America: From a Fallen Child Star to the Head of the University of the West

At two in the morning, the lights in the warehouse office were still on.

Matthew rubbed his sore eyes. The timeline on the screen was densely covered with editing marks.

"That's about it." Sean stood behind him, giving instructions on the fifteen-minute clip. "But I think the ending needs some adjustments."

"How do I adjust it?"

"Keep my speech in full in front of that gray building, but..." Sean pointed to the upper right corner of the screen, "zoom in a bit so the audience can see the sign for that community support center more clearly."

"and then?"

"And then we did nothing," Sean said with a laugh. "We just pretended we didn't notice anything wrong with the building. In the video, I'm just standing there giving a speech, and then two security guards kick me out. That's it."

"Mr. Pan," Matthew narrowed his eyes, "do you expect the audience to figure it out themselves?"

“Yes, smart viewers will notice,” Sean nodded vigorously. “The internet is never short of Sherlock Holmes. Even I noticed it, let alone them. They’ll notice the strangeness of that building, they’ll search its background, they’ll find those funding records. And us…”

"We don't need to say anything," Matthew suddenly realized.

“Yes, we don’t need to say anything,” Sean chuckled slyly. “If I personally point out these problems, I’ll be attacking a specific group. But if netizens discover them themselves, then it’s none of my business.”

"But what if no one notices?"

"Hmm... then we'll need to guide you a little." Sean turned to look at Matthew. "Do you have an alternate account?"

Matthew paused for a moment, then gave a knowing smile.

"I have three."

……

At 3 p.m. the next day, they officially uploaded the video to YouTube.

The title is simple: "On the Streets of Philadelphia: How Do Ordinary People View the Thomas Case?"

The cover features a photo of Sean interviewing the elderly Asian couple.

In the first two hours after the video was released, the number of views grew steadily, from a few hundred to a few thousand, and then to ten thousand.

The atmosphere in the comments section was normal, with most discussions revolving around the video content.

"That black guy in the Hawks jersey is hilarious, hahaha. He's right, at least you'll have a beach if you die in Cancun."

"The scene with the elderly Asian couple really made me feel uneasy... Is this the American Dream?"

"Mr. Pan, keep it up! Although I disagree with many of your views, I respect your courage to take to the streets."

Everything is going according to plan.

Then, three hours after the video was posted, a comment appeared in the comments section.

The commenter's ID is "PhillyLocalNews", and the comment content is very simple:

"Did anyone notice that gray building in the background at 8 minutes and 23 seconds? That's the Philadelphia Community Aid Center; I live nearby. I've passed by there for years and never seen anyone go in or out. But I just checked, and it receives nearly $300,000 in funding from the federal and state governments every year. Where does all that money go?"

This comment received over fifty likes within ten minutes of being posted.

Twenty minutes later, the number of likes exceeded two hundred.

An hour later, the comment was filled with replies.

"Wow, really? I just searched it up, and there are indeed records for this organization."

"The federal funding database is publicly available; everyone can check it themselves. The HUD project costs between $150,000 and $200,000 annually."

"It's not just the federal government, the state government does too. I found the Pennsylvania Office of Community Services' funding list, and that agency receives $80,000 a year."

"So a community center that doesn't seem to have many people is collecting nearly $300,000 in taxes every year? That's more than my annual salary."

"Brothers, I just went to that address to check it out. There are two security guards at the entrance who wouldn't let me get close. I asked them what they did there, and they said they provided community services, but they couldn't explain what those services were specifically."

"This kind of thing is all too common in the United States. I don't know how much money is wasted like this every year."

By 8 p.m., the video had surpassed 50,000 views, and the discussion in the comments section had started to turn sour.

"I knew it! Some community organizations are vampires. Parasites under the umbrella of political correctness."

This comment immediately drew rebuttals.

"What do you mean by that? Are you implying that all similar communities are scams? That's blatant racism."

"What's wrong with young people these days? I was only talking about that specific institution; aren't you the one with something to hide?"

"The community support center we're talking about is located in a Muslim-majority area. Aren't you implying something? Stop pretending!"

"So questioning where government funds are going is now considered racial discrimination? You leftists really know how to slap any label on someone."

"As if you right-wingers don't label people. Every time someone criticizes white supremacy, you call it cultural denigration. Double standard, baby boomer old men!"

And so the war of words officially began.

Meanwhile, Matthew's second alt account joined the fray. He used this account to post a seemingly neutral comment under the most heated thread:

"Everyone, please calm down. I think the key to this problem isn't a specific community, but the entire funding review mechanism. I just checked, and similar situations exist in other communities. For example, a Latino community center in Allentown, an African American community organization in Pittsburgh, and even some institutions in Philadelphia's Chinatown all have similar inefficiency issues. This isn't the fault of any particular ethnic group; it's a problem with the entire system."

This comment cleverly shifted the focus of the conflict while also revealing more information.

Soon, some people began to delve deeper into this line of thought.

"I looked up that agency in London, and damn, the average cost per person is nine hundred dollars. What kind of exorbitant price is that? Why isn't anyone offering me service?"

"The one in Pittsburgh is even more outrageous. Their office is an apartment, but they get paid more each year than legitimate organizations."

"I'm quite familiar with the situation in Chinatown. There are indeed some problems there, but at least the accounts are relatively transparent. In contrast, the finances of some communities are practically a black box."

"What do you mean? Are you trying to say that you Chinese are the most honest and upright?"

"Enough! The question is, why isn't anyone auditing these agencies? Does government money just fall from the sky?"

"Because it's politically correct, bro. If you dare to question certain communities, you're discriminating against them. Who wants to get into that trouble?"

The discussion grew increasingly heated, and the arguments became more and more intense.

A small group of leftists began to rally: "This video is a right-wing sting operation, deliberately pointing the camera at that building to lead viewers to make associations. Sean Penn is a racist disguised as an independent candidate."

Then the right wing countered: "The left is in an uproar. Isn't this your usual tactic? As long as someone dares to speak the truth, you label them. The American people are tired of your political correctness."

A libertarian seized the opportunity to interject: "That's why the government shouldn't interfere so much. Where there's funding, there's corruption. Capital doesn't exploit everything; only power does! Cancel these projects and give the money back to the taxpayers!"

The progressives, on the other hand, scoffed: "Aren't you right-wingers usually the ones who hate minority groups the most? Why are you pretending now? Hypocritical!"

Conservatives retorted: "We only hate terrorists. You leftists are the real racists, insisting on treating all minority groups as vulnerable groups in need of protection."

Even some unexpected voices emerged.

A user claiming to be a native Philadelphian posted: "I'm Muslim, and I also find that organization suspicious. People in our community have never received any help from it. If someone is really using our name to scam money, then they are the ones who are truly harming us."

This post received a lot of positive comments, but it also immediately attracted criticism.

"Are you sure you're Muslim? You're not pretending, are you?"

"Some people will do anything to stir up trouble."

"He makes a good point. Why question his identity?"

"Because the tactic is too obvious. Every time the right wing wants to attack ethnic minorities, they find an insider to endorse it."

The argument escalated and lasted from 8 p.m. until the early hours of the morning.

While all of this was happening, Sean Penn himself made no comments, responded to any questions, or even liked any posts supporting him.

He simply sent a short tweet at midnight:

"Thank you to everyone who watched the video. I just wanted to record the voices of ordinary people. Regardless of who you support or oppose, please remember: we are all Americans. Good night."

The tweet was retweeted 3,000 times within an hour of being posted.

Some say he's hypocritical, some say he's sincere, some say he's a genius, but most people say he's a fraud.

But no matter what, everyone is talking about him.

……

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the warehouse windows. Sean rubbed his sleepy eyes and turned on his phone.

The video has been viewed over 200,000 times.

The number of comments exceeded three thousand!

On Twitter, the hashtag "Philadelphia Community Support Center" has trended on the local Twitter charts.

To his surprise, several mainstream media outlets also began to pay attention to the matter, and many of them believed that he did it on purpose.

Sean looked at the series of comments, smiled, and put down his phone.

"The non-stick pan strategy was a huge success," he muttered to himself.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Matthew pushed the door open and came in, carrying two cups of coffee.

"Sarah didn't come?" Sean looked around for a while.

"He didn't come. Never mind that, have you seen the news?" Matthew handed him the coffee. "You're trending again."

"I saw it." He took the coffee, took a small sip, and said, "The effect is even better than I expected."

"But there's a problem." Matthew's expression turned serious. "Do you remember James Watkins? One of the people on the list you leaked back then."

"I know, that philanthropist," Sean raised an eyebrow. "He wouldn't be involved too, would he?"

Matthew's expression turned mysterious: "Not only does it exist, it's huge!"