On April 10th, Live Action News, an anti-abortion organization that advocates for the denial of federal and state funding to Planned Parenthood and outright ban of abortion nationwide, went viral due to the interviewee assaulting the interviewer, Savannah Craven, on camera. The interview that was posted by Live Action News is 21 minutes long, but there are only small portions circulating the interviews, typically 10 or 15 seconds of the interview where Craven was hit. There are now clips of Craven talking about the aftermath of the situation on different news networks and from her own account. 

Initially when I saw the video, it was a 15 second snippet and I was flabbergasted as to how something like that could happen. However, when I rewatched it, actually paid attention to the words and took into consideration their location (Harlem), I could see why it happened. Violence is never the answer to any problem, but in New York City I have witnessed two grown men try to fight over a seat on the subway so it is now as shocking as it initially was. Now imagine someone accusing you of being okay with “killing babies in foster care and killing babies who have been abused” on camera and then to be cut off when trying to correct the false information. 

I can see how the video may aggravate or annoy someone, especially when people repost the video across social media. Social media is such a crucial part of our lives and to have information circulating saying that you are ok with killing babies, which is not something that the interviewee said, can negatively impact both your present and future. People have been fired and harassed because of the things that have been said about them on social media, whether they are in the right or the wrong, because not a lot of people are willing to go the extra mile and to find the source of the information. They just base their opinions on the clip that they saw or on headlines surrounding the topic. And if you do that then you will never truly get the full picture and understand the situation.

What you mainly see is the video of the interviewee, Brianna J. Rivers, punching Craven in the response video and the live action news snippers of her interview. Which from what I have seen has been framed as “the interviewee started off good, but grew aggressive after discovering Savannah was pro-life” and that is not necessarily true. I do not believe that she became aggressive after discovering Savannah was pro-life because it was very obvious what her position on abortion was due to the statistics that she was brought up, the way she framed her questions and her personal experiences. I believe it became aggressive when Savannah started twisting her words to paint her out as a bad guy. A few minutes before the altercation, the interviewee said “I’m not disagreeing with you either, I understand you” and then tried to explain how she felt about abortions and women being impregnated by men who do not want children. 

The interviewee actually brings up a lot of issues surrounding the topic of abortion ranging from how the baby was conceived, the mental health of the mother, the support systems put in place if they do decide to have a baby, the accidental deaths of babies (e.g., shaken baby syndrome and sleep positions), what happens to children in foster care (e.g., molestation and abuse) and the financial burden of having children. Each of which Craven has a distorted response to, which results in a constant back and forth between the two. I think people think the interviewee was becoming aggressive because she was raising her voice and making a lot of hand gestures, but that may not be the case as people sometimes become very animated when they talk and sometimes yell at each other. I mean look at the famous video of two men arguing about Wicked and whether or not one of them was a princess, they were very animated and it never amounted to anything but a funny video. I think the interviewee would have walked away if it was not for Craven’s last comment of her being okay with the murder of babies because she made her final comment about Craven not understanding the magnitude of having a child and Craven kept going. 

In sum, you should not physically attack someone for voicing opposing views. However, if you antagonize someone, then you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. Especially someone in a city where you know the people there are quick to take a situation from zero to a hundred. Know your environment, the people around you and act accordingly.

Image from Live Action via Youtube