With the kerfluffle over Shaun King, I am really heartened by the overall support that this community has shown, to demonstrate that the majority of us stand by him.
Yes, some of us, from time to time, have taken issue with what Shaun King writes. For example, issues with his rhetoric or fact-checking.
But really, this is not about Shaun King individually. This is about the demonstrably anti-Liberal wing's tactics to divide us.
How many times are we going to keep falling for the same tactics?
They throw out every inane and baseless accusation. And when one sticks, they just run with it. So like with Shaun King, it's not like this is the first time he's faced accusations of not being black. But because of Rachel Dolezal, perhaps, this time they have clung their claws a bit deeper.
But it began long before this case.
One can remember the smear campaign against John Kerry, when these tactics got their own name: swiftboating. Then there was the campaign against ACORN. And, now we are seeing a similar style campaign against Planned Parenthood. There are the Benghazi and other innumerable scandals against Hillary. There is the smear campaign because of the e-mails that seem to have some traction. We saw how they took down Brian Williams. One might even trace it further back to COINTELPRO, or perhaps these veins have always been with our societies.
And we can't ignore how these tactics play into the protests and outrage after many of the recent police killings. The charges against Sandra Bland and Michael Brown and Eric Garner and Freddie Gray, of whatever minor infractions that these smear campaigners can dredge up.
They build a mountain of lies. And from atop this mountain, they toss out almost every charge of inappropriateness imaginable. And, maybe somewhere in their mountain, there are some small kernels of truth, something to take grasp of. One need only look at the footage they take of Planned Parenthood, edit them to almost insane levels, and then release them as so-called "evidence," even though even their best attempts at propaganda don't even measure up to whatever they are accusing, to see just how little "truth" they require to build their smear campaigns. But however much truth there ever is, they never possibly equate to the vast majority of charges they come up with. The vast majority can best be chalked up as straight up deception.
But even when these tactics are so thoroughly discredited, even if these smear campaigns only move the needle even 0.01%, still they are successful. All they need, is for just enough of us to buy into it just long enough, that the unity we have worked so hard to build is needlessly shattered. That the allies that claim so much solidarity, now have a reason to feel betrayed, or whatever outrage, that makes them turn their backs to the movement, if even for a little bit. Nevermind that the outrages that originally unify us far outnumber and outweigh whatever faux outrages they come up with. If they can distract us for even a little bit, with in-fighting and division, their objectives are being achieved.
And who are they? I say they, I call them anti-Liberal, and not just restrict this to, say, racists or Right-Wing types, because to a certain extent, their attempts to exploit our affliction with divisive knee-jerk outrage transcends any party or demographic. One need only look at how the likes of CNN and MSNBC will likewise exploit the same emotional base responses to demonstrate that. Or, if one wants to look closer to home, one can point to the controversy between Sanders and BLM.
They are trying to destroy the progress we have made. When I say we, I mean those of us who want to be on the side of the forces that effect positive change, and bring our society closer to the ideal. They are trying to silence the powerful voices in our groups that will truly lead us to change. Divide us by using any opportunity, and running with the few that actually tread water. They need only to find the weaknesses that are part of what makes us human.
For too long, we have been falling for their traps. It's time to stand up, or wake up, and fight the root of these tactics: the intent to divide us.
We must always stand together. Only then, even if some of us lose our way from time to time, their tactics will not work.