Last week we posted the story of Dave Forster and Marjom Rostami, the two reporters who were beaten in Virginia by a group of thugs while driving home from the movie theater.
The Bill O’Reilly show has highlighted the inherent and obvious racism behind the brutality, but everyone else seems intent on avoiding the issue.   More specifically O’Reilly has highlighted the lack of reporting on the attack by even the very newspaper they worked for.    The question was raised why hide the story?
What was it about the story that led the Virginia-Pilot to ignore reporting on it for two weeks until the below article was posted?   A  group of 30 black youths surrounded the car of Forster and Rostamie the details are in the article.    What if 30 white kids had surrounded a car with a young black couple and then began to beat them?   Would race have played into the storyline?
But there is a larger story here,  a story about avoidance and given the backdrop of the recent Trayvon Martin Case some obvious contrasts in political correctness, or more appropriately “Cultural Marxism”.
To understand cultural Marxism in this context I would direct you to a CanadianFreePress article about President Obama’s election benefit from the same sentiment.   The article engaged the discussion of political correctness with Phillip Roth’s book, The Human Stain.
What is Political Correctness, From Where Did It Arise?
Cultural MarxismThe idea behind Political Correctness was hatched by a group of progressive German academics, the Frankfurt School, before WWII when they relocated to America to escape Hitler’s wrath.  They realized Marx was wrong—the poor were not ready to revolt and throw off Capitalism for a property-less society.
These Marxists decided the only way to create the society Marx envisioned was by subverting its institutions by misinformation, propaganda and seduction of the mentally unformed. Writes one expert,

If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I.
If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism, the parallels are very obvious.
First of all, both are totalitarian ideologies. The totalitarian nature of Political Correctness is revealed nowhere more clearly than on college campuses, many of which at this point are small ivy covered North Koreas, where the student or faculty member who dares to cross any of the lines set up by the gender feminist or the homosexual-rights activists, or the local black or Hispanic group, or any of the other sainted “victims” groups that PC revolves around, quickly find themselves in judicial trouble.
Within the small legal system of the college, they face formal charges – some star-chamber proceeding – and punishment. That is a little look into the future that Political Correctness intends for the nation as a whole.
Indeed, all ideologies are totalitarian because the essence of an ideology (I would note that conservatism correctly understood is not an ideology) is to take some philosophy and say on the basis of this philosophy certain things must be true – such as the whole of the history of our culture is the history of the oppression of women. Since reality contradicts that, reality must be forbidden. It must become forbidden to acknowledge the reality of our history. People must be forced to live a lie, and since people are naturally reluctant to live a lie, they naturally use their ears and eyes to look out and say, “Wait a minute. This isn’t true. I can see it isn’t true,” the power of the state must be put behind the demand to live a lie. That is why ideology invariably creates a totalitarian state.

Elements of Political Correctness  – William Lind explains the Elements of Political Correctness:

1.  Both Marxism and Political Correctness are totalitarian ideologies, ie they allow no dissent and claim ultimate truth which people are then forced to follow.

2.  Political Correctness, aka Cultural Marxism, claims all history is determined by power. Nothing else matters.

3.  In Political Correctness certain groups are good—feminist women, (non-feminist women don’t exist) blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals. These groups are “victims,” defined as “good” despite how they act. White males are categorized as automatically evil.

4.  Political Correctness relies on expropriation, ie arm-twisting use of the government to recover what was “stolen” from them.


However, I prefer this less academic definition myself:

“Political correctness, or Cultural Marxism  is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end”.

Now, let’s get back to the Virginia article and we’ll pick up after

Virginian Pilot – Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim.

The victim’s friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye. She called 911. A recording told her all lines were busy. She called again. Busy. On her third try, she got through and, hysterical, could scream only their location.

Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton.

It happened four blocks from where they work, here at The Virginian-Pilot.

Two weeks have passed since reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami – friends to me and many others at the newspaper – were attacked on a Saturday night as they drove home from a show at the Attucks Theatre. They had stopped at a red light, in a crowd of at least 100 young people walking on the sidewalk. Rostami locked her car door. Someone threw a rock at her window. Forster got out to confront the rock-thrower, and that’s when the beating began.

Neither suffered grave injuries, but both were out of work for a week. Forster’s torso ached from blows to his ribs, and he retained a thumb-sized bump on his head. Rostami fears to be alone in her home. Forster wishes he’d stayed in the car.

Many stories that begin this way end much worse. Another colleague recently wrote about the final defendant to be sentenced in the beating death of 19-year-old James Robertson in East Ocean View five years ago. In that case, a swarm of gang members attacked Robertson and two friends. Robertson’s friends got away and called for help; police arrived to find Robertson’s stripped, swollen corpse.

Forster and Rostami’s story has not, until today, appeared in this paper. The responding officer coded the incident as a simple assault, despite their assertions that at least 30 people had participated in the attack. A reporter making routine checks of police reports would see “simple assault” and, if the names were unfamiliar, would be unlikely to write about it. In this case, editors hesitated to assign a story about their own employees. Would it seem like the paper treated its employees differently from other crime victims?

More questions loomed.

Forster and Rostami wondered if the officer who answered their call treated all crime victims the same way. When Rostami, who admits she was hysterical, tried to describe what had happened, she says the officer told her to shut up and get in the car. Both said the officer did not record any names of witnesses who stopped to help. Rostami said the officer told them the attackers were “probably juveniles anyway. What are we going to do? Find their parents and tell them?”

The officer pointed to public housing in the area and said large groups of teenagers look for trouble on the weekends. “It’s what they do,” he told Forster.

Could that be true? Could violent mobs of teens be so commonplace in Norfolk that police and victims have no recourse?

Police spokesman Chris Amos said officers often respond to reports of crowds fighting; sirens are usually enough to disperse the group. On that night, he said, a report of gunfire in a nearby neighborhood prompted the officer to decide getting Forster and Rostami off the street quickly made more sense than remaining at the intersection. The officer gave them his card and told them to call later to file a report.

The next day, Forster searched Twitter for mention of the attack.

One post chilled him.

“I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light,” wrote one person.

“I don’t,” wrote another, indicating laughter. “(do it for trayvon martin)”

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen, died after being shot by a community watch captain with white and Hispanic parents, George Zimmerman, in Florida.

Forster and Rostami, both white, suffered a beating at the hands of a crowd of black teenagers.

Was either case racially motivated? Were Forster and Rostami beaten in some kind of warped, vigilante retribution for a killing 750 miles away, a person none of them knew? Was it just bombast? Is a beating funny, ever? (read more)

In fairness to the editor of the Pilot we should consider his opinion.   He responded to the controversy of non-reporting with the following memo to his staff:

Staff,

Here is what happened with Dave and Marjon. They were victims of what police described as a simple assault and, initially, they did not want to be named in a story.  If these were the circumstances with any other people in the community, we would not have done a story.

The truth is, we have no idea what motivated the attack.  Was it a gang or a gathering?  Did it just happen or was something planned?  Was it racially motivated or random?  We just don’t know.

The Twitter comment about Trayvon Martin could have come from anywhere from anybody.  Right now, it means nothing other than  racial animosity continues to exist in our culture.

Many, including news organizations around the country, are assuming and making judgments based on information they do not have. That’s a shame, it makes us look bad.

We did not cover up anything.  We bend over backwards to treat ourselves the same way we would treat any other member of the community.  In fact, we go overboard at times to make sure there is no perception that we have treated ourselves favorably because of our position.

Did we go too far here in holding to this standard?  I don’t know, I will always ask myself that question.  But we made our decision based on the facts we had.  That’s all we can do.  As journalists, we report facts, not assumptions.

We have done our due diligence with the story.  We have checked the police report.  I have read it.  On its face, it would not merit a story.  We have checked that neighborhood to see if there is an inordinate amount of crime there.  There is not.

We will continue to monitor the investigation, just as we would with any story that has lingering questions.  If the crime is reclassified, we will make a decision about further coverage then.

Thanks, Denis

Here is the way Bill O’Reilly continued to approach the events:

As we have been reporting, a vicious crime in Norfolk, Virginia is being  stonewalled by the media in that town and the police investigation seems chaotic  to say the least.

Last month two reporters for the “Virginian Pilot” newspaper were beaten by a  mob of African-American young people. Their injuries kept them out of work for a  week. Yet incredibly the newspaper did not report the crime. And the two  reporters have now filed formal charges against the Norfolk Police Department  alleging the cops did not do enough to make arrest in the case.

Initially the Norfolk police described the crime as a simple assault. But now  it has been upgraded to a mob action. After almost a month, just one minor has  been arrested despite the fact that scores of people witnessed the violence. The  national media has also ignored the story possibly because it has heavily racial  implications.

So, what’s really going on here? Right now, there are 39 million  African-Americans in the USA comprising 13 percent of the population.  Unemployment among blacks; 13 percent as opposed to 8.1 for the general country.  27 percent of African-Americans live below the poverty line and 72 percent of  black mothers give birth outside of marriage, which is a huge poverty  driver.

President Obama’s approval rating among blacks 88 percent according to a  Gallup poll. However, 48 percent of African-Americans are not satisfied with the  direction of the country; 52 percent are. There is no question the United States  of America has not treated blacks well throughout its history. As John Adams  once wrote slavery is an abomination and the persecution of blacks after the  Civil War was almost as bad. Because of that history, we are still having  trouble with equality.

The media fears controversy involving black Americans. Even while some in law  enforcement do the opposite. They are very tough on young black males in  particular. The truth is African-Americans are treated differently by the  powerful.

On last night’s “Factor” Bernie Goldberg said the media is ignoring the story  in Norfolk because of paternalism. Because they don’t want the nation to know  that a mob of young black people beat up a white woman and her date fearing it  might embolden bigots. That analysis by Bernie is worth thinking about.

On the police front, it’s hard to figure out just what Norfolk police Chief  Sharon Chamberlain is doing. Her department refuses to release the 911 tape and  now has to deal with the formal complaint filed by the victims. Virginia  authorities in Richmond are searching for a way to deal with the mess.

Tomorrow night, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be here and “Talking  Points” believes progress towards justice is being made. At least I hope so.  Those thugs who attacked Marjon Rostami and David Forster have to be held  responsible. Period. You can’t have mobs attacking people in the street, no  matter what color.  (talking points)

The Norfolk police are refusing to release the 911 tapes of the event.   Perhaps that has more to do with the content of those recordings?    More vocalized “Justice For Trayvon” perhaps?   Looking at the timing this attack in Virginia occurred at the height of the media race-baiting narrative.     Why not release the tapes?
Are the law enforcement officials in Virginia concerned about the backlash, sentiment, or public reaction making racial tensions worse?    Didn’t those EXACT SAME considerations get overridden in Sanford Florida and the tapes released anyway, over the objections of the Police Chief.
Double standard or Cultural Marxism?

You decide.

  This ain’t gonna go away, and if the progs learned anything at all, they should have learned the more you hide, the worse the outcome.

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