patrick.net

There’s an obvious answer to the question, “Why would Jussie Smollett do something like that?”

Jussie Smollett’s hoax is symptomatic of America’s illness. Because of the mainstreaming of academia’s victimhood culture, we are now in a place where we place more value on being a victim than on being heroic, charitable, or even kind. Victims or victim groups high on intersectionality points are supposed to be coveted, treated with child gloves, and believed unreservedly. Their “lived experience” gives them infinite wisdom. Those who urge caution are treated as bigots.

Outside of the rare prosecution for faking a hate crime, the incentives for being a victim — real or imagined — are endless.

Anyone not blinded by bias or panic should have been skeptical of Smollett’s story from the beginning. He openly harbors an intense hatred for Donald Trump and his supporters, going so far as comparing them to Klansmen. That his alleged attackers perfectly fit this description should have raised eyebrows across the political spectrum. The cartoony, screenplay-villain portrayal of white Trump supporters was outrageously comical. But to insulated urban progressives who have little to no experience interacting with conservatives, a Trump supporter may as well be synonymous with evil.

“Hate-crime hoaxes are found in collective conflicts,” Jason Manning tells me. Manning is a sociologist at West Virginia University and a co-author of the 2018 book The Rise of Victimhood Culture. “Perpetrators might not even think of them as [false] accusations since in many cases they see it as an attempt to draw attention to a real problem. To the extent that modern society increasingly valorizes victimhood, claiming victim status through outright lies will become more attractive.”

While I can only speculate as to Smollett’s motives, perhaps a clue can be found in his bioline on Twitter. Smollett writes: “I am simply here to help save the world.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/hate-crime-hoaxes-reflect-americas-sickness/