WALSH: The Story About The Guy ‘Arrested For Eating A Sandwich’ Is Yet Another Phony Outrage. Don’t Fall For It.

There has been outrage this week after a man, Steve Foster, was handcuffed “for eating a sandwich,” as the media has falsely characterized it. A top Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) official has issued a formal apology, but that of course did not quell the storm or stave off cries of racism. There seems to be widespread agreement in the media, and on social media, that the officer is a bully and probably racist, and the man he detained is an innocent victim of bigoted police tactics. This conclusion is unjustified and absurd.

The controversy stems from yet another suspiciously out-of-context video of a heated interaction between a black man and a white police officer. The footage begins with the officer telling Foster he’s detained and Foster cussing out the officer and refusing to comply. We do not see how the interaction began. It is claimed by Foster that the officer ignored other people eating, singling him out instead. We do not see any of those other people in the video. This lack of context should give everyone pause before jumping to conclusions, but of course we live in an age of reaction, not thought and discernment. To hell with context, just go with whatever narrative seems the most useful or the most interesting.