The Victory at The March

This past weekend, Twitter, in Twitterial fashion, erupted.

The topic of the discontent? A group of high school students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky.

Video clips made the viral rounds over the weekend, purporting to show the students harassing an elderly Native American man (Marine veteran Nathan Phillips). This event occurred at the Indigenous Peoples' March in Washington, D.C.

In particular, one video clip showed this. Twitter's "liberal" sector noticed the students wearing the popular 2016 campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again".

For the political Left, which has no interest in making America great again, this was a problem.

The narrative shifted. It was not just a generational tormenting going on; it was a racialized event.

Commentators and Twitter's #VerifiedBullies castigated the students and connected the branding of their clothes to the President's (often misinterpreted) racism.

This castigation escalated to the level of professional and death threats, against the students and their families.

This would be, unfortunately, another straightforward story of the particular lunacy of the the spin-driven media. The shift arrived shortly after the hysteria reached its peak. There was new information.

In any mob, there is a critical mass. When it's reached, it's unstoppable from the perspective of rational persuasion. Mobs are the starts of movements. These movements lead to violence. Ironically, violence is used as a means of persuasion.

Twitter mobs are just as bad, if not worse. Deindividuation separates the person from their online consequences. The results of this shift are dramatic. Even worse are mobs with righteous anger. When the purpose of the mob is justifiable, even "moral", hell hath no fury.

What changed the mob's ferocious tilt? New video released; it showed the Native American elder approached the students. A press release from the most castigated student showed that there was no malicious intent from the high schoolers. More and more of the commentators apologized. 

In other words, new information stopped the mob and changed the course of conversation.

Yes, it is not over. Not for Covington Catholic High School, which continues to face sanctions. Not for the more rabid members of the press, who are finding more creative ways to frame their attack. But the mob has dissipated.

There's a vague disappointment in the fact this is surprising. You'd think this would be common. But, we, as humans and as biased thinkers, are not prone to rationality. It takes effort to be objective, to admit fault, and to let reality be the final arbiter.

But it happened here. It could happen again. It could also be the last hope for a more sensible public discourse.

I'm not calling for perfection. I made the same mistake of jumping to conclusions. I'm not calling for apologies. People will make them, or they won't. I'm calling for a recognition and celebration of reason winning part of a lengthy fight.

Advocates of reason, of liberty, of individual rights need to look at this closely. It wasn't perfect, but it was better.

The lesson here is: keep applying pressure. Point to the victories. Encourage success. As usual, make the argument for intelligence.

And maybe, next time will be better.