The media once used to at least pretend to care about facts, these days its only interest is in narratives.

And as the New York Times and Sarah Palin libel case demonstrated, no matter how often a narrative or a smear goes down, the media just shamelessly pops it back up again.

This one is from 2014 but it’s getting new life because the trial is on. And that means j-school grads with zero life experience outside of watching TikTok videos are ready with their hot takes.

He shot a man over tossed popcorn, prosecutors say. His defense: Stand-your-ground. – Hannah Knowles / Washington Post

Hannah Knowles was still a college student when the original shooting happened. But that’s still no excuse for clickbait garbage like this.

To recap this stupid and horrible case which has been kicking around for 8 years, two couples, one in their seventies, and a younger couple went to see Lone Survivor. The movie previews were still running when Chad Oulson, the younger man was texting his daughter about a babysitter. Curtis Reeves Jr. objected to the texting. There was a dumb argument of the kind that inevitably happens at one time or another (I’ve been in them, you probably have too) which escalated into heated words. Oulson, a former Navy man, threw his popcorn and possibly his phone at Reeves. Reeves Jr, a retired police captain, drew a gun and killed him. It’s a horrible tragedy that didn’t have to happen. 

Cases like this are the best argument for gun control. But the counter-argument is that among normal people, things like this rarely happen.

The vast majority of legal gun owners who are not criminals don’t shoot each other over random arguments because, contrary to the leftist view of humanity, we’re not actually mindless savages who need to be carefully controlled by a mighty government. 

The case has been kicking around endlessly and since it’s now underway, the hot takes are back. Key to those hot takes are tossed popcorn and stand your ground.

Except that no one argued that throwing popcorn justified the shooting. Reeves’ lawyers contended that Oulson had thrown a heavy cell phone and that he thought Oulson was about to punch him. Hence, the Stand Your Ground argument which was ruled out by a judge all the way back in 2017.

Reeves has good enough lawyers that the case has dragged on forever, but Stand Your Ground is not in play at the trial.

That won’t stop the media from leading with a lede that they know is not actually relevant just to be able to resurrect the Trayvon Martin case one more time. 

There’s no racial angle here, both Reeves and Oulson are white, but the media is addicted to its leftist narratives, and it can’t and won’t stop pushing them.