Has the network TV coverage of the N.O. Superdome fiasco a) made the situation seem to be worse than it really was (because TV always focuses on the negative things--the crime, the snafus, the corpses and complaints, etc.) or b) made the situation seem better than it really was (because network TV didn't want to make it look as if a heavily African-American crowd of refugees couldn't behave itself)? ... I was going to guess a) until I read this.His link is to that BBC story about the 50 British tourists escorted out of the Superdome, which we discussed here yesterday. My concern was with whether the National Guard were taking the problems of white people more seriously than those of black people, which is quite different from what Kaus is asking. He's wondering about which way the journalists are bending things.
September 3, 2005
"A J-School question."
From Mickey Kaus:
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19 comments:
Jack: I agree that we need to be careful talking about such things, but I think trying to talk intelligently and fairly is appropriate.
I have observed a strong attempt on MSNBC's coverage the last two nights by reporters on the ground to underscore, time and time again, that the crowds of refugees are behaving.
Of course, this is juxtaposed with the "updates" that underscore the shootings.
Indeed, I found it rather odd that the reporters seemd so vociferous that it really wasn't that bad (at least in terms of civil disorder) while the network kept focusing on the shootings (as I noted here)
I also saw a reporter on Hardball state this was no longer a "weather" story but is now a "civil rights" story. This struck me as odd, as I see it as simply human tragedy, whether the victims in question are white or black.
The media are victimophiles. That is the main reason why their reporting lines up so well with the victimocratic party.
Unfortunately, the so called civil rights leadership in the U.S. are the kings and queens of victimhood (appointed for life, unelected, unaccountable, I'm talking to you Rev. Jesse, and Rev. Al).
The events in the aftermath of Katrina has produced a harmonic convergence of victimology.
These are real victims with real problems I'm not minimizing that, but the habits of always portraying poor blacks as victims of circumstance may (and I emphasize may) have played a part in the fatalism of many in that community that lead to the decision to stay rather than to leave and to accept the lawlessness of the thugs rather than confronting them as a community.
This wasn't about race, but it is now because from Kanye West to Chris Matthews to Mayor Nagins there are many people for whom just like every war is Vietnam every event that impacts poor blacks is a replay of Jim Crow days.
It isn't just CNN and MSNBC or the Networks showing the suffering FNC has also shown it all and their reporters on site have been furious, indignate and emotional, but unlike the other outlets they focus on human suffering without trying to create a larger narrative of racism from this suffering, they are reporting on people, not a long suffering interest group (like the others).
The images should speak for themselves (and powerfully so), but leave it up to the chattering classes to forget this (and pathetically so).
Jvg: I don't think Kaus was suggesting the conduct was race-based, just that journalists might downplay bad conduct out of a fear of stirring up prejudices. His question is what are the journalists doing (and what should they do). (Quite aside from that: behavior is also cultural, so there is no reason why saying that a particular group tends to do something means you think it is inborn.)
Lindsey: I didn't think I could feel any sicker than I already did about the entire situation. Threatening an 80 year old woman? Raping a 7 year old boy?
Do you remember the incidents in Central Park a while back where mobs turned on women and were ripping their clothes off etc...?
I don't think any violence scares me quite as much as mob violence.
Not to change the subject or anything, but did you notice in the linked BBC story that various of these tourists were riding out Katrina for the second time? Apparently a group of them had been in Miami, and then went from their to New Orleans not realizing that Katrina was headed in the same direction. And then, obviously, they ignored the orders to evacuate. At least this subset of those tourists was so obviously oblivious that we cannot draw any conclusions about their perceptions while in the Superdome.
Scoopster: Are you kidding me? Where are your white hood and robe? Diversity is the true downfall of society, obviously. We poor working 'whites' are suffering too much to promote inclusion of the evil 'blacks.' Lord knows as soon as the law is lifted, they ALL break loose and run rampant killing, robbing, and acting just pain lawlessly. They should be caged up, huh? 'Whites' would never behave in such a manner. If it were a sea of 'whites' surrounding a black family, I'm sure the whites would be so pleasant and kind. Well, unless they're anything like you.. Someone should unleash martial law on morons like you.
From the small amounts I have been able to glean there are many, many people in Biloxi/Gulfport, MS and who knows where else, still stuck in their destroyed homes with no food or water. They are mostly white.
They have received almost no media attention. I don't know what rescue efforts they are receiving because there is just no coverage.
I wonder if like Kaus suggests, the media is bending over backwards to capture the plight of the black victims and in the process ignoring the rest.
I've been thinking this all day, but didn't comment until I saw an article that Mississippians are starting to complain about this as well.
Or it could be the fact that New Orleans is the biggest, best known city down there and the obvious focus of media attention. It could also be that New Orleans is six feet below sea level and bowl-shaped, leading to even more damaging and extensive flooding than in normal hurricane conditions. I could be wrong, but I don't think Biloxi or Gulfport share this same dilemma. Race couldn't possibly play less of a role in the media coverage, but nice try Jennifer, etc. Way to show your true colors.
My true colors? What on earth does that mean?
The fact that New Orleans is bigger and under water clearly justifies the majority of coverage on the situation there. But the fact that virtually no time whatsoever has been dedicated to the terrible conditions others are facing is worth questioning.
Look at it the other way, if the media was solely focused on white people who were in a worse situation and completely ignoring black people in a pretty damn bad situation themselves, what would your take be?
I'm noticing a lot more coverage of Mississippi and Alabama tonight on CNN. Well, I should say that what I'm noticing is any coverage of those areas.
It looks like once the worst of the crisis passed in New Orleans, the media turned their attention to the other affected areas.
While it was worth questioning, I'm glad it seems that the race factor wasn't there.
Yeah, Scoopster. Visit the.. ANGLOSPHERE.. with a name like that how could you resist? Your my favorite racist.
Oh, and Jennifer, I wouldn't say a damn thing about race if New Orleans was full of poor white people rather than poor black people and received the media coverage. It was the bigger story, end of story.
New Orleans is a race story: A story about genocidal black racism.
New Orleans is a civil rights story:
About the violation of white victims' civil rights by black racists.
TO jvg1249: To say that the savagery is race-based does not necessarily have any genetic implications. Black racists target whites, based on the latter's race. Violent chaos is common in black-run cities, because, to paraphrase Golda Meir, a large proportion -- in some cities the majority -- of black parents hate whites more than they love their own children.
Tigerhawk: At first, I thought you were writing with tongue in cheek, but on second reading, you appear to be serious. Yes, of course, any whites complaining of black racism are delusional. Repeat after me: "blacks can only be the victims of racism, never the perpetrators."
Reporters are bending over backwards to distort coverage on behalf of blacks, and censoring coverage of black racial attacks, because: 1) Many are politically loyal to racist blacks; 2) Others are justifiably afraid that the black racist newsroom enforcers and their white Aunt Jemima allies -- like ploopusgirl -- at work will get them fired.
ploopusgirl reminds me of a white lady I encoutnered six years ago in New York. I was assaulted by a black in a racial attack, but the white lady lied to the police, and said I was the attacker. Ploopusgirl says that wqhites who complain of black racism should be arrested. She'll be happy to know that that already happens.
That Ann Althouse would suggest that whites who were in immediate danger of being raped and murdered based on the color of their skin were receiving preferential treatment, sounds like something a tenured professor would say. Poetic justice would have placed Althouse and some of her tenured friends in the Terrordome. Would you have taken one for the team, and volunteered to be raped and murdered, to atone for 1000 years (or us it 10,000 years) of white oppression, Frau Professor?
Nicholas Stix
Margaret Pertuit lies still on a bed in a dark, waterlogged room at the Economy Inns Motel, awaiting one of two things: death or rescue.
Her thin, pale limbs are covered in the bruises common among people on blood thinners. But Pertuit, 85, has stopped taking her medication, half-hoping for the clot the drug is supposed to prevent.
"I just hope it will take me," she says.
For thousands stranded along the Mississippi coast since Hurricane Katrina, the damaged hotels where they took refuge have become almost uninhabitable.
From one motel to the next, the conditions are the same -- hot, smelly, soggy and dark. Toilets won't flush. Water won't run. Boredom won't end. Carpets are caked in mud and the concrete outside is often more inviting than the beds in the fetid rooms.
Just off Interstate 10 near Bay St. Louis, at what used to be a Waffles Plus restaurant and motel, Joanna Dubreuil and her two sons are luckier than most. Within the wreckage that surrounds them is an artesian well. The pump was carried away, so water now gurgles nonstop from a white plastic pipe jutting from the ground.
Dubreuil washes sheets in it but, fearing contamination, tries to keep a toddler from drinking it.
Ten people are living at the Waffles Plus, where vehicles passed by for five days without stopping. On the sixth morning, a church group pulled in and handed them a box of food -- the first they had received.
From cnn.com
So, ploopusgirl, when you said I could be wrong, but I don't think Biloxi or Gulfport share this same dilemma. Race couldn't possibly play less of a role in the media coverage, but nice try Jennifer, it looks like you were wrong. Looks like people in MS are living in similarly fetid conditions with no food and water as well. But, this is the very first we have heard about this at all.
I've already acknowledged that clearly New Orleans was a bigger story and clearly justified the lion's share of the coverage. But I couldn't understand why absolutely no coverage whatsoever was being given to the rest of the area. I still don't understand.
Nor do I understand why I must be racist for caring about these victims as well.
I do think Mickey Kaus asks an interesting question. Why are you so uncomfortable with this?
Wow is all I have to say.
Scoopster: You're so very mature to be calling me Poopgirl. It's very charming. I still haven't heard any concrete evidence that proves that these people were in as grave a danger as you make it sound. From what I've read, they "felt" like they were in danger. Of course they were British and stuck in the Superdome in the midst of a catastrophic hurricane. I'm not sure we should be taking their word for it. If the Officers that were there in fact decided that these people were in serious danger and moved them because of it, then yes it was probably justified. However, to you (and the rest of you) who are attacking Ann, labeling her a liberal, etc. because she questioned this, you come off as extremely narrow-minded. The fact that you can't even consider the possibility that white people would receive special treatment on the basis of their skin color alone shows that you have absolutely no experience with race relations in this country. You probably like it that way. Don't you dare even suggest to me that you wouldn't question this if the situation were reversed and it were a family of black people separated from a crowd of whites.
There was absolutely no mention of 'black street gangs' in the Superdome, but nice try.
Also, 'Anglosphere'? Sounds exactly like something a white supremacist group would call its blog. I don't care about your actual purpose; however, celebrating the sisterhood of English speaking nations sounds like an awfully narrowminded organization as well. Not to mention the fact that I've visited your blog, and your ten posts are all related to whining about black people. Defend that.
AND, I have no idea what your other post is supposed to mean. Are you threatening to have me arrested for offending your far-right wing sensibilities by suggesting that you're an enormous bigot?
Jennifer: No, sweetie, you're wrong. I was referring to the fact that New Orleans is six feet under sea-level, and I didn't believe that Biloxi or Gulfport were. I'm aware Mississippi and Alabama were also hit by this hurricane, thank you for the update. I never called you a racist, for one. For another, my mention of your true colors came in response to your conclusion that New Orleans was receiving all the media coverage because it is full of black people. That is a ridiculous suggestion. I hardly suggested that you're a racist based on your concern for the people in the other afflicted areas.
And.. if absolutely no coverage is being given to Mississippi and Alabama, how exactly did you get that article from CNN.com? Is CNN no longer a national media source anymore?
...
Ploopusgirl:
You said your conclusion that New Orleans was receiving all the media coverage because it is full of black people. That is a ridiculous suggestion.
What I said was I wonder (emphasis added after the fact) if like Kaus suggests, the media is bending over backwards to capture the plight of the black victims and in the process ignoring the rest.
I certainly made no conclusion. I don't think its racist to ponder the racial factor in events from time to time.
I also later that same night said I'm noticing a lot more coverage of Mississippi and Alabama tonight on CNN. Well, I should say that what I'm noticing is any coverage of those areas.
It looks like once the worst of the crisis passed in New Orleans, the media turned their attention to the other affected areas.
While it was worth questioning, I'm glad it seems that the race factor wasn't there.
In response to your comment if absolutely no coverage is being given to Mississippi and Alabama, how exactly did you get that article from CNN.com?, you can see that I've noticed coverage of these areas has begun.
The article I read today has raised the question for me again, though. While MS is not 6 feet below sea level, residents living in squalid conditions with no food or water seems worth covering.
bos0x:
She clarified that her "true colors" comment to be in response to a conclusion I never drew - not what I insinuated her comment was in response to. In other words - she meant it, but on different grounds.
If the media would rather show suffering black people than suffering white people, I honestly don't think hated of white people is the reason.
Why are you both insisting on pretending I said anything like this. For the record, again, what I said was I wonder if like Kaus suggests, the media is bending over backwards to capture the plight of the black victims and in the process ignoring the rest.
Maybe I didn't get my point across. What I was trying to say was that it was a possibility that the media was bending over backwards to not be racist, and in the process ignoring the plight of other victims of the tragedy.
Why this so offends the both of your sensibilities, I really don't understand.
bos0x said...
POOPSTER (LOL!): Um, the far Right wing website belonged to the White Nationalist Party, and apparently the Oakleys aren't innocent, well-meaning parents, unless innocent well-meaning parents like to send bomb threats to journalists now. Clever editing, though...you have no idea how many tears I cried when I read that Mrs. Oakley will be seperated from her teenage children, honestly.
They were convicted for their opinions, not for making a bomb threat. So, you need to get your lies straight. The husband had previously been convicted of making a bomb threat to a journalist. Boy, I wish I could get everyone who ever threatened to murder me imprisoned, but they're all black, so no dice.
Nicholas: "...a large proportion - in some cities the majority - of black parents hate whites more than they love their own children." Uh okay, my favorite statistic. Also, tell me more about these corrupt, racist black politicians because it sounds like a wonderful fairy tale. I love this powerful black political majority, or something.
What country do you live in, Bosox? Everyone living in America knows all about corrupt, racist black pols in cities like (for the foreign readers) Detroit, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Newark, St. Louis, East St. Louis, Oakland, Camden, Paterson, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
By the way, you remind me of a certain gentleman. When circumstances forced me to live in a bad part of town, I was once approached by two thugs who clearly wanted to attack me. Naturally, I kicked the shit out of both of them. I tried to resume my walk as they both lay on the ground, bleeding from the nose and mouth, but some goddamn idiot - who you remind me of - called the police and I was detained and missed three back-to-back episodes of Law and Order. God that sucked.
How do you know that they "clearly wanted to attack [you]"? Perhaps, as with the foreign tourists (according to tigerhawk, you merely imagined it. Since you say they only "approached" you, why should anyone believe you when you say that they were going to attack you?
And how did you "Naturally, ... kick[] the shit out of both of them" ? We are supposed to believe that one man can "naturally" beat the hell out of two street thugs? Try someone else, who was born yesterday. I've lived in New York for 20 years, and I've actually fought off thugs more than once. There's nothing "natural" about it.
Do tell about the year, the time, the place and the method, Superman -- or is that "Rambo"?
(From Bosox to Jennifer) And where is ploopusgirl calling you a racist? If she clarified her comment about "true colors", why are you continuing to obsess over the word? Of course, if you want to be a victim that badly, who am I to judge? Enjoy!
11:53 PM
Ploopusgirl called Jennifer, among other folks, a racist. You, of course, lied about that -- the one thing that comes naturally to you. But then, so did Ploopusgirl, when she was too cowardly to own up to what she had said.
"Ploopusgirl called Jennifer, among other folks, a racist. You, of course, lied about that -- the one thing that comes naturally to you. But then, so did Ploopusgirl, when she was too cowardly to own up to what she had said."
No, no, see.. ploopusgirl never called Jennifer a racist. The phrase "Jennifer, you are a racist" never entered this discussion. I am cowardly for not admitting to something I never did? I see. Good to see logic has left the arena.
On the other hand, Nicholas, you and scoopster are very much racist. I pointed out why scoopster is. Why are you, you're wondering. Well:
"Boy, I wish I could get everyone who ever threatened to murder me imprisoned, but they're all black, so no dice."
and:
"What country do you live in, Bosox? Everyone living in America knows all about corrupt, racist black pols in cities like (for the foreign readers) Detroit, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Newark, St. Louis, East St. Louis, Oakland, Camden, Paterson, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum."
Because you know, it's all because they're black. There are hardly any corrupt white 'pols' around, I'm sure.
One more thing: obviously bosox's story about being attacked was satire. So, not only have you proven that you're a bigot, Nicholas, but you've also proven that you're an idiot. Congratulations!
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