On February 21, 2024, the Owasso Police Department issued a statement on Nex Benedict, the non-binary Oklahoma high school student who was assaulted in a school bathroom and died the following day. It included this passage on the cause of Nex's death:
Judd Legum makes an essential point: the media doesn't get it. Not fast enough. Not honest enough. This isn't a new problem, but it's acute today because of well-financed political targeting of non-binary and trans youth.
Ghouls like Walters and Raichik have no business being near a superintendent's office or school advisory board. Nex Benedict and the children of Oklahoma in general deserve better.
Please continue to press the AP an other news outlets to retract or at least clarify their stories. It is important that they be held accountable for misreporting the initial police statement. They need to do better. We all need to do better.
This whole situation is so tragic for so many reasons. A wonderful young person was brutalized and is dead! There is no replacement for that loss. My heart goes out to the their family and friends. The people who murdered them are disturbed but probably not going to get help or consequences appropriate for youth who murder. I have no faith in the mainstream press to rise to this moment in time and report equitably or at all in a democratic manner. They are failing at good journalism and instead engaging in sensationalist Republican approved reporting. The press is negative and biased, and all of them deserve the authoritarian state they are bringing about. However, the rest of us do not! We need to stop subscribing to and listening to these sources at least on issues where we have other options. Support independent reporting like this Substack.
Thank you so much for bringing light to the cruelty that kills. You are addressing a major tenet of human existence that "we cannot live without!" if we are to exist as civilized human beings and enjoy any peace and happiness. We have a blue print in the USA of principles that would create a thriving [not referring to money] society where we can live according to the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. Nex Benedict may be among "the least of them" but a pivotal figure of what matters most when it comes to life on earth
Thank you, Judd, for the light you’ve shed on the inaccurate reporting on death of this young person.
I am incensed and outraged. There is little question in my mind that this young person died because of the beating they suffered the day before. No matter how young they are, the animals who murdered them must be brought to justice.
The police must not be allowed to cover this up. The medical examiner must not be allowed to cover this up. This is a hate crime and should be investigated by Federal authorities.
Our media is doing a great job of destroying the truth. We need to understand that most of our media has been sold to ultra right wingers. Unfortunately, it has the broadest reach.
No school age child should be subjected to be terrified, beat up or shot at in school. It is not a teacher’s job to risk their own lives with these issues. But first, we must see consequences for these crimes! We need education from the youngest age to have sympathy for others, to imagine if they were being isolated and harassed. To report (privately) if necessary when they see cruelty to others.
We have zero reason to respect republicans, and any governmental institution that shows a lack of regard for those who hurt no one but are attacked for being the person they are. Police forces let MAGAs in. The good cops have the same problem as anyone ostracized.
By letting MAGAs into our police forces, we have made the job of cleaning up the forces so much harder.
In Feb 2023, there was an outcry in Chicago after 2 officers who were tied to far-right extremist groups, Oath Keepers & Proud Boys, were allowed to resume work in the police force! Both of those groups participated in the J6 insurrection. My alderman & several other alders reacted loudly. The Public Safety Committee demanded the Police dept clean up, the Inspector Gen wanted these officers to be terminated from the force. But they were let back in. Something fundamental and a different oversight with power of the police force needs to happen.
Did the coroner not do an MRI of Nex’s head? Check for blood in the spinal fluid? Reports from Nex’s mother describe classic signs of intracranial bleeding following head trauma. The FBI needs to take over because the whole community is subsumed with right-wing hate.
Thank you for this important story for Nex and media criticism in general. AP and CBS are a disgrace per usual. Coverage of the poor soul who died protesting the genocide in Palestine was similarly misleading, tepid and lazy, not to mention their coverage of politics which actively harms democracy.
By regularly acting irresponsibly in regards to accurate reporting of important newsworthy items of local and national importance to concerned individuals throughout the nation, miscreant media outlets are negatively affecting the behavior of the population, government, law enforcement, finance, and the credibility of "media" in general. This is a critical industry that affects all aspects of society, not just the critical readers that want to be informed, whose numbers it would appear to be in the minority. If there are no penalties and or serious consequences related to misinformation and there are profits to be gained from fictional (entertainment) reporting...an obvious result is the confusion and divisiveness that the country now experiences. Ex. the New York Times and the many misleading issues related to their misleading news items. This is just one of many examples of Fake News produced for reasons related to "greed" (in its many forms) as a root of most all of the misinformation.
Unless we can get a handle on implementing real and timely consequences for those individuals involved in and responsible for this misinformation, we will continue to merrily go along our way to continue to imperceptibly circle down the pathway to... a really more undesirable state of affairs. There are several futures that will result from this freedom of speech rabbit hole we are being sucked into. And, without knowing the facts, reality, and the truth, the decisions required to repair the damage to our country will always be half-assed at best. Even with the adults in the most powerful room in the "House", it would at times seem like most all the other 50 rooms are occupied and under the direction of "out of control" misinformed children.
It should be painfully obvious to many, the most... of our half-assed ability to control our children is the "Trump Experience" since the 70's. We as a people had/have a choice to make. Apply our intelligence to thwart violent manipulative foe(s), change the rules a bit to allow for the building of "most/more effective" guardrails and... set a goal to become a better country, or continue along our merry way. Historically, I think I know the choice we will select...
What is sad, is we have had such terrific opportunities to do great things...and we didn't.
And by the way—that child died of an intracranial bleed after being beaten around the face and head. MURDER. And it is sanctioned by the Oklahoma authorities.
This is a little off topic but the MSM is failing America by pushing Trump a dangerous criminal & traitor to the republic to be POTUS. Most Trump’s headlines are favorable while MSM is begging “old” Biden to drop out. Trump is almost the same age & a lifelong mobbed up criminal rapist racist indicted traitor.
But they are fine with him.
PS- SCOTUS, as expected, traitor Trump can stay on ballot.
For heaven's sake. Even if Nex's death was due to suicide, how can one say that the attitude of Oklahoma authorities and the school's allowance of bullying on the matter was not "related" to the death. Finding oneself beat up for who one IS seems to me to be trauma enough to make the Superintendent's position morally, if no legally, deeply despicable.
I am willing to bet that the full autopsy will reveal the truth of what happened. We can guess or speculate, but that won't bring them back to life. If indeed the bullies did contribute to their death then they need to held accountable. Judd is right about the legacy media, they open their traps and words fall out.
Judd Legum makes an essential point: the media doesn't get it. Not fast enough. Not honest enough. This isn't a new problem, but it's acute today because of well-financed political targeting of non-binary and trans youth.
Ghouls like Walters and Raichik have no business being near a superintendent's office or school advisory board. Nex Benedict and the children of Oklahoma in general deserve better.
Please continue to press the AP an other news outlets to retract or at least clarify their stories. It is important that they be held accountable for misreporting the initial police statement. They need to do better. We all need to do better.
This whole situation is so tragic for so many reasons. A wonderful young person was brutalized and is dead! There is no replacement for that loss. My heart goes out to the their family and friends. The people who murdered them are disturbed but probably not going to get help or consequences appropriate for youth who murder. I have no faith in the mainstream press to rise to this moment in time and report equitably or at all in a democratic manner. They are failing at good journalism and instead engaging in sensationalist Republican approved reporting. The press is negative and biased, and all of them deserve the authoritarian state they are bringing about. However, the rest of us do not! We need to stop subscribing to and listening to these sources at least on issues where we have other options. Support independent reporting like this Substack.
Thank you as always, Judd, for your insistence on accuracy, and your attention to the anti-LGBT+ peril.
Thank you so much for bringing light to the cruelty that kills. You are addressing a major tenet of human existence that "we cannot live without!" if we are to exist as civilized human beings and enjoy any peace and happiness. We have a blue print in the USA of principles that would create a thriving [not referring to money] society where we can live according to the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. Nex Benedict may be among "the least of them" but a pivotal figure of what matters most when it comes to life on earth
Thank you, Judd, for the light you’ve shed on the inaccurate reporting on death of this young person.
I am incensed and outraged. There is little question in my mind that this young person died because of the beating they suffered the day before. No matter how young they are, the animals who murdered them must be brought to justice.
The police must not be allowed to cover this up. The medical examiner must not be allowed to cover this up. This is a hate crime and should be investigated by Federal authorities.
It's hard to imagine a more bigoted statement than Walter's "change your gender constantly."
Our media is doing a great job of destroying the truth. We need to understand that most of our media has been sold to ultra right wingers. Unfortunately, it has the broadest reach.
No school age child should be subjected to be terrified, beat up or shot at in school. It is not a teacher’s job to risk their own lives with these issues. But first, we must see consequences for these crimes! We need education from the youngest age to have sympathy for others, to imagine if they were being isolated and harassed. To report (privately) if necessary when they see cruelty to others.
We have zero reason to respect republicans, and any governmental institution that shows a lack of regard for those who hurt no one but are attacked for being the person they are. Police forces let MAGAs in. The good cops have the same problem as anyone ostracized.
By letting MAGAs into our police forces, we have made the job of cleaning up the forces so much harder.
In Feb 2023, there was an outcry in Chicago after 2 officers who were tied to far-right extremist groups, Oath Keepers & Proud Boys, were allowed to resume work in the police force! Both of those groups participated in the J6 insurrection. My alderman & several other alders reacted loudly. The Public Safety Committee demanded the Police dept clean up, the Inspector Gen wanted these officers to be terminated from the force. But they were let back in. Something fundamental and a different oversight with power of the police force needs to happen.
Did the coroner not do an MRI of Nex’s head? Check for blood in the spinal fluid? Reports from Nex’s mother describe classic signs of intracranial bleeding following head trauma. The FBI needs to take over because the whole community is subsumed with right-wing hate.
Thank you for this important story for Nex and media criticism in general. AP and CBS are a disgrace per usual. Coverage of the poor soul who died protesting the genocide in Palestine was similarly misleading, tepid and lazy, not to mention their coverage of politics which actively harms democracy.
By regularly acting irresponsibly in regards to accurate reporting of important newsworthy items of local and national importance to concerned individuals throughout the nation, miscreant media outlets are negatively affecting the behavior of the population, government, law enforcement, finance, and the credibility of "media" in general. This is a critical industry that affects all aspects of society, not just the critical readers that want to be informed, whose numbers it would appear to be in the minority. If there are no penalties and or serious consequences related to misinformation and there are profits to be gained from fictional (entertainment) reporting...an obvious result is the confusion and divisiveness that the country now experiences. Ex. the New York Times and the many misleading issues related to their misleading news items. This is just one of many examples of Fake News produced for reasons related to "greed" (in its many forms) as a root of most all of the misinformation.
Unless we can get a handle on implementing real and timely consequences for those individuals involved in and responsible for this misinformation, we will continue to merrily go along our way to continue to imperceptibly circle down the pathway to... a really more undesirable state of affairs. There are several futures that will result from this freedom of speech rabbit hole we are being sucked into. And, without knowing the facts, reality, and the truth, the decisions required to repair the damage to our country will always be half-assed at best. Even with the adults in the most powerful room in the "House", it would at times seem like most all the other 50 rooms are occupied and under the direction of "out of control" misinformed children.
It should be painfully obvious to many, the most... of our half-assed ability to control our children is the "Trump Experience" since the 70's. We as a people had/have a choice to make. Apply our intelligence to thwart violent manipulative foe(s), change the rules a bit to allow for the building of "most/more effective" guardrails and... set a goal to become a better country, or continue along our merry way. Historically, I think I know the choice we will select...
What is sad, is we have had such terrific opportunities to do great things...and we didn't.
And by the way—that child died of an intracranial bleed after being beaten around the face and head. MURDER. And it is sanctioned by the Oklahoma authorities.
Yes, the media did fail Nex.
This is a little off topic but the MSM is failing America by pushing Trump a dangerous criminal & traitor to the republic to be POTUS. Most Trump’s headlines are favorable while MSM is begging “old” Biden to drop out. Trump is almost the same age & a lifelong mobbed up criminal rapist racist indicted traitor.
But they are fine with him.
PS- SCOTUS, as expected, traitor Trump can stay on ballot.
For heaven's sake. Even if Nex's death was due to suicide, how can one say that the attitude of Oklahoma authorities and the school's allowance of bullying on the matter was not "related" to the death. Finding oneself beat up for who one IS seems to me to be trauma enough to make the Superintendent's position morally, if no legally, deeply despicable.
I am willing to bet that the full autopsy will reveal the truth of what happened. We can guess or speculate, but that won't bring them back to life. If indeed the bullies did contribute to their death then they need to held accountable. Judd is right about the legacy media, they open their traps and words fall out.