When the riots over the death of George Floyd broke out the summer of 2020, I was worried of my safety. I live in a major city, and from the news I could see cars being set on fire, police officers being attacked, stores being looted, and entire buildings being burned down. But something was wrong. The news from CNN, MSNBC, and other major network news stations seemed almost dismissive of the chaos that was happening. A reporter from MSNBC said on live TV: "I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is a--mostly a protest. It is not--It is not generally speaking unruly." A building was on fire behind the reporter. CNN commentator Chris Cuomo went so far as to say that setting buildings on fire and rioting in the streets is expected behavior, because how else are people supposed to protest? Protests, according to Chris Cuomo, are meant to make us feel uncomfortable. Trevor Noah from the Daily Show said that the rioters, who were mostly black Americans, should loot and burn and destroy, because their ancestors were slaves and the country was built on their backs.
I wonder if Trevor Noah would have the same reaction if the rioters set the Daily Show building on fire. Or went to his almost $30 million home and razed the place. Would he still believe that looting and damaging public and private property is justified if it were his car that was destroyed, or his family that was accosted in the safety of their homes. Would Chris Cuomo still think that rioting is okay because it is meant to make us uncomfortable if people marched into his neighborhood banging drums, destroying cars, and setting trash cans on fire.
These news reporters and social commentators are not dumb. They all probably have IQs near 130, and they all likely graduated from a top 50 university. Surely they would understand that vandalism and rioting, and threatening the property and body of American citizens is not okay. But why would they then say these things on live television? I realized that they did know that rioting is unacceptable, and that defending the rioters is unjustifiable. They were lying to us. They were looking into the camera and into the homes of millions of Americans and lying straight to our faces. In fact, they were trying to convince us that what we were seeing with our own eyes was wrong. That our feelings were not to be trusted. They would use incredibly moving imagery and stories of past injustices done to black Americans to convince us that rioting is actually good. (I of course don't deny that black Americans have suffered in the past and that they were treated unfairly for most of America's history.) But rioting and unbridled public destruction is wrong, and there are no excuses. We all know this. But their words were so enticing. The pictures they painted to legitimize the violence in all major cities were so captivating. And then it hit me. We have a word to describe this. Who is known for deception? For trickery and emotional manipulation? Who is the prince of lies? Who will try to convince you that right is wrong and wrong is right. Satan. What the main stream media was doing was satanic.
This was a moment of clarity. There was no frustration anymore. There was no anger at the commentators who were trying to turn rioting into a social good. You do not get upset at a viper for biting you, or a scorpion for stinging you. That is their nature. The devil will lie to you and try to corrupt you. That is his nature.
