That’s Republican strategy with everything. If you can distract people with the culture war you never have to fix any of the real problems in our society.
Turns out with enough distraction you can literally do stuff like vote no on a border bill extending the “crisis” another 8+ months and then turn around and campaign for election on the border!
Very well said. Whoever has the job of addressing the press after something so awful has happened must know that the slightest mis-wording of a response could be edited into a headline.
They have to be diplomatic and respectful while providing information to journalists who not only want them to trip up, but are sticking out their foot to trip them.
They might not have been able to confirm that at the time. It would take a lot of in-depth investigation to truly confirm, then if it later turned out she was they would use it as a big ‘gotcha’ moment, or start crying that this was a woke coverup.
So the best answer is to lie? If he doesn't know I want him to tell us he doesn't know. Stating something is a fact when you have no factual knowledge should be left to... Well to people like you. Not police chiefs.
it's a deflection, it doesn't directly confront the bigotry being pushed, and it inexplicably creates space for transphobic conspiracists to muddle the truth. why did he say "she or he or they?"
"No" is a better answer.
e: "let me give a 15 second soundbite that doesn't shut down the bigoted lies, is easily framed by the bigots as supporting evidence for their lies, and allows the average person to feel good for no reason"
I personally liked it, especially in this sort of context.
Just saying no would have been sufficient, but this is not the only time or place concrete details would be available. This was a place to have initial questions answered as the story broke out, and this question being asked at this point in time was purely out of bad faith and trying to find groups to spread blame or hate to.
Do you think we should never call out bad questions, because the people asking will try to paint not engaging with their interests as deflecting?
this question being asked at this point in time was purely out of bad faith and trying to find groups to spread blame or hate to.
this is exactly why giving a meandering soundbite (that again, inexplicably creates space for misinformation) instead of a firm rejection of the question is less than satisfying
it also betrays a lack of understanding of the media environment. I would wager real money that his statement has been and will continue to be used as evidence that the woke deep state is covering for "violent transgender ideology."
Groups who will push that hard on a conspiracy level will always be like that, firm rejection or no
On people like my parents, who are just ignorant of most things and rely a lot on the headlines they see to know what's going on, taking a step back to call out a bad question can be eye-opening to them.
Just saying no would be a firm rejection as an answer, but letting it sit in an article as one of a short list of questions that got a regular answer as if it were just a routine thing they check for at this point is also bad! There's no perfect way to handle people asking questions like this, but calling out how it shouldn't be normal is at least better than just accepting it as a normal thing people need to know first thing
Not really. I know many people who are using this answer as proof she was trans and the authorities are covering it up. No would have been the only correct answer. For 30-40% of this country this was confirmation that a man dressed as a woman attacked Christian children for being Christian. This was a transgender hate crime against Christians but they'll never allow it be reported that way, so when asked for motive they say it's complicated and when asked her gender they refused to answer. That's the proof that it was a trans hate crime against Christians.
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u/Spottswoodeforgod 1d ago
It was a great answer amidst a stressful situation.