Why Hasn't the Media Cut Through the Gates Nonsense?

As media outlets keep chewing over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, a few things are readily apparent.

Gates overreacted to a cop who was trying to make sure his home was safe. And the police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, overreacted by arresting a guy just for yelling at him.

So why are we still talking about this, nearly two weeks after the arrest and charges against Gates have been dropped?

As the world watches Gates and Crowley convene with the President (?!) for reconciliation over a cold beer today, I'd name three reasons the circus continues: The president, the media and the reaction each person has emotionally to the circumstances, regardless of the facts.

President Obama has already acknowledged he acted clumsily by attaching the word "stupidly" to Crowley's decision to arrest Gates. I agree that the president's words had a high political cost -- distracting the media and the public while he was trying to draw attention to revolutionizing health care.

But Obama was also right. There was no reason to arrest Gates for his shouting, beyond a cop trying to teach a guy he didn't like a lesson. And the police department's failure to admit that -- along with Gates' insistence that Crowley mistreated him because of his race, without much proof -- keeps this controversy aflame.

Another spark, unfortunately, has been media coverage. Cable news outlets and morning network news shows especially like cases like this -- incendiary stories they know viewers will be talking about all day that are relatively easy to report and build interview segments around.

On Wednesday morning, the Today show featured conservative pundit Michelle Malkin, unchallenged by an opposing view, saying Obama was a "race opportunist." This, despite the fact that Malkin is the one with a book to hawk and all Obama has earned from this dustup is the derailment of his health care reform agenda in media coverage.

That couldn't top Fox News' resident hysteric Glenn Beck, who had already called Obama a racist by Tuesday morning, earning national headlines. Besides making you wonder who the real racial opportunist is here, I wondered -- as somebody who has faced folks who wanted to physically harm me for the color of my skin -- whether the wealthy white guys like Beck and Rush Limbaugh now slinging the r-word have any idea what they are talking about.

In their world, it seems, a racist is defined mostly as someone who disagrees with their view on race issues.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson boiled the issue down to the point which divided many; whether police were justified in arresting Gates for yelling at them. This is a question which has made even moderates on race issues like Obama and Colin Powell take notice -- asking why police felt the need to handcuff a small guy who walks with a cane when they knew he lived in the house and he wasn't physically threatening them.

Of course, when the New York Daily News reported on the interview with CNN's Larry King where Powell talked about Gates' arrest, the focus was Powell's admonishment that "I was taught that as a child. You don't argue with a police officer."

And, once again, the circus keeps on spinning.

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Comments

[Alabama John]

HuffPost's Pick

Who deserved more respect -- The real issue

Professor Gates got angry, and because of this Officer Crowley got so angry that he committed a crime by arresting an innocent man without the slightest probable cause.

Professor Gates all his academic life treated with respect by whites, Officer Crowley all his years on the force instilling the fear of death into any black who looked at him cross, and these mighty "two ships passing in the night" had a mighty wreck nationwide.

With hindsight surely a matter of respect, and specifically who deserved more respect.

But Gates will say that if cops keep getting away with this, then a police state and slavery will it be for blacks. Whereas Crowley will say that if a black can use race as an excuse to act like this, then blacks will have no respect for the law, or for cops who must enforce the law.

Comes now a realization that they both are correct, both correct in their positions and correct in the actions used to defend their positions. For according to human standards they both did in fact deserve more respect.

Problem is, the purpose of this life is to prove that we all have been blessed with far more then we deserve, and out of a grateful heart should be willing to give all we can give.

[Alabama John]

Strike first blow -- All bloodguilt is yours

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
Forth Amendment, US Constitution

First blow came when cop ordered Gates to come out of the safety of his home, destroying his Forth Amendment right. Second blow came when cop ordered Gates to be silent, destroying his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

The only possible legal complaint the officer had against Gates was a failure to treat an officer of the law with proper respect. But the officer lost all right to be treated with respect by ordering Gates to obey an illegal command and doing it in such a disrespectful way that it greatly upset a very gifted, cool and highly intelligent Professor Gates.

And surely the officer is telling fiction when he alleges that public speaker Gates used loud, blunt and belligerent language against him. For what Gates most likely did, with a small crowd gathered to watch, was cut the officer to the quick with articulate and skilful words impossible to refute and most embarrassing to endure.

And so, if the arresting officer teaches a course on racial profiling to new cadets, then pity all the victims harmed of his perverse idea of what the Constitution is all about.

[mjtaylor22]

arrested in his living room for disordelry conduct, even if they both were blue it was a dumb arrest

[mjtaylor22]

THE MEDIA WANTS DRAMA, EVEN WHERE THERE IS NONE THAT IS WHY they cut thru nothing
it is all tabloid news.

[bamabelle]

It is all tabloid news! Amen! It's SILLY to make such a fuss about this silly mess!

[sonoffestus]

It is like a reality TV show. Americans like reality TV. It's more interesting than 2 wars, healthcare or the need to re-tool America.

I'm sure glad my wife and I voted ourselves off the island.

[Jazzcomedian]

I agree. This media obsession with this incident and healthcare reform is nothing but a fabricated distraction to distract Americans from what we all really should be focused on: (1) Who's gonna get Michael Jackson's kids and (2) Who's gonna get his money, and can fans we who've bought his albums get some of it?. Untill those questions are definitely answered, nothing else matters.

[kwoodberryesq]

Overreacting is not a criminal act! Please stop giving the nation's police officer carte blanche to abuse your community.

[Jayscloud]

First of all, let me say I agree 100%. Both men overreacted. It should not have gotten as far as it did. With that said I have a couple of questions. Had Mr. Crowley just turned and walked away from Gates hysteria, would Gates have complained to the local police? Would Gates have gone to the media? That would have left Mr. Crowley in a very difficult position and perhaps declared a racist by everyone since it was “Henry Gates” making the complaint. Even if Mr. Crowley detailed Gates behavior, wouldn’t the media (and a lot of other people) have asked why he did not arrest Gates for disorderly conduct?

[DAE]

The whole Gates imbroglio is another manifestation of the "Birther" mentality. The whole "birther" thing is to cast aspersions on Obama and portray him as an outsider, somehow beyond the pale. Same attempt being made with the comments directed towards him vis a vis Gatesgate.

[knosiswar]

I would say they are quite different. with the birthers, Obama has chosen total silence when he could stop it all today if he was to release his vault copy birth certificate. In regards to Prof Gates, Lynn Sweet I think knows the president well enough that she knew he couldn't resist taking the Prof's side and threw a baited question at him and he took it hook line and sinker, and tripped hisself up and lost the focus of his healthcare message. That Lynn Sweet really got him.

[ObamacratInCA]

"I would say they are quite different. with the birthers, Obama has chosen total silence when he could stop it all today if he was to release his vault copy birth certificat­e."

The State of Hawaii has his birth certificate. The Republican Governor has confirmed that it'ss authentic.

Since when does anyone have to provide the original documentation of their birth to satisfy a few wingnuts?

Have you ever had to provide your original birth certificate, rather than a copy, to secure a job in the United States?

Let's not fall of into the brink of mass ignorance here. The birth certificate is in Hawaii where it belongs.

Why do we always have to distinguish ourselves with being the most backward "developed" country in the world?

[ReElectNoOne]

This has nothing to do with Gates or the Cop....thi­s has to do with Health Care!

This is a distraction the media prayed for so they could stop telling people the truth about health care and substitute an important subject with non-sense.

This is what the media does when it does not want to inform.

This is why our present news outlets have abandon the news in favor of entertainment and advertising income.

They are totally into the line, "if it bleeds it leads"....­.

[BenNC]

Gawd, the "moral equivalence crowd" make me sick.
There is no moral equivalence between overreacting to a stranger in your home by demanding that stranger to get the hell out - regardless of why he thinks he is there- on the one hand,
and crossing the bright line of violence, er, physical force by cuffing a man who walks with a cane for no justifiable reason.

A man does not have to back down, or deescalate a conflict in his own house - just leave already. The one person who did not belong in that house was the cop. The one person who resorted to violence was the cop. Everyone who has experienced this sick side of the police understands this issue, the gleefully ignorant go on spouting equivalencies like "they both overreacted".

[Hitlersonyourside]

What was the cop supposed to do take gates' word that it was his house and just leave. Oh yeah just make it easier for burglars to get away with crime by playing the race card. I have seen many people get arrested for flipping out on a cop who was just doing his job.Too bad they weren't black and couldn't scream racism to get the charges dropped for PR reasons. I don't personally agree with judgment call laws that give the police the ability to arrest you for whatever they see fit but that is the law. The cop was doing his job and from my understanding Gates' flipped out BEFORE he even proved it was his house. Sounded to me like he screamed racial profiling as soon as the cop showed up. Whole thing was bullshit. I don't think they should have dropped the charges but it shouldn't have escalated to this in the first place.

[mjtaylor22]

he showed id and called in the id to the station
did u follow the story or jsut making this up

[SethBLiNK]

While it's true that this non-troversy has pushed the President's Health Care initiative off course, what it really has done is nudge the fight for custody of Michael Jackson's kids off the front page which in turn pulled the nation's attention away from the tragedy of the Jon and Kate break-up.

Ever since the news industry decided that ratings and sales were more important than reporting the news we've been heading in this direction, and the sad truth is, not only is the media now not inclined to help a nation of immature viewers keep focused on the real issues, most practitioners of journalism seem incapable of real reporting due to the fact that nobody does it any more. Now most digging most reporters seem to do is delving into the numbers based on poling of public opinion of issues on which people haven't even the most basic grasp.

This story exploded when the President used the word "studidly," but that happened when a reporter decided in the middle of a press conference that was all about Health Care for all of us, that the nation needed the President's wisdom on this incident which only at the time involved two people. You can say it wasn't about Gates and Crowley, but about the bigger issue of profiling, but the fact is, this hasn't changed anybody's mind on profiling and has only highlighted the fact that lots of people can't even agree on what constitutes profiling and what doesn't.

[butch5]

Nice SethBLiNk. If only most Americans could think and articulate as clearly as you just did.

[JayZed]

Well said, sir.

[bsmithslo]

The fact that Lynn Sweet knew that Obama and Gates were friends is evidence that she was looking for something juicy rather than informative. She also knew that Obama loves to talk about race. The question was a dare, a red cape before a bull. Obama's passion for a friend and his interest in racial issues made his rather innocuous statements come off as race baiting. Any even handed reading of the transcript would show that Obama was simply answering the question as a matter of fact,

[robbep]

your right it is much to do about nothing. as soon as the police knew that gates was the homeowner he shld have left the property. Arresting gates was STUPID and in reality it was a false arrest. The police work for us and the minute the public is deceived into thinking we have no rights to resist an improper arrest we have taken a big step backwards. Shld Gates had been more rational about the situation - absolutely. Screaming at anyone is going to bring out the worst of that person. Had Gates had more RESPECT for the officer as a human being he wld not have gone to jail. Obama shld have stayed out of it bcz there are too many people looking for an opportunity to make anything he does a race issue. All three men made mistakes, all of them admitted it, so lets move on.

[PeterLoffredo]

Here's the thing - when you're the one with the uniform, badge, gun and night stick, whose job it is to protect citizens and keep the peace, you don't get to be an "I'm not taking your guff" kinda guy, see? The police force isn't a street gang or a sports team. If you're a major league pitcher and your opponent brushes back one of your teammates, you retaliate in kind. But both team's pitchers have a hardball to throw. When you're the only one with a gun, you don't retaliate because your ego is bruised. You take the guff because THAT'S YOUR JOB! You're supposed to be the diffuser, not the egotistical escalator of a confrontation.
Peter Loffredo
http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/

[JimR]

A witness describes the police as being very calm and in control, and Gates as yelling and being "agitated" and "slightly out of control." That does not support your claim that it is the police who escalated the situation. Quite the opposite. Sadly, Professor Gates seemed unwilling or unable to control himself.

Interesting take on the need for disorderly conduct laws, from a former public defender:

http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2009/07/stupid_disorderly_conduct_laws/comment-page-2/#comment-22798

[SteveL1936]

Well said.
For too long now, too many police officers have used their badges to bully ordinary citizens into believing that you cannot talk back to the cops. That's nonsense! When the police are wrong, we have a right to call them on it without being subject to arrest. In the Gates case, Sergeant Crowley, who is supposed to be TRAINED in these matters, let his ego control his judgment. HE WAS WRONG-- AND HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS WRONG!

[darlingamy53]

The number one reason we have this problem is that there are a lot of ignorant people in the USA. They don't know proper English and don't pay attention to the words used. This is especilally true of the media. They may understand what the word means but will twist the facts to make it a story. There is a difference betwwen the words "stupidly" and "stupid". Stupidly means that they did it stupidly, and stupid means that you are stupid (dumb ). Therefore, there was nothing wrong with the words President Obama used, only the idiots that twisted his words.
I cannot believe that someone actually caught the fact that Sgt. Crowley arrested Professor Gates just
because he was yelling at him. We do not have the freedom of speech in this country anymore. I was arrested in 1998 in Indianapolis, IN for freedon of speech. I did not touch the officer or threaten him in any way. After I was handcuffed and sitting on the side of the road, I was maced, just because,
after an officer made a sexual comment to me, I said that I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. It all started because I asked the officer if he would move his patrol car, because he was blocking my
driveway ( which is supposed to be against the law) This was the first time in my life that I had ever been arrested, and I was 45 years old.

[JimR]

Obama made an inflammatory comment about a racially charged situation, after admitting he did not know all the facts. It was a very irresponsible thing for him to do. He is the president of the United States. His words carry far more impact than those of the average citizen. I expect better from the president, especially this president, who is one of the most intelligent leaders we've had in quite some time.

[ManWithBrain]

You are truly a broken record.
He admitted he didn't know all the facts, and that he regretted his words. What would you have him do? He's human, admitted a mistake,and moved on to try to rectify the situation.
Compare this with the last resident of the White House who never once in 8 years admitted a mistake or ever tried to rectify his most obvious ones.
I prefer a guy who sometimes reacts improperly, but then reconsiders his words and takes corrective action.
He is a real person...