Opinion

Warmbier Death And Scalise Shooting Expose Callousness Of The Establishment Media

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Will Ricciardella Social Media Strategist and Politics Writer
Font Size:

The recent shooting of GOP Congressmen Steve Scalise of Louisiana and the death of 22-year old Otto Warmbier has exposed the extreme callousness of the left towards those that disagree politically or posses a skin pigmentation not in vogue with liberal elites.

Shortly after an obvious maniac with left-wing political motives attempted to assassinate elected officials, the racialist left was quick to conjure up debunked allegations of racism from 15 years ago to impugn Scalise’s character. Shortly after the shooting, Politico’s John Bresnahan tweeted, “Members surrounding [House Speaker Paul Ryan] on the floor, including [Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La.], who helped Scalise out when he had problems over racial issues.”

It is a stretch to conclude Bresnahan was trying to justify the shooting, but it is legitimate to question his motives of unfairly adding “racial issues”

Not to be outdone, The Huffington Post’s Jessie Benn tweeted that if “violent resistance” is to accomplish anything, it must be “organized,” and that acting alone “can be understandable.” No need to worry though, Benn acknowledges that individual violence is not likely to be “effective.”

HuffPo’s Michelangelo Signorile explicitly refers to Scalise as being “brutally hostile” to “LGBTQ people, African-Americans, women and civil rights in general.” I have searched diligently for Scalise’s hostility towards the 14th Amendment, and “civil rights in general,” but to no avail. To the left, Salise’s support of each individual state’s right to define marriage without federal interference is opposing “civil rights.”

Signorile ties in the rest of the GOP and claims that the “rights” of people like the hero officer that saved the day — referred to as a “black, queer woman” — are “routinely jeopardized” by conservatives.

Think it’s just about politics and not skin color? Guess again.

When Otto Warmbier was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster, HuffPo’s La Sha ran an article, claiming North Korea proves that “white male privilege is not universal.” Of course white male privilege had nothing to do with his arrest, severe punishment and eventual death — communism did. Communism has been killing people in the tens of millions of all races and ethnicities since its inception in the early 20th century.

There is no evidence that Warmbier tried to steal the poster other than his forced confession, yet La Sha assumes guilt anyway, claiming Warmbier was driven to do it by “an unfortunate side effect” of being raised as a white child and a white man in the United States. He continues his racial diatribe by claiming all systems in the U.S., including the “economic, academic, and legal” systems operate with the “implicit purpose” to make certain “white men” are the only racial group that benefit from privilege.

A cursory Google search shows that Asian-Americans are the most successful ethnic group economically, and academically, along with possessing the lowest incarceration rates in the country.

HuffPo wasn’t alone in celebrating Warmbier’s capture. Salon ran a headline referring to him as America’s “biggest idiot frat boy,” framing the allegations as an actual conviction. Salon, shortly after Warmbier’s death, rightfully pulled the article.

The left leaning publication Bustle‘s headline answered why some people feel Warmbeir’s sentence to 15 years of hard labor for an unproven allegation is justified — “privilege.” Like Bustle, Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore acted as if the allegations were a foregone conclusion mocking Warmbier for stealing the poster and calling him “a frat bro” while showing clips of him sobbing on North Korean TV. Wilmore later moved on to mocking his last name as “warm beer” with a decal of the word “ass” above Warmbier’s picture in the lower left of the screen.

One can only speculate what the reaction would be had the conservative media impugned the character of a Democrat that was shot by a right-wing zealot, or blamed the skin-color of a black student for his arrest and draconian sentence on unproven allegations abroad. But, if there was outrage among the establishment media because of it, it would entirely justified.

Follow Will Ricciardella on Twitter and Facebook

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Will Ricciardella