It’s the “Nothing-to-see-here”-
The story broke earlier this week that Tafari Campbell, a former White House chef who later worked as former President Barack Obama’s personal chef, had drowned on Martha’s Vineyard, in Edgartown Great Pond. According to the Associated Press, the 45-year-old chef had died while paddle-boarding.
“When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House – creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together,” Barack and Michelle Obama said in a statement, per the Associated Press. “In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter.”
All indications are that this is a tragic death, of someone who the Obamas deeply cared for, who sadly leaves behind a wife and two children.
But in social media, numerous posts about Campbell’s death were opened with a four-word phrase: “Nothing to see here.”
Yes, the implication, based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, was that Campbell was murdered by the Obamas. Why? That’s unclear. But it’s perfectly in line with the QAnon-adjacent worldview that Democrats are a cabal of Satanists who murder people regularly, and always get away with it.
Others noted that, in 2015, another former White House chef, Walter Scheib, who served Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, had also died, also by drowning.
“Oh hi nothing to see here just a couple White House chefs drowning no big deal also how many grown adults drown in America per year and what percentage of them are White House chefs?,” serial plagiarist-turned-conservative influencer Benny Johnson said on Twitter. “Well DONT ask too many questions shut up shut up shut up.”
Could it be a coincidence that two different White House chefs drowned in less than ten years? Actually, yes, it could be. And in fact, coincidence is a much more likely explanation than a spree of murders of White House chefs, with no apparent motive, by ex-presidents of the Democratic Party.
All the insinuations have one thing in common: These people do not care for a single moment that a man is dead, and has left behind a wife and children.
“Nothing-to-see-here”-ism extends far beyond insinuations about murder conspiracies. It’s also used for vaccine conspiracies, or really anything in which someone wants to make a wild leap to assume facts way beyond evidence.
This happened Monday, when Bronny James, the college basketball prospect and son of NBA superstar LeBron James, reportedly collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest; the younger James was reported in stable condition on Tuesday.
What followed was what has happened anytime in the last two years in which any athlete has collapsed for any reason- widespread insinuations that the reason he collapsed was a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
There is absolutely no reason to suspect that vaccination had anything to do with James’ medical condition, especially within minutes or hours of the story hitting the news. It’s not even known if he is vaccinated. But that leap has been made nonetheless, as it was with NFL star Damar Hamlin and soccer player Christian Eriksen — both of whom collapsed during games but later recovered and resumed their careers — as well as soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who collapsed and died while covering the World Cup last year.
There is not a speck of evidence that vaccination had anything to do with any of those collapses. Nor was the idea of athletes collapsing on the field or during practice unheard of prior to the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines. Two prominent basketball players, Hank Gathers in 1991 and Reggie Lewis in 1993, died of heart conditions decades before the arrival of COVID.
In many of these scenarios, when 10 percent of a fact pattern is there and some feel the need to fill in the remaining 90 percent based on nothing, it’s quite irresponsible — and potentially libelous — to do so. In more cases than not, in fact, there really is nothing to see here.
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
