Facts are Stubborn Things: Reaction to the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision

"Facts are stubborn things," our second president John Adams said in his Argument in Defense of Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials back in the time when presidents said things that mattered. 

"Facts are stubborn things: and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion..."

As I watch the country erupt in anger and rage and passion over the decision of the Grand Jury not to prosecute Darren Wilson and listen to the reaction of people great and small (Barack Obama among the latter), I'm impressed most by the utter disinterest in the facts. To hear prominent figures describe Michael Brown as a "gentle giant," as an unarmed young man cowering (hands upraised in surrender) before a race-obsessed policeman, as shot from behind, etc. all of which has been disproven both by forensics and testimony, is to marvel at the refusal of many to allow facts to dictate the narrative. The quaint cliché, "you're entitled to your opinion but not your facts," is brushed aside like a pesky mosquito. It's practically the norm (at least in mainstream media reporting and some cable news programming) to gloss over the facts and dissect the narrative.

"Facts are stubborn things: and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." 

It's the narrative, stupid, which is usually the case, but what's really unsettling is how quickly the narrative replaces truth until the narrative becomes truth. Ask anyone you know who Matthew Shepard was and how he died and you'll hear about how the young man who was gay was brutally "beaten, tortured, and left to die" by two young men who were repulsed by Shepard's sexual advances. This was in 1998. Since then new information has been revealed and a book written that tells a different story, not only about Matthew but about his killers, as well. But the narrative is all that matters. 

Ask anyone you know who Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman are. The narrative (racist Zimmerman stalking and shooting unarmed black boy Trayvon) and the reality (Zimmerman, with no personal history of being racist, and Trayvon, who, contrary to the images that saturated the media of a sweet-faced young boy was, in fact, a pretty buff, strong, fully grown kid who managed to overpower the older man and begin to slam his head into the sidewalk. The ensuing struggle resulted in Zimmerman managing to retrieve his gun (legally owned) and shoot the teenager dead. The facts support the scenario, which resulted in Zimmerman's acquittal. The facts did not support the narrative. Thus, the rioting. 

Here we are again. The facts do not support the narrative. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to Al Sharpton or to CNN or to President Obama who said we need to "understand" their (i.e., the rioters') response. Understand looting? Understand destruction of property? Understand torching of cars and stores? Understand a refusal to accept the truth that Michael Brown was not a gentle giant, that he assaulted the officer, attempted to wrest the officer's gun from inside the police car, was apparently shot in the scuffle before running away and refused to stop. We can second guess the officer's actions, but that's all we can do. Monday-morning quarterbacking, it's sometimes called. But we weren't there. Police officers are trained to react to these kinds of situations. Factor in the aggression of the suspect, the adrenaline of the encounter, the uncertainty of the suspect's actions, his size and demeanor (apparently under the influence of marijuana), his refusal to comply with an officer's orders. 

Facts are stubborn things. Our wishes, our inclinations, our passions, our interest in a narrative, cannot alter the state of facts, cannot alter the evidence. 

They may alter them for a time. It's only been two years since Trayvon Marin died, fifteen years in the case of Matthew Shepherd. How long will the story of Michael Brown be one of an unarmed gentle giant gunned down by a racist cop, who was merely doing what all cops are inclined to anyway. Ferguson, according to one writer, is "yet another unraveled thread in the closely woven fabric of racism that has cloaked this country for 500 years." 

More to say on this. Maybe later.