact: Smollett, a star of the television series "Empire", who happens to be black and cheerful, said that he had been beaten on January 29, at the height of an icy night in Chicago, by two masked men shouting insults and MAGA style hats.
Fact: The Chicago Police Service stated that it was investigating the alleged incident as a potential hate crime.
Fact: News media exist to report news, and the two facts mentioned above are news. The media continued to report the incident even as flustered news appeared to cast doubt on Smollett's version.
Also a fact? The media is not a "that". They are an "they", in the plural, many media that report in different ways, some more reliable than others. The Tribune is cautious and that is the reason why it did not report all the anonymous claims circulating around Twitter under the cover of the truth. Some of these claims may be true, but until they are, they will remain in the fog of rumors and speculation, and the informed consumer of the news will refrain from any judgment.
Learning to hold judgment until all the critical facts are known is difficult. Few of us have mastered such restraint. We are eager to show how intelligent, informed and instinctive we are, how concerned we are with truth and justice.
CLARENCE PAGE: Jussie Smollett and rush to judgment »
Many of us see themselves as super sleuths, able to deduce what even the experts can not. We seek the approval of our peers, we are ready to fight the enemy.
But hastening to judge in complicated reporting, it's like rushing without equipment into a fire. You may be burned.
If you are old enough to remember the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the federal building, you will remember how many people, some famous and important, immediately concluded that it was Islamic terrorists. This was not the case.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the media and the general public began to think that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was the brain. He was not.
In 2017, after a man killed 59 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas, social media exploded claiming the shooter was a rabid Liberal who despised Donald Trump. False. Again.
With time, facts have emerged, stories have changed, opinions have changed.
EDITORIAL: Jussie Smollett and the next hate crime reported in Chicago »
The attack on Jussie Smollett may not have occurred as he claimed, but that does not mean it could not happen. And whatever happened that night, some things are true:
Hate crimes are real. Blacks and homobaduals are among those who experience discrimination every day. Anyone who has doubts has only to look at the racist and homophobic homophobia discourse sparked by Smollett's story.
Did Smollett lie? I do not know. You neither. Again. Because, as surely as it has happened as he claims, the fact that it may have happened does not mean that it is the case.
If it turns out that he lied, he caused damage for which he should be held responsible. But it's always a "if" and if it's not a fact. For now, the informed consumer of information will continue to look and wait.
The truth will probably be revealed soon and soon the story will disappear from public view. But another will arrive quickly to test our commitment to the truth.
When that's the case, take a break. Take a deep breath. Repeat:
The story of the first day is never all history.
MORE BY MARY SCHMICH:
Is it acceptable for restaurants with mostly white customers to play rap songs using the word N? This man says no. "
Warning signs of a fall of ice remind a girl of the death of her father, 25 years ago »
You do not know how to vote for the Mayor of Chicago? You suffer from a common disorder and we are here to help you. "
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