Morehouse Students Turn Their Backs, Walk Out of Graduation as Joe Biden Gives Speech
Morehouse Students Turn Their Backs, Walk Out of Graduation as Joe Biden Gives Speech
The crowd was divided as Biden took the stage to deliver the commencement address.
Lessons in headline engineering
Another possible headline was "At Morehouse, Biden says dissent should be heard because democracy is 'still the way'" or another "Biden tells Morehouse graduates that scenes in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war break his heart, too"
Outside of the ceremony, a small number of protestors gathered while the commencement itself did not see any major disruptions.
Last week, Morehouse College President David Thomas said he would rather halt proceedings than have students escorted away for protesting.
"If my choice is 20 people being arrested on national TV on the Morehouse campus, taken away in zip ties during our commencement, before we would reach that point, I would conclude the ceremony," he said on NPR's Weekend Edition.
But, none of that happened -- either halting the ceremony or tackling or pepper spraying any of the people who were draped in Palestinian flags or turning their chairs around.
DeAngelo Fletcher, Morehouse College's valedictorian, closed his address to his classmates by addressing global conflict, particularly the Israel-Hamas war.
"For the first time in our lives, we've heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture," he said. "It is my sense as a Morehouse Man, nay – as a human being – to call for an immediate and a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip."
IDK how much more pro Palestinian than that he got, and it sorta sounds like "both sides." But whatever. Anyway apparently Biden stood up and shook his hand after. Here's the whole video; Biden's part starts at around 1:43:30. Comparing the tenor of the thing if you take a look at it firsthand, against the tenor that's created from reading this particular headline, is a good little window on what they were trying to do by writing the headline that way (i.e. not to inform about what happened), and what ozma was trying to do by posting it here.
I don't actually think it matters all that much what anybody says about Gaza. Biden stopping the weapons shipments, pushing for an immediate cease fire and humanitarian aid, and supporting an ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu would be a good start. I think mostly this commencement speech is notable in that, hey look, (1) there was protest and it was ok (2) you can make things sound way different depending on which aspects you present in the media coverage.
Lessons in headline engineering
Another possible headline
"Morehouse alumni give Biden a standing ovation"
Did you not see the students that stood and turned their backs during Biden's propaganda speech? What about what was going on outside?
https://x.com/fizapirani/status/1792255493500502221-
https://x.com/p00ja_pat/status/1792247871670043119
Good for them. They're standing up for what they believe in, and I agree with them, and I definitely think that this type of thing has some impact on Biden's policies. Although at this rate, all the Palestinians will be dead before he works his way slowly and gradually around to the idea that maybe he'll have to do more than a sternly worded phone call with Netanyahu in order for the killing to stop.
You'll note that, because Biden bears little resemblance to the monstrous authoritarian caricature you try several times a day to paint him as, he and the college (who I'm sure talked with him about this exact issue, beforehand) both made no effort to "crack down" on them, and in fact he explicitly called out their protest as a good thing, during his speech.
(My point wasn't that the headline was a direct lie, but an example of engineering a single true fact by blowing it up and warping it to create a slanted picture of reality in the reader's mind. That's why I sent the full unedited video, as a way of contrasting it with a single event or a single picture taken from the perfect angle. I actually can't visit X video links since Elon fucked things up, but if you want to send me some non-X videos I'm happy to take a look at those, too.)
(Edit: Actually, I think the thing that they walked out as he gave his speech might be an actual lie. According to The New York Post, which seems to be the source for ozma's photo, it sounds to me like the students who left stayed through Biden's speech and then left during a later part when he was still on stage.)
"Several students," so what are we talking, 3? 5? Read his damn speech OP
Notably, there was an age divide in support among Morehouse graduates: The alumni sitting to the left gave standing ovations during and after Biden's speech, while the 2024 graduating class mainly remained seated throughout.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-silent-protest-morehouse-commencement/story?id=110376198
Oh hey, it's the dude with a hardon for both-sides bullshit and trashing Biden. I can't wait to see the mental gymnastics in this thread...
Always look at the actions of someone not what they say. Someone told me this long time ago and it never fails.
Trump tells Israel to "finish the job" in gaza
https://apnews.com/article/trump-israel-gaza-netanyahu-biden-ba17bedaf2f1b5f2ea220828d0fba73b
Surprising nobody.
And had the nerve to address a HBCU to pander for the black vote.
How DARE he accept an invitation that the HBCU sent to him? He should reject it!!
Then you’d be on here complaining about how he doesn’t care about the Black vote lol
I can't stand President Biden. I wouldn't vote for him if he were the last candidate on earth. But, really? This man is the President, and you couldn't do him the courtesy of sitting quietly and listening to what he has to say?
That behavior is beyond my comprehension.
Titles don't demand respect. Character does.
I'm legitimately surprised that so few of the trolls have hit on the idea of coming in being fake pro-establishment. Like if there were more people here being super pro-Israel and doing the "Hamas is lying about casualties" "what on earth is Israel supposed to do, not defend themselves" talking points, to provide some justification for all the other trolls claiming that Lemmy is filled with pro-genocide-ers and they're just doing their part sticking up for the unrepresented Palestinian viewpoint -- I think if I were running an influence campaign I would probably sprinkle in some of those people, too.
I think "of course Joe Biden is dogshit, we all agree on that of course, but by God you better sit up and salute when he's around, signed, your friendly Lemmy authoritarian person, fuck the protestors" is a likely candidate for one of those. If this is genuinely how you look at it though, have you considered reaching out to some of the shills and seeing if maybe you can get paid for posting this stuff? I think this would be a good tactical addition to what they're doing.
Oh look Mozz, Biden lied again...
The president of Morehouse College claimed that Biden's commencement address would not be used by his campaign.
as of right now, he is just another candidate. Fuck the president title
Except no because the fact that he's President while campaigning still matters. It absolutely affects how he behaves.