After reflection on the events following the grand jury no-bill in the Ferguson, Missouri case and its aftermath, it occurs to me that the main culprit in the story is the media, which desperately must fill its voracious news cycle with provocative material and which predominantly is not interested in balanced coverage, preferring instead coverage that features the theme of racial conflict and often promotes the narrative of the aggrieved and the oppressed. As suggested by Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal, the Ferguson case and others like it fit this narrative and are covered wall to wall, while Chicago, with its rampant black on black crime, does not.
When the media suggest that we need a “conversation on race”, what they really mean is a politically correct conversation, one limited to the analysis of oppression of minorities by the system, regardless of evidence and moderated by the likes of Al Sharpton and other race hustlers who have no credibility as contributors to this conversation at any level and whose inclusion as an advisor to President Obama is an outrage which severely damages the credibility of his office on the issue. However tragic his demise in Ferguson, Michael Brown wasn’t the victim in this story, he was the bad actor, primarily responsible for his fate. The unfortunate victims are (1) the true status of race relations in this country, which is in much better shape than was portrayed by the media coverage of this case and the subsequent “protests”, and (2) police protection in urban areas, which will suffer as police officers become more reluctant to respond to potential crime threats as a result of the lack of support from political leaders such as New York City Mayor DeBlasio. And the ultimate losers will be responsible blacks in heavy crime areas.
I have often wondered, naievly perhaps, why wealthy individuals who wish to influence the political process would not begin to methodically purchase stock in the offending media conglomerates and once control was obtained do an 180 on the message. A small ownership stake often would suffice. And in the case of those financially troubled like NY Times the purchase price might be within reach. Or in the case of Newsweek it could be purchased for nothing. I realize their readership base would not stay but could be quickly changed. Readers of Newsweek like myself for 40 years would be overjoyed and be quite helpful in the change.
Jim;
As Saul Alinsky wrote, shortly before his death, in “12 Rules for Radicals”, this is a tactic for inciting radicals, predominately in low income communities. this tactic embraced by Hussein Obama, Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton is being bought, hook, line, and sinker by the main stream media….and it seems to be working.
The “Rule of Law” is totally out of reach for the mainstream media and our current justice department under Eric Holder. People like Michael Bloomberg also control a huge part of the media and are quite content with this approach. Unfortunately our Congress, Democrat & Republican, do not have the fortitude to stand up to these Socialist moves, as keeping their position and re-election seem to be of more importance.
Sad times for America, which hopefully will be changed before it goes all the way.
Sam
Concise analysis.
Completely agree.
Why POTUS even recognizes grievance industry “leaders” such as sharpton, jackson and their ilk is a mystery to me. The office of POTUS should be above this type of blatant pandering.
Simply time for the “silent majority” to quit being silent any longer. Race relations were much better 6 years ago and we all know why. But when we all go to parties and events – political correctness prevails. It is time for a BLUNT conversation about race in America – as already mentioned all of the blacks shooting the blacks in Chicago, the culprit in Ferguson was Michael Brown and not the officer, in New York there has not been any comments about the black female cop who participated in and gave the order to take down the culprit in New York. Nor are there any reports of the black officers killing a white teenager, there are no reports that the only ones looting are the blacks (much less the fact that most of those in Ferguson were criminals from outside the city – mostly St. Louis). We watch a worthless president abuse his power and the congress gives lip service to what they will do – God forbid we shut down the government. The IRS, the CIA, the other government organizations are all becoming corrupted by entitlements much like the City of Houston yet everybody goes about there business as usual. And the beat goes on……………..