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5

Thank you so much for this podcast. The truth is nearly always so much better than fiction. And what our media gave us was a complete fiction. It's clear to me that not only the press and the public, but the legal system as well got caught up in a mob reaction that was started and maintained by the fictional scenario given us by the press and social media. There is nothing more poisonous, more destructive, than a human mob. This incident should have never, ever become a news story. It should have been handled discreetly and quietly, then dismissed. That this didn't happen illustrates the tremendous destructive power of social media - and what has become its echo chamber: mainstream media. Shame on the journalists, police, judge, the public, and her employer. And shame on Mr. Cooper for not being forthcoming about what really happened, instead preferring to play the victim and get a measure of fame and even money for shamefully allowing this mob action to proceed.

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The discussion and Amy Cooper's responses only reinforce my view of Amy Cooper as a jerk. She had her dog off the leash. Christian asked her to leash the dog. She refused as far as I can tell and then became aggressive, striding up to him and getting in his face and waving her finger in his face. To classify his statement that he was going to do what he likes, and she wasn't going to like it as a threat is a big stretch. Tit for tat verbal spat at best. I'm a middle-aged white woman who spent much time in her younger years jogging and exploring, and never on any planet would I be approaching a male (of any color) that I felt was a threat. Her claim she felt threatened as she proceeded to get in his face is utterly laughable. The previous incident between Christian Cooper and another dog walker, Jerome, showed the dog walker who refused to leash his dog was the aggressor, just like Amy Cooper. If I heard correctly, Jerome pushed Christian to the ground, and I don't blame Christian for being fed up with the entitled people who bring their unleashed dogs into the Ramble. Also, from what I've read, recording someone in NYC is legal. So is being "physical" as she described him, and so is holding a bike helmet. I have no idea if she is racist since I am not a mind reader, but I myself have been the target of males and females of various colors who like to play the victim while they harass others and do whatever the heck they want, and they'll use whatever they can to manipulate the narrative. I despise mobs and mob justice, but I don't feel sympathy for her. I wish all sides would stop with the "if the situation was reversed" mantra. She gave the mob the torches. and in this age of technology, not a good idea. Our worst selves are made public. My view was reinforced at the end when Kmele asked her what she thought she might say to him and she responded with "you scared me," and Kmele said you scared me is not sorry. She wanted the "dispute" addressed between 2 people but Amy Cooper is the one who brought in law enforcement.

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Wonderful exploration of the stories behind the story. It fulfills the adage, "don't judge until you walk in someone's shoes" for both parties. It also demonstrates the Mob Mentality, in all its ugliness, and shows us just how fragile we all have become.

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Underrated podcast. Very significant when one realizes how few journalists actually have the balls to investigate nuance and grey areas. The MSM has become a race obsessed mob and it makes all reporting worse. As Kmele says 'obession with race makes everything dumber and worse'.

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I just became aware of this episode and so heard it about a year late. The news media rarely gets a story 100% right and sometimes really botches a story, so I listened with an open mind. My takeaway? She really came across as the "Karen" the media initially portrayed her as being. Your story almost didn't touch on the fact that she was violating park policy. Had she quickly leased her dog, there wouldn't have been a problem. But no, she felt the rules didn't apply to her and would rather call the police about an African American man. Her excuse (I would have said "white man" if he were white) rang hollow. And it was telling that, while the dispatcher kept saying it was a poor connection, Ms. Cooper couldn't identify it as an objective problem, instead saying the dispatcher repeatedly cut her off while she was trying to talk. It's all about her. To talk about birders vs. dog people, the fact that Mr. Cooper and other birders deal with this regularly, or about her prior sexual assault history are all irrelevant to the facts of their encounter. I'm curious about the specifics of the sexual assault claim - it can mean a lot of things - and curious why Kmele didn't follow up on this. The fact that she's "in hiding" over a nothing encounter strikes me as a bit much but consistent with her personality as I perceive it to be. Though I never thought she should lose her job over this, her voice on your interview reeked of superiority. My take: KAREN.

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