Peanutgate? It's nuts!

Nuts throwing nuts at the Republican National Convention! There's a viral story on the Internet that says peanuts were thrown at a Black CNN camerawoman at the RNC. While throwing the peanuts, they allegedly said, "This is how we feed the animals." The assailants were then ejected from the event.

Is the story credible? What's the truth?


So far I've traced the story all the way back to the CNN website. But before you get excited, let me say that I can't yet find it as a verified story. It's reported by a blogger on a CNN subdomain.

Details vary. Despite claims of multiple witnesses, no one has come forward or been identified. New York Magazine reports just one offender. Huffington Post reports two.

If the Media can't get something that basic correct, and reporters don't know the difference between one and two, it's no wonder innocent people go to prison after being falsely accused and convicted due to inaccurate witness identification. (David Lee Wiggins was just exonerated after 24 years behind bars.)

The peanut projectile method is described in a variety of ways, including tossed, thrown, and some use the word "pelted." I'd say there's a huge difference between having something tossed at you, and being pelted by it. Maybe the peanuts were lobbed, flicked, flung, propelled, or even volleyed. If peanuts were thrown by members of the right, a better word to use is "cast." 

This is a perfect example of why you can't trust information on the Internet or from the Media. People run with a story and don't fact-check first. Is the story true? Possibly, and probably. But I still haven't seen it authenticated. Despite some references to the police being involved, TalkingPointsMemo (TPM) says:

• "The City of Tampa’s Joint Information Center, which has been in contact with the Secret Service, told TPM on Wednesday there is no record the Tampa Police Department was involved “in any way shape or form.'"

So were they, or weren't they? Let's get our facts straight please. The incident was supposedly first "reported" on Twitter by David Schuster of Take Action News. Have you heard of him or his "news" organization? Nope, neither have I. Since when has Twitter become an accurate news source?

New York Magazine reported that TPM (another site I'd never heard of) allegedly got a note from CNN confirming that "an incident directed at an employee" occurred. So now it's an "incident" that was "directed" at someone. The vague and nonspecific note makes no mention of peanuts and gives no facts, details or names, thus leaving it to every news organization to extrapolate and get creative with their stories.

New York Magazine also said that the Washington Post was told by the Secret Service that all questions should be directed to the RNC. I clicked on that link and it brought me to yet another blog, written by Erik Wemple, who has a "reported opinion blog" on the Washington Post website. His article opens with a sentence that credits the aforementioned Tweet as the source of this whole story. He claims to have spoken with the Secret Service (that's impressive).

Each click gets more convoluted, and no click takes me to a credible news source. Why wouldn't CNN report this themselves? Is this a cover-up? Also, whatever happened to vetting information before reporting it? Where are Will McAvoy and Aaron Sorkin when you need them?

This variation of "facts" reminds me of the children's game of "Telephone." Remember that game? You whispered something into the ear of the first person standing in a line. Each successive person whispered into the ear of the next, and the "message" went down the line. By the time it reached the last person, it bore little resemblance to the initial message.

I happen to believe that's the problem with religion and people fervently believing that certain books accurately document "God's words." What if Moses had bad hearing? He was an old guy after all. How do we know he heard God properly? And how do we know what really happened in that Garden?

When someone finally got around to writing the Bible, humans had inhabited the planet for thousands of years. Are we to believe that the story stayed accurate that long, when a story about peanuts at the RNC morphed into multiple variations within one day?

I am perversely amused by the symbolism of Rightwing Racist Republicans tossing peanuts, since their mascot is an Elephant.  Most likely these two (or was it one?) peanutcasters are card-carrying members of the Cuckoo Clucks Clan.

If they did indeed make the reference to feeding animals, one must consider it to have been a metaphorical epithet given the recipient's skin color. It's indicative of the prevalent racism still running rampant in the world, coursing through the veins of so many ignorant people. And let's be clear. Racists are not only Teabaggers and Republicans. I've encountered racists who are Democrats, too.

Has no one considered the danger of nutcasting?  Did they not see the movie "Horrible Bosses?" What if the camerawoman had an allergy to nuts? Should those nuts who tossed the nuts be charged with attempted murder?

I think it's apropos that nuts were cast at the Republican Convention. After all, the Republican Convention has cast nuts in leading roles for their campaign.

Let it be known that the 2012 Republican Convention shall hereafter be remembered as Peanutgate.