Posted on 09/14/2005 1:58:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
This is where the blame game gets ugly.
"So every American kid should be required to watch videotape of the poor in New Orleans and see how they suffered (after Hurricane Katrina), because they couldn't get out of town," said Fox News Channel pundit Bill O'Reilly last week on his show, The O'Reilly Factor .
"And then, every teacher should tell the students, "If you refuse to learn, if you refuse to work hard, if you become addicted, if you live a gangsta-life, you will be poor and powerless just like many of those in New Orleans."'
This was how O'Reilly chose to deflect criticism of the federal government after the horrific delays in hurricane relief. Government is fallible, he argued. So why expect it to save you?
The larger implications of his words also are obvious. These often poor, often black hurricane victims brought all this misery and death on themselves, because they weren't motivated enough to succeed in America.
In the same way that live coverage of the aftermath exposed the fissure between haves and have-nots when disaster strikes, the subsequent reaction of some pundits has unearthed the race-tinged rhetoric they often use to justify their arguments.
Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh was more explicit, saying New Orleans (which has a black mayor and many black officials) had a "welfare state mentality" that kept some residents from earning enough to handle the disaster.
"The nonblack population was just as devastated, but apparently they were able to get out," Limbaugh, who is white, said on his show Sept. 1. "Race, in this circumstance, is a poisonous weapon, and it's why the liberals are now gravitating to it."
A synopsis on the Web site for evangelist Pat Robertson's 700 Club show outlined a recent appearance by conservative black minister Wellington Boone, who talked about "the culture of those people stranded in New Orleans" and how it led to their fate.
"The looting of property, the trashing of property, etc. speaks to the basic character of the people," read the recap of Boone's appearance on CBN.com. "These people who have gone through slavery, segregation and the Voting Rights Act are doing this to themselves. They look like a developing nation."
Imagine the headlines nationally if Robertson, who is white, had made that "developing nation" crack instead of a black minister.
Gangsta lifestyle. Welfare mentality. Developing nation. All code words often used as unflattering, veiled references to people of color.
"My encouragement to journalists is to not use labels," said Aly Colon, an instructor on ethics and diversity issues at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the St. Petersburg Times . "As you see picture after picture of people who you understand to be poor and you see to be black, if you know nothing else about New Orleans, that becomes New Orleans. You have no sense of context."
Indeed, the images of looting and violence were horrific, as a ruthless contingent of lawbreakers stole unneeded items, shot at police officers and worse.
But such actions also helped some commentators push their own punitive political perspective, lumping innocent victims together with aggressive criminals in their own backward "blame game."
Colon noted race and class stereotypes evoked in such media coverage are particularly important, if only because they can soothe the sensibilities of those already hoping to see most hurricane victims as somehow deserving of their desperate fate.
Another radio personality, former Tampa talker Glenn Beck, made a similar point Friday in detailing how he's beginning to hate the hurricane victims in New Orleans, because they wouldn't line up in an orderly fashion to get $2,000 ATM cards.
"Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags," said Beck, who now broadcasts from Philadelphia.
"It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention."
As America tackles public policy changes in the wake of Katrina, how will the stereotypes created by pundits such as Beck, O'Reilly and Limbaugh affect the debate? At a time when unity is so important, the words of those who profit by keeping us apart are the last we should heed.
--Eric Deggans can be reached at 727 893-8521 or deggans@sptimes.com
This was how O'Reilly chose to deflect criticism of the federal government after the horrific delays in hurricane relief.
No mention of the local govt at all in the column.
Nope, sorry it's correct.
O'Reilly has stated as such numerous times on his TV show and cited gubmint sources to back it up1 .
1 - If not exactly 80% it's pretty darn close like 78 or 79%
Uvula?
Didn't she just lose in the U.S. Open tennis thingy?
You know that Russian babe, Uvula Natratslakovia IIRC?
:-)
Yes and he is a "African Briton" from London who has a clear view of how snafu things are across the pond.
There are a lot of blacks speaking truth to socialist, race-baiting liars.
hehe.. speedy- I used to be one of those people. I even paid good money to learn how to advocate for the poor and oppressed people when I was in college. I worked in welfare and counseling of gang members for a while- got sick of it and moved to working with Developmentally Disabled adults. (Much much easier and enjoyable), then got out because ot the lame politics.
Oh boy! I have had my eyes opened up this last week about what a waste of time that was.
"Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Babs' Uvula"
"Babs' Uvula who?"
"Babs' uvula is nothing to laugh about..."
No one in public life wishes to acknowledge the genocidal implications of socialist and welfare state policies.
The American Socialist Big Lie is not only alive and well, but tan and rested.
I want the idea that "communism is dead" to get a review too.
***.......At a signing ceremony for the oil deals in Jamaica on Tuesday, Chavez urged Caribbean governments to consider Cuba-style socialism as an alternative to capitalism. "Fidel, I think you were always right: It's socialism or death," he said. .........*** Oil aids Venezuela's influence
"Return of the Undead" placemarker.
I believe that these pernicious cults require a stake through their hearts, and their heads affixed to pikes.
Just like the flesh-eating zombies they are.
Hiya DBR -- well fortunately for FR and all of us, your common sense prevailed, as it has for so many people, which is why the Rats don't run things the way they used to. My wife had very similar experiences -- working with welfare recipients, prisoners, etc. A few years of that and her eyes opened too. People like you and her deserve more credit than people like me who were heartless oppressors of the disadvantaged from the get-go. You arrived at your position through intellectual honesty -- and don't you feel like you keep better company now on this side of the fence?
Welfare, gangs,looting and crime are going to be around forever- and nothing is going to change for the races- not because people haven't tried- because they are fought tooth and nail. No one, in the position to really make the changes- it seems wants it to change.
It has gotten to the point that criticizing anyone of color is now racist ( of course not equal treatment but special treatment)and that people who don't acknowledge the special status and feelings of people are color are bigots. (More special status)
Yes- I am glad to be to this side, but sometimes it is sad to think that things will never get any better for some people in our country who are stuck in the inner cities and ghettos and want a better life.
Exactly!
DBR, I recently finished reading a biography of the Roman man of letters, politician, philosopher Cicero. It was amazing how many of these same issues, in slightly different form, applied two thousand years ago in a society that held roughly the same position in the world that we do now. The art of pandering to the least motivated elements of society and of keeping them in positions of perpetual dependency in return for support is quite ancient, and obviously predates even Cicero by many years. I agree it is sad for those who sell their souls so cheaply, and sinful for those who keep them there. On the other hand, though, there are those like many of us on this board whose appointed task seems to be to lead happy, fullfilled, grateful lives. I think in our country at this time, we continue to hold something of a majority. And I think most of those in the inner city who really want a better life find a way to get it. Liberals are never going to spotlight or chronicle the many success stories that continue to arise from poverty every day.
While I would agree that Krugman stumbles a bit when writing about subjects outside economics, there are questions about Okrent's criticisms of him, as well. Okrent suggested that Krugman has twisted numbers to serve his own ideas, but has not been able to offer substantive examples of when this has happened.
As a columnist and pundit, I probably hate Bush as much as Krugman does. So it is no surprise that I have few qualms with the columns in which he has disassembled Bush's backward economics policies and initiatives. Still, I think you should be careful about reading too much into what has become a rather personal battle of wills between two high-profile New York Times writers....
Eric Deggans President, Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists Columnist/Editorial board member, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
The commentary of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and Hannity was much kinder and more subtle than any one could find among patrons of a bar in a blue collar town.
Dems should reflect on that.
No, it's not that they weren't "motivated enough to succeed" it was that they made all the wrong calls. Here's how it works - if a black child graduates from High School, gets a job, follows the laws and rules of society, gets married, then has a child, ( in that order) he will have a car to evacuate his family with.... And that's the truth. White or black. And if a person breaks the laws, drops out of high school and has kids out of wedlock, white or black, they'll probably be stuck without a car in an emergency. And no, this doesn't apply to children and the elderly. Children and the elderly are in naturally dependent positions in society and must be taken care of...
If Deggans can find one NewO family that fit my description, and followed the rules (high school, marriage, etc.) and didn't own a car or have the means to escape - I'd like him to write about that person. Because I suspect O'Reilly's right, and if he's not. Give some examples please.
And yes, we have a respoinsiblilty to help those less fortunate, but let's not pretend it's racism that puts these folks in such a vulnerable position. It's bad choices.
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