Kerby Anderson

Over the last few weeks, we learned why we must exercise discernment when viewing media coverage of hate crimes. Even though so many have turned out to be fake hate crimes, the pressure on media outlets to get your attention prevents them from exercising any discernment. That is why you need to exercise discernment.

There were good reasons the media should have exercised some caution. Why would a black man in a fairly liberal city like Chicago be attacked in the middle of the night because of his race or sexual orientation? How would his attackers even know who he was since he was probably bundled up because of sub-zero temperatures? You can look through the transcripts of broadcasts and read stories in newspapers and Internet sites and never see even the slightest hesitation or disclaimer.

Over the last few years of writing commentaries, I have documented lots of fake hate crime stories. Here are just a few. There was the story about a homophobic message printed on a cake from Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. It was actually written by a customer associated with the LGBT community. Three black coeds at the University of Albany said they were attacked on a city bus by white men using racial slurs. Hundreds came to a rally on campus to protest racism. But if you watch the surveillance videos, you see them actually attack a white woman on the bus. And there are many examples of Muslim women falsely claiming they were attacked and had their head coverings pulled off. Also, there is the student at Beloit College who reported anti-Muslim graffiti on his door. The police investigated and found he perpetrated the fraud himself.

These are merely a small sample of people who used fake hate crimes to call attention to themselves or their cause. This should be a reminder to be patient and wait for all the facts to come out.