Elon Musk may have his own share of critics, but there’s one thing that he deserves a lot of credit for: the Twitter “Community Notes” feature. This feature has been a Godsend to many people, especially those who are tired of the liberal media’s refusal to acknowledge reality.
We recently witnessed this in action when MSNBC host and author of the ironically-titled “Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking”, Mehdi Hasan, was challenged on his inaccurate racial crime statistics.
It all started when HBO host Bill Maher pointed out that crime was out of control in places like Chicago and that the Democrats and the media were ignoring the issue. In response, Hasan tweeted his own claim that white-on-white crime stats are almost identical to black-on-black crime numbers.
"White people kill other white people at almost the same rate black people kill other black people & yet you never hear anyone complaining about 'white on white crime'. These aren't points of sage wisdom from Maher. They are classic racist dog whistles."pic.twitter.com/VZlCoqfet9
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 28, 2023
Twitter’s Community Notes feature quickly caught Hasan spreading misinformation and posted a correction below his tweet, citing FBI statistics that contradicted his claim. It turns out that the rate of black-on-black killings (53.38/million) was ~5.3x higher than that of white-on-white (10.03/million) in the U.S. in 2019, according to data from the FBI and the Census Bureau.
It was also revealed that black killers killed 89% of black victims and white killers killed 79% of white victims.
*Rate* and *frequency* are two very different things, @mehdirhasan, and you know this. Which is why nearly 50% of homicide victims or black despite representing only 14% of the population.
You are a professional liar. https://t.co/DkiJkuXKfo pic.twitter.com/fAODg8zGKe
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) April 28, 2023
Hasan was not pleased with this fact-checking and lashed out, claiming it was all a MAGA plot. He was quickly corrected again, this time for his false depiction of Community Notes. The fact is, Community Notes doesn’t work by majority rules. It helps prevent one-sided ratings by requiring agreement between contributors who have sometimes disagreed in their past ratings.
If you had any doubt that @CommunityNotes has become another weapon of the right on Musk’s Twitter, see the BS community note added to my Bill Maher clip, after MAGA folks demanded it. It makes a point that is irrelevant to the one I am making (re intraracial ‘rates* of killing.) pic.twitter.com/GXZrli4Lx9
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 29, 2023
It’s a sad fact that the liberal media has chosen to ignore the spiraling crime situation in inner cities and the disproportionate number of black victims. However, thanks to the Community Notes feature, we can now call out those who are spreading false information and get closer to the truth.
Bill Maher is absolutely right to point out that crime has spiraled out of control in the U.S., much of it in inner cities, and that black-on-black crime is a serious issue. We can’t solve a problem if we refuse to acknowledge it, so kudos to Community Notes for helping to bring the truth to light.