When explaining how movies are made, the great director, Alfred Hitchcock, used to talk about a “McGuffin”.
A McGuffin is something in a movie that has no intrinsic value in and of itself, but is used to further the plot. An excellent example would be The Maltese Falcon, where the quest for a small, falcon, made of precious materials, is the reason for every character doing what he/she does.
Well, these days we seem to have another McGuffin: Michael Brown.
Why were there protests in New York, Los Angeles, London and well over 100 other locations yesterday? What does Michael Brown\’s shooting have to do with anything in those places? Why are protesters espousing causes which have nothing to do with this shooting out on the streets?
Let\’s suppose – worst case scenario, no evidence any of it is true – that Darren Wilson is a stone cold racist who went out that morning looking for an innocent, helpless Black kid to shoot and kill. What would the actions of one racist cop in Missouri have to do with anything anywhere else?
The truth is, Michael Brown\’s death is nothing to these protesters. They don\’t give a damn about him, other than as a vehicle for getting media coverage to promote their own varied causes – many of which have exactly nothing to do with this incident (can you tell me what relevance there is, for example, to the Israel/Palestinian Arab conflict?)
And the only reason this works for them is that so many in mainstream media have turned this event into a three and a half month orgy of pity for the “victim” – whom they relentlessly position as the innocent, helpless Black kid described above – and pressure to go after Officer Wilson – whom they relentlessly position as someone who, at best, acted incompetently throughout the entire encounter or, at worst, was the stone cold racist killer described above.
Put another way, beyond the local coverage such a shooting would normally generate, this is an entirely media-created event. It is a McGuffin, being used by every group looking to latch onto a cause that gets them publicity when they hit the streets.
And, not incidentally, it has given media a great story to report over these months. Hey, who cares if there are riots and looting and businesses destroyed and people hurt, when you can get those ratings up?
I hope they\’re proud of themselves.
