dagblog - Comments for "Blaming Blacks"

Have you see this article,

CaliforniaPaige — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:19:38 +0000

Have you see this article, DF?

http://www.letcaliforniaring.org/site/c.ltJTJ6MQIuE/b.4863891/k.35FC/Driving_Factors_of_Prop_8_Vote.htm

polling has consistently

Deadman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:26:00 +0000

In reply to It seems l ike a good story,

polling has consistently showed more black people are against gay marriage than for it ... It's been a hot-button issue for black churches for years; just check some of NPR's old stories. Whether the black vote was the difference in Prop 8's passage can only be conjecture, but this is definitely a story. And a sad one at that.

That Colbert clip was hilarious but for a different, somewhat overwrought (yet still stirring) take on the subject, check out this one from Olbermann - (genghis, remind me again how to embed the clip).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/keith-olbermanns-prop-8-s_n_142862.html

I didn't mean a good story.

Orlando — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:09:56 +0000

In reply to It seems l ike a good story,

I didn't mean a good story. That was a poor word choice on my part. I should have said a story that will generate interest and revenue. Media outlets these days have little use for the good. You're absolutely right that blaming black people is just more of the same. It looks as if the work on the ground has targeted who's really responsible--the money people. But the media doesn't really have their finger on the pulse anymore. It's because the major outlets don't have reporters on the scene, chasing down the stories anymore. They have the analysts and anchors, regurgitating what they're told.

I blame the unions. Great

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:08:28 +0000

In reply to It seems l ike a good story,

I blame the unions.

Great post, DF. I confess to swallowing and even quoting the news reports without questioning them. Nice finish with the Colbert. Hilarious.

It seems l ike a good story,

DF — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:00:03 +0000

In reply to I'm uncomfortable with

It seems l ike a good story, until you start to peel it back and realize that it ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) plays into the new meme of Obama's ascendance being a singular break in the racial oppression of black Americans. Of course, blaming black people for the passage of Prop. 8 really just ends up being one more example of the same old story.

I'm uncomfortable with

Orlando — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:50:49 +0000

In reply to Blaming Blacks

I'm uncomfortable with blaming anyone at all. Not that it's a blameless action, but just that it seems counterproductive. The way to win someone to your side is not to tell them how stupid and wrong they are. I think there could be a couple of reasons that the media is engaged in blaming the California's African Americans. First, it's an easy default. Second, a traditionally oppressed minority perpetrating oppression on another minority is a good story, whole truth or not.

Certainly, the African-American community can recognize some very similar arguments and tactics in the fight to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians. The best column I've seen on that so far is here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/767511.html