Can you spot the blatant racial media bias?
The vast majority of Americans are good people. The angst and recent racial animus between many communities are bewildering. The reasons are many.
Very poor political leadership is a major reason. Politicians target our fears, economically and otherwise to create segmentation within communities. A classic example was the ‘racializing’ of President Obama.
The election of President Obama was proof positive that America was on a real path to a post racial society. After-all, his numbers among all Demographics were higher than John Kerry’s including the White vote (43% v 41%).
This progress is a danger for many. For if communities and cultures begin to really live in harmony not only superficially but in all facets of life, Americans will begin working together to solve that which really ails them. Instead of focusing on the illogical concept of race they would concentrate on an illogical concept of an economic system that manufactures income and wealth disparity as the plutocracy maintains its tenet of capital extraction from the masses.
How then do you manufacture racial animus? Racial media bias. Racial media bias sometimes follows the tenet of ‘I will know it when I see it.’ Unfortunately rarely is it very ‘in your face’ visible.
When one watches the evening news, one notices most of the crime seen on TV are those committed by minorities. Yet, when one goes to court one sees a completely different demographic breakdown. That is racial media bias.
During Hurricane Katrina two pictures in the media were captured prominently. A Black man carrying food and a White couple carrying food was described as looting and finding food respectively by the media.
Yesterday another subtle instance of racial media bias occurred on Meet The Press. It is one that flies under the radar but works subliminally. Former Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry and Former Congressman James Traficant died this year. They were both featured in the standard memorials that media do at year end.
Marion Barry was a well liked activist politician in his community. He was arrested in an FBI drug sting. He received a 6 month jail sentence and a $5,000 fine.
James Traficant spent 7 years in jail for bribery and racketeering. He was expelled from Congress.
What is the difference between their crimes? Marion Barry’s conviction was for a ‘personal failure’ that affected none of his constituents financially or otherwise. James Traficant used his elected office to provide favors and bribes. He indirectly leveraged taxpayer dollars.
Yet in the memorial, Meet The Press featured Marion Barry’s drug sting and featured James Traficant giving a speech. This type of racial media bias is constant throughout the corporate run media. It has a purpose. It is to keep one segment of society either fearful of another, feared, or marginalized. It is to keep divisions to ensure we are ultimately controlled.