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How long does it take for an ordinary person to become a hero sought after by the whole people? Overnight. How long does it take for him to go from being pulled from the altar as a hero and turning into a suspect under investigation? Three days.
This is not a story that I made up out of thin air, but a historical fact that really happened.
Clint Eastwood, a gold medalist who won five Oscars, was so touched by the incident that at the age of nearly 90, he brought the story to the big screen and made it into the movie "The Lamentations of Richard Jewell".
Nearly 90-year-old director Clint Eastwood
The film, from casting to scene, restores the facts to the audience almost in great detail: he wants to recreate this historical scandal truthfully.
Released in the United States on December 13, 2019, the film was named one of the Top Ten Films of the Year 2019, with Richard Jewell's actor also winning the Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, while Bobby Jewell (Richard's mother), played by Kathy Bates, won best supporting actress at the 77th Golden Globe Awards for her exquisite acting skills.
Poster for the movie "The Lamentations of Richard Jewell"
In 1996, the Atlanta Olympics were held in the United States as scheduled. This sporting event was supposed to be surrounded by a grand opening ceremony, the sweat of Olympic athletes and the tears of excitement to win the medals, the focus of world attention and praise.
What caught people by surprise was that a shocking bombing in Atlanta's Olympic Central Park at that time caused the whole of Atlanta, the entire United States, and even the whole world to fall into panic for a time.
To celebrate the Olympic Games, atlanta's Olympic Center Park held a carnival party for three consecutive nights, and many people gathered at the scene.
The carnival at Atlanta's Olympic Central Park on the night of the bombing
The bombing eventually killed 2 people and injured 112 others. The lethality of the bombs was far greater than this number of casualties, but thanks to the security guard Richard Jewell, who found a backpack full of explosives while on duty, he reported it in time. The relevant staff immediately evacuated the crowd, so that many people were spared the casualties of the explosion.
Overnight, Richard became a national hero who saved countless lives. The media rushed to report on his heroic deeds, and even some publishers wanted to write a biography of him. For the first time, Richard felt that he had finally become the pride of his mother.
However, just three days later, the widely sought after "hero of the whole people" was framed by the FBI and the media as a suspect in the bombing, and he was considered a "thief to catch a thief" in order to satisfy his long-absurd "heroic dream".
Richard Jewell's own character flaws
"Diligence and responsibility turned him into a so-called suspect. Jewell has always been proud to have been a police officer and a law enforcer. Ironically, this has made him a representative of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases." Jewell's defense lawyer, Bryant, said.
Richard Jewell was a man who adhered to principles to the point of near pedantry. The obsession with "law enforcement" once had a negative effect on his career: he was once indeed a law enforcer, working more than 14 hours a day, but was forced to resign after crashing into a police car during a patrol due to excessive law enforcement.
After resigning, he served as a varsity officer at Pittmont College, a position that was only responsible for the campus and the surrounding area within 500 feet. But because of his obsession with law enforcement, he used to chase speeding cars on the highway and compete with other police officers for turf. He never withdrew from his role as a "enforcer."
As an ordinary little person in American society, he has spent his life striving to become a good policeman. In real life, however, he is not seen by anyone because he is obese and clumsy.
Richard Jewell prototype
Public discrimination and prejudice against "obese people"
"Why did you choose me as your defense attorney?" There are so many lawyers' numbers in the phone book, why should you call me? ” "Because you're different from others, people treat me like a five-year-old and call me a 'snack bag,' a 'airship,' and a Michelin." You're the only one who treats me like a normal person." When lawyer Bryant asked Richard why he had chosen him as a defense lawyer, Richard responded helplessly.
The word "hero" is always tall and majestic in people's hearts. How can such a clumsy bottom-floor fat house, a loser, a "Michelin" that is not accepted by mainstream society be the hero who saved countless lives?
After receiving a report from the president of Pittmont College, who had hired Richard Jewell as a security guard, the FBI began to write a psychological profile of Jewell: mediocre, obese, always unrecognizable, still dependent on his mother at the age of thirty, fanatical about the identity of "enforcer" to the point of being close to an obsessive former law enforcer - how much it seems to be the perpetrator himself! This profile is simply a "perfect match".
Overnight, fame and fortune were both gained, and people were sought after, returning to the law enforcement team. Isn't that what he's trying to achieve?
Why did he just find the bomb, could it actually be that he put it? Why did he just dodge the bomb when it exploded? So many people were blown away, why was someone so clumsy as he was unharmed? Further investigation reveals that Jewell has a lot of guns hidden in his home and has an experience of excessive law enforcement as a former law enforcer. Yes, this fanaticism is enough to sustain him to complete this crazy move!
As the FBI asks Richard Jewell's final question: "When the bomb exploded, how did you know that you could dodge the blast attack on the other side of the tower?" A bomb exploded right where you were standing guard, and there was chaos, and the police were blown away, but you were unharmed. Why? "
Yes, when you are identified as a criminal, not only is your every move likely to be used as evidence in court, but you are even wrong to survive.
The media uses all means to pursue news flashpoints
Media is an amplifier. If the hot flashpoint is the weight for all media people to survive, then we can't help but ask: Where should the bottom line of the media be? In this case, Kathy Scraggs of the Atlanta Gazette was a star reporter in charge of policing and had extraordinary ties to atlanta police and the FBI.
But her means and face in order to get news breaking is deeply uncomfortable and even extremely disgusting. She could hide in lawyer Bryant's car, and when he was driving, she would suddenly come up and make his remarks, and even if the lawyer asked her to get out of the car in anger, she could still lie in the car with a dead face and not get out of the car without expecting her; she could seduce Inspector Fbi Shaw, who was investigating Jewell, just to get exclusive material.
The character and prototype of the exposé journalist Kathy Sklaggs films
As we all know, the media is the weather vane of public opinion. Once anything is preempted by the media, saying that Jewell is included in the list of "suspects" and investigated, it means that the "civilian hero" is listed as the subject of the investigation, and he may not only not be a hero, but will be the initiator of the bombing.
FBI forcibly "convicted" for throwing the pot
The FBI's biggest mistake was to leak to the media that Jewell was a suspect. Originally, before the case was decided, it was normal for anyone to accept routine inquiries from the FBI.
When Richard Jewell was listed as one of the suspects, the FBI's behavior also changed radically after the media hype and even added fuel to the fire. Assuming that the culprit is eventually found to be someone else, the FBI's ability to handle the case will obviously be questioned.
So they were reluctant to admit that there was really no evidence pointing to Richard, and even began to do the opposite, not based on the evidence, but based on the conclusion.
The two FBI inspectors who have been inducing Richard to confess their guilt in the film
They used the logic of "suspicion follows" to induce Richard to confess on the grounds of filming a propaganda film; when searching for evidence, They had Jewell repeat the suspect's 911 dial as many as 12 times; they installed a bugging device in Jewell's house in the hope of eavesdropping on the clues of the criminal when he was there.
It wasn't until He discovered that the FBI had begun to get him to sign his name, when he had experience with law enforcers who told him that things were not going well, that he became vigilant and began to ask to see his defense lawyer.
When he slowly saw the FBI's various bad deeds in order to convict him, he finally understood that no matter how he explained it, it was not what the FBI wanted to hear, and the only thing the FBI wanted to hear was that he confessed. Only the much-maligned affair that ended with Richard as a criminal could preserve the FBI's reputation.
So when the investigation proceeded to day 88 and the FBI had no evidence and would have to exclude Richard Jewell from the suspect, Inspector Shaw still reluctantly said, "I personally still think you are a criminal."
Richard was finally confronted by the FBI's statement
News flashpoints are always temporary, and everyone is pursuing the current hot spots and explosive points. Compared with the birth of a "civilian hero", the public's taste is more inclined to pull a hero off the altar, preferably to pieces. The visual and emotional impact of this strong contrast has satisfied everyone's appetite and sucked everyone's attention. No one cares about the feelings of the person involved, and they continue to monitor with high-powered telescopes, not sparing any clues that can convict him.
Richard's mother, Bobby Jewell, was in tears
So here, we can't help but ask, is the truth more important or the results of public opinion guidance more important?
24 years ago, when the Internet was not yet developed, the voice of the print media and news media was the main way to disseminate public opinion. Today's new media era, the popularity of various platforms such as Weibo and WeChat has spread information faster.
The development of the Internet has undoubtedly put forward new requirements for the administrative capacity of relevant departments. How to identify the authenticity of information in the shortest possible time? How do you find a balance between debunking rumors in a timely manner and taking timely action on receiving valid information? How can you not promote the spread of false news while at the same time delivering the whistleblower's whistle? Is it possible to use the power of science and technology to develop scientific and technological products that help improve the efficiency of screening?
"I used to think that federal law enforcement was the highest requirement a person could ever reach, but after all that, I don't think so now. I did my job that night, so some people were still alive. Do you think the next time a security guard sees a suspicious package he will call again to report it? I don't think so. Because they'll think: I don't want to be another Richard Jewell. ”
By the 88th day of the investigation, Richard was finally excluded from the FBI's list of targets due to insufficient evidence; 6 years later, Eric Rudolf was arrested, and he confessed to being the culprit in the Olympic Central Park bombing that year.
The truth finally surfaced, but where did agent Xiao and the media go at this time?
It's been so long, and nearly three months have passed since Richard was excluded from the investigation. For the media, there is no longer a heat, they have long gone to catch up with the updated news. No one will go back to "fried cold rice" again.
Moreover, "the birth of a civilian hero" is far less topical than "a hero is actually a criminal". The media knows this.
Detailed treatment of the film: a complete restoration of the headlines of the newspaper of that year
Reality is often so bleak, yes, truth and justice will come, but it will always be delayed. When the storm of public opinion blows you to the brink of powerlessness, it secretly leaves; and when the storm suddenly stops, the people watching the bustle sigh and disperse, and everything returns to calm, it suddenly appears again, lights a bright light for your dark life, and comforts you: I am here, I know that you are innocent, you have been wronged, you have suffered.
But for Richard Jewell, "doubt" had long since destroyed his supposedly peaceful life, and he had never even received an apology.
The prototype of Richard Jewell holds a newspaper that changed his destiny
Like a paper file at the end of the movie, it's justice, it's truth. But is this 88 days of suffering really something that can be erased in one paper? The world has quietly changed its face after 88 days, the people who followed the case of Richard Jewell have long since scrawled away, and there are newer, more explosive news that has caught their attention.
So who cares what the truth really is? In people's stereotypes, Richard Jewell has been "convicted" by public opinion when he was pulled from the altar of "heroes" by the media to the hell of "suspects". After the heat of this matter has passed, it has been frozen, and in the end, there are even very few people who know and pay attention to the truth.
On August 29, 2007, Richard Jewell died of a heart attack at the age of 44.
The film reminds me of the new coronavirus outbreak that has affected the entire world from January 2020 to the present. At the beginning, the whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang passed on the news of confirming the virus, and was reprimanded by law enforcement officers, saying that he was "rumor-mongering". But it turns out that he is not wrong, and his voice is the whistle before the epidemic is raging.
On the evening of February 6, 2020, thousands of Chinese people did not sleep, waiting for a miracle. After Dr. Li Wenliang was diagnosed with new crown pneumonia, his condition took a sharp turn for the worse that night, the hospital was still working hard, everyone was praying, but the miracle did not happen. In the early hours of February 7, the hospital announced his death.
On March 19, the investigation team of the State Supervision Commission issued the "Circular on the Investigation of the Situation Involving Dr. Li Wenliang Reflected by the Masses", which punished the relevant law enforcement personnel who issued a reprimand to Dr. Li Wenliang at that time with a warning and solemnly apologized to his family.
Many people say that justice may be late, but it will not be absent.
When heroes are burdened by stigma, consumed by public opinion, and finally depressed; when whistleblowers whistle whistle, but are treated as rumor spreaders, reprimanded by law enforcement, we should reflect on whether those who hold the right to speak should be more cautious to judge, to guide, to investigate those who have guiding speech.
Some of the damage has already been done, and it is not the case that time has passed. For the person concerned, it is the delay of the soul and the stain of life. It's like the FBI numbered everything in Richard's house with a marker pen when it was forensic, and even if it was all returned after the investigation, the number on it could not be erased.
The trauma of the person's heart is like this indelible mark pen
Perhaps what we should do is to do more objective investigation before collecting evidence, and use evidence to support it with facts; instead of relying on conjecture, subjective will, and unfair treatment of those brave whistleblowers for their own selfish interests. As Richard says, the consequence of this can only be that there are fewer and fewer whistle-blowers, because no one wants to be the second Richard Jewell to be wronged.
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