Activism for fun and profit

This is almost perplexing. From Inside the suspicious rise of gay hate crimes in Portland by Andy Ngo.

Last month, Sophia Gabrielle Stanford was at the center of a fundraising campaign. The GoFundMe page described the trans activist as a victim of a “brutal and aggressively blatant hate crime” in which assailants had beaten her unconscious with a bat in southeast Portland.

The campaign and shocking story went viral. However, the police reports raise questions about what happened that night.

In the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 10, emergency services received a call about a woman, identified as Stanford, found on a sidewalk with scrapes on her face and knuckles, claiming that she may have been assaulted. The responding officer, Edgar Mitchell, noted that Stanford smelled of alcohol.

“I asked [Officer Zachary Roe] what happened,” the report states. “Roe said the individual admitted to being intoxicated, and Roe believed the person fell and hit her head.”

Stanford either could not or would not state her name to the police. The responding officer was unable to discover Stanford’s name and claims that she made a threat: “If you don’t treat me right, my people will get you,” she said, according to the report.

The report also states that Stanford lost a pistol and bag she was carrying at the time of the alleged attack. A local resident found both items and flagged down another officer, Cuong Nguyen. When Nguyen attempted to return the gun to Stanford at nearby Emanuel Hospital, where she had been transported, she was already discharged.

The GoFundMe page stated that Stanford had suffered a “serious concussion” and would need intensive physical therapy, CT scans and counseling.

The case was investigated by the bias-crimes unit but was suspended due to the lack of tangible leads. Although it is impossible to know what exactly happened, nothing in the police reports indicate that Stanford told police she was attacked with a bat by multiple assailants in a hate crime.

The next day, however, the sensational and detailed story emerged in the fundraising appeal. Over $10,000 was raised.

Sophia Stanford blocked me across several social media accounts after I sent a request for comment.

In progressive Portland where the “#Resistance” is mainstream, stories like Stanford’s feed into a whisper campaign of violent homophobes, transphobes and racists lurking on every corner. A moral panic had now been ignited.

The story itself is not especially surprising. Activism has always been a mix of con artist and shake down artist. As Eric Hoffer said

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.

So the topic is not especially surprising though it is well reported. And it is not surprising that it is well reported because it is by Andy Ngo, an editor at Quillette.

What is surprising is the transparency of the solid traditional reporting. Claims are made, the reporter investigates them. When he finds that there is no substance to the claims, he reports how he knows that so that we can in turn judge the situation.

How refreshing. It would be easy to believe, given its absence in the mainstream media, that the art of traditional reporting was long lost. It is nice to see it again.

Another surprise is that what appears to be reporting of facts is entered in the Opinion section. I guess that if opinion is allowed to migrate to reporting, reporting should be allowed to migrate to opinion. Still, it seems odd.

One final point. Ngo cites researcher Wilfred Reilly:

Through his research, Reilly has collected more than 500 cases of American hate hoaxes concentrated mostly between 2013 and 2018.

Patterns he identifies among them are the lack of evidence, reluctance to cooperate with police, sensational claims, the presence of fundraising and the involvement of radical activists — all of which appear to be happening in Portland.

It warrants a list. What are the harbingers of a Hoax Hate Crime?

Lack of evidence

Reluctance to cooperate with police

Sensational claims

Presence of fundraising

Involvement of radical activists

The fact that most high profile hate crimes share most or all these traits is no coincidence.