UPDATE, 12:53 p.m. Eastern: Responding to this writer's video tweet of her comments, Sidner said that, unless we're there and on the ground in Minneapolis, we shouldn't be allowed to critique her work:
When I see you out interviewing people and talking to anyone else but your own small bubble and actually reporting instead of critiquing other reporters work. I will respect your words. But for now. GO AWAY. You don’t know what you are talking about. The truth will set you free.
— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) June 1, 2020
Yes, one might be characterizing what people are saying or their justification for doing something, but by expressing such empathy, reporters are giving their endorsement to what's going on. Once someone commits acts of violence upon people unrelated to the case at hand (i.e. Floyd's murder), it's safe to say they lose credibility.
Also, what a classic response by a journalist and add this to the already-established reality that journalists can't stand outside criticism.
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A few hours after an emotional moment on CNN in which national correspondent Sara Sidner asked a question of Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo on behalf of the late George Floyd’s family, Sidner reflected on it and, with help from Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo, she explained to viewers why there’s been widespread looting and rioting.
The excuse? Well, it’s because of the (real) “pain” from racism that racial minorities have experienced for far too long.
Towards the end of their important conversation with Sidner about what it meant to ask Arradondo for the Floyd family (as well as the maddening final moments of Floyd’s life), Cuomo defended journalism’s supposed love of “diversity” because “we want so much diversity” in people that “look different” with “difference experiences.”
Cuomo added that, as a white man, he’ll never know what it’s like to be Sidner or any other non-white person, but he could tell that, in the Floyd case, “there is hurt that you understand in this situation and that is felt by that community and I think that's probably the biggest motivation that we are ignoring in this right now.”
“Anger comes from somewhere. It comes from hurt. It's not just angry people. We're not savages. We're not animals. When they're hurt, people get angry when they see no other recourse. How big a piece is that in what you're seeing there,” he asked.
There CNN went again with another strawman. Throughout the last week, CNN and other dishonest liberal hacks have claimed that some or many Americans have discounted and completely ignored the pain and anguish that not only the Floyd family has been feeling, but African-Americans over this murder.
After all, reporters have continually harped on the racial diversity in the weekend protests. But here when it’s convenient, that’s treated as no longer relevant.
Of course, Sidner didn’t disagree, replying that “pain is everything” and “informed everything that you have seen.”
Instead of adding a caveat that additional deaths on top of the looting and rioting was bad, Sidner explained away the destruction because it’s way for the aggrieved to get their message across (click “expand”):
I know people see violence and think that people are just taking advantage of the situation and there may be some people who are. I don't know that every single person is doing this borne out of pain, but I can tell you many people are. We've seen it. They don't know what to do with that emotion so their response, especially young folks, is to lash out and one of the young folks --- we talked to them on your show.
You had him on your show. A young man who was from Minneapolis who said, do you see all this damage here? You don't listen to us when we speak, so you listen to us now, don't you? So, acting out gets attention and they know that. Because the other way hasn't gotten them the attention. It hasn't done anything. It hasn't changed anything, so they're hoping this will. Will it? I don't know. I was in Ferguson in 2014 for three months. We're back here again.
Here again, another liberal media strawman. This time? It’s working to downplay the violence with the adage that life’s more important than property. That’s obviously true, but that doesn’t translate into rioting. Yes, lives might not be lost in the arson and looting, but people’s livelihoods end up in tatters, triggering economic, mental, and physical pain.
But it’s all about sending a message, right?
To see the relevant CNN transcript from May 31, click “expand.”
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
May 31, 2020
11:20 p.m. EasternCUOMO: We’re also, you know, we're all so sensitive to diversity in journalism. We want so much diversity. Not just because we want everybody to look different, we want different experiences. You know, Sara, you and I, we've worked together for a while now here, we've covered a lot of the same things. We don't see anything, though, through the same eyes. You are tough. You're tough in war. You're tough in war on the streets. You're smart as hell and I love watching you with your family on Instagram because I love you as a person also, but there is hurt that you understand in this situation and that is felt by that community and I think that's probably the biggest motivation that we are ignoring in this right now. Anger comes from somewhere. It comes from hurt. It's not just angry people. We're not savages. We're not animals.
SARA SIDNER: That's right.
CUOMO: When they're hurt, people get angry when they see no other recourse. How big a piece is that in what you're seeing there?
SIDNER: Oh, it's everything. Pain is everything. Pain is everything. It has informed everything that you have seen. I know people see violence and think that people are just taking advantage of the situation and there may be some people who are. I don't know that every single person is doing this borne out of pain, but I can tell you many people are. We've seen it. They don't know what to do with that emotion so their response, especially young folks, is to lash out and one of the young folks --- we talked to them on your show. You had him on your show. A young man who was from Minneapolis who said, do you see all this damage here? You don't listen to us when we speak, so you listen to us now, don't you? So, acting out gets attention and they know that. Because the other way hasn't gotten them the attention. It hasn't done anything. It hasn't changed anything, so they're hoping this will. Will it? I don't know. I was in Ferguson in 2014 for three months. We're back here again.
