I admit I was right there. I saw that photo of the MAGA-hatted boys and the Native American veteran and I made the same assumption that filled cyberspace. I re-posted the photo with sad thoughts about what we have become as a country. I read with scorn the outrage of the mother who said the boys were provoked by “black Muslims.” And now, to my chagrin, I am seeing the subsequent stories the indicate that there is much more to that story.
Is it just self-defense to say that the MAGA hat, as a symbol of the current president, raises immediate thoughts of the kind of hatred and divisiveness purportedly pictured? Is it a weak justification to say that there are pictures that do appear to be accurate, picturing boys from that school in a different incident of racial bias? Is it perpetuating the offense to say how believable that picture was in this current environment and that even the thought that it could now be considered “fake news” is something I find abhorrent: that whole idea seems, again, connected very specifically with an attempt to discredit journalism. But this picture wasn’t journalism. This was social media being used in the service of a purpose, and the purpose in this particular case remains unclear, with new details emerging pointing to a now-deleted Twitter account and possibly to a blogger based in Brazil. The story is still in process, with the truth being pursued by, yes, journalists.
But most upsetting for me personally is how I have let my fear of what this administration is doing cloud my own perception. I read where someone called the red MAGA hat the new white hood, and I know that that’s how I see it. I look at that slogan and its creators and magnifiers as the antithesis of what I hope this country is. That’s made me ready to assume the worst about those who appear to hold opinions different from mine.
I was a political science major in college. What I took in—maybe wrongly, maybe naively—was the thought that politics involved the coming together of people with differing opinions to find solutions for the common good. I thought of it as a noble endeavor. Was that ever truly the case, where elected officials put country above party? I do find it shocking to have a president in office who considers his constituency not “Americans, “ but his base.
And I find it shocking to see how divided we are, divided enough so that we see what we expect to see when it’s hateful behavior by those we disagree with. That’s what so many of us have done with that picture. I can’t answer for anyone else, but I am sad that I did.