Funny thing about viral videos: They don’t necessarily give the full and complete context for what happened, do they? They might, for instance, begin only after someone does something bizarre and provocative but record solely the reaction. Covington was only 16 months ago. Did we learn anything from it? Apparently not. A similar thing happened in Central Park this weekend, the world reacted in the same way, and once again a misleading video made it appear that a target of a deliberate provocation was a racist for reacting understandably to the provocateur.
HIM: “Look, if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.”
HER: “What’s that?”
HIM [to the dog]: “Come here, puppy!”
HER: “He won’t come to you.”
HIM: “We’ll see about that.” . . .
Possibly it was an overreaction for Ms. Cooper to call the police. Then again, when citizens feel threatened, calling the police and letting them sort it out is what is supposed to happen. What Mr. Cooper said to her was unmistakably a threat. It was reasonable for her to be scared. “I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it”? That’s a menacing thing to say. He then called the dog over while offering it a treat. He obviously meant her to think he was going to poison her dog to motivate her to leash the animal. By his own admission, he said something calculated to frighten her.
Ms. Cooper would probably have been wise to leash her pet and walk briskly away, but when a stranger threatens to poison your dog in Central Park, that is bound to cause consternation. It’s not unreasonable for her to have felt herself (as well as the dog) personally threatened by Mr. Cooper’s saying, “I’m going to do what I want, and you’re not going to like it.” She later told CNN, “I didn’t know what that meant. When you’re alone in a wooded area, that’s absolutely terrifying, right?” A question for the mobs denouncing her: Would you abjure the right to call the police if you were alone in a park with a stranger who said to you, “I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it”?
This non story has gotten 100% more media coverage and public outrage than the man who beats dementia patients for fun and the man who sniped an elderly couple to death in a cemetery….. combined. For all the May 2020 crime stats, see our black on white crime post
