On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "Protesters across the country and a lot of Americans who are sympathetic to this Occupy Wall Street protest movement are tonight rallying around a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who was seriously injured during a violent confrontation with police in Oakland, California on Tuesday."
On ABC's World News, fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos echoed that sentiment: "...one young man has become a symbol of their resolve." Correspondent Abbie Boudreau followed by declaring: "With tensions mounting daily, the name Scott Olsen has become a national rallying cry for Occupy Wall Street....injured Tuesday night, as police began firing tear gas during the Oakland crackdown."
In a tragedy that is yet to be fully explained, the 24 year-old Iraq War veteran, Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull during the riots in Oakland earlier this week. His friends and fellow protesters claim he was struck in the head by a projectile fired by Oakland Police during the riots. The Oakland PD doesn't accept that, saying that it remains possible that he was struck by some item or projectile (rock, bottle, etc) thrown by other protesters as they attempted to return to the plaza outside Oakland City Hall. Nonetheless, the serious injury is a tragedy. He was admitted to the hospital in critical condition - but thankfully, his condition has since been upgraded.
As noted by Newsbusters.org in the above link and quotes, NBC News and ABC News are using Mr. Olsen's injury, and status as a Iraq War veteran as a 'rallying cry' supportive of the Occupy movement and the violence that they are embracing. Yet, they are also leaving out some interesting details about Mr. Olsen.
As noted in this post on Gateway Pundit, Scott Olsen is less than proud of his service, being the founder of the website, 'IHatetheMarineCorps.com'. But even more worrisome, particularly with the level of support from Nazi and neo-Nazi organizations and sympathetic individuals, combined with the numerous examples of anti-Semitism that is rampant (but under reported) in many of the Occupy demonstrations, is his embracing of anti-Semitism as evidenced by the update in the Gateway Pundit post. Olsen's words as quoted on the site are disturbing.
I still wish him a quick recovery from his injuries - but he's not the rallying cry or hero that the media is trying to spin him as. He is a person who holds reprehensible viewpoints and is one of far too many models available of what is fundamentally wrong with the Occupy movement.
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