Political correctness giveth and taketh away, where one can be a PC rock star one day and shown for who one really is the next.

Remember former Miami Dolphin lineman Jonathan Martin? If the name rings a bell it is because several years back in 2013 Martin, who is African American, had been an alleged victim of a bullying campaign by some of his teammates, and further allegations also arose that members of the Dolphin organization knew the bullying was going on and did nothing to stop it.

There is nothing that the left and the media loves more than a PC victim, and of course being bullied is the new disability of our times. And into the mix, one of Martin’s “bullies” was a white football player, and the media salivated at the thought of a racist bully in the NFL that they could take down.

One might ask what good is an NFL lineman, where mental and physical toughness is a job requirement, if they can’t take unkind words and criticism from their teammates? But, alas, no one dared ask that question as the NFL and the media were relentless on a bully witch hunt, not to be deterred by facts, due process, and general common sense.

In the end, several members of the Dolphin organization had their reputation irreversibly ruined, careers impacted and, in some cases, finished by the so-called scandal inflamed by the PC crowd and the press. At the time, if you read between the lines at what had really happened in the Dolphins clubhouse, you were left with the impression that Jonathan Martin’s mental state was, as they say, fragile, and the outside world wasn’t the root cause of the woes that bedeviled him.

Fast forward to the days following the Parkland, Florida shooting and the media is now grappling with how to handle Jonathan Martin, who has made the news again. Yesterday’s PC rock star is no more the media’s darling. Last week Martin took to social media and posted an image of a shotgun with several shells around it, listing the names of his so called ‘bullies’ from his Dolphin days along with the name of the upscale Los Angeles Harvard Westlake High and the quote, “When you’re a bully victim and a coward, your options are suicide or revenge.” This posting caused Westlake High School to close as a precaution. One imagines his ex-teammates, Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey, the so-called bullies who were also listed in Martin’s rant, are sleeping with one eye open these days.

We subsequently learn Martin has tried to commit suicide several times and blames the problems of his mental state back to his childhood when he moved to an affluent area of Los Angeles with his parents. “You learn to tone down your size & blackness by becoming shy, introverted, friendly, so you won’t scare the little rich white kids or their parents,” he posted on social media in 2016.

“Neither black nor white people accept you because they don’t understand you. It takes away your self-confidence, your self-worth, your sanity.”

The truth of the matter is Jonathan Martin likely needs help, and one hopes he gets it before he harms himself or others. But the moral of Jonathan Martin’s tale is that this truth was evident if you took the time to look at the facts back in 2013. But of course, the media didn’t care to add two and two in 2013, as Martin was their perfect PC poster boy and great fodder for their anti-bullying platform and a good excuse to hunt down and try to destroy his alleged tormentors.

We are witnessing a sea change in how the media operates. In the past they may have distorted the truth in order to sensationalize a story to help sell newspapers and boost ratings. Today with newspaper sales and news ratings mostly in the toilet they have a different modus operandi. Now, every story from the sports page to weather coverage to hard news has a political calculation baked into its coverage. Each story has a political narrative they want to push, and any fact that may contradict that narrative will be promptly ignored or distorted. So much for journalistic ethics.

The media, if it had a soul and conscious, in light of recent events would revisit how they treated Jonathan Martin and his “bullies” in 2013 and would conclude their coverage was over the top, and they damaged everyone involved including Jonathan Martin. Unfortunately, that’s a big if.