Racism as entertainment
There’s an old saying in the world of news — “if it bleeds, it leads.” This could be the literal, as in shootings, murders, car wrecks, fires, etc. But, it could also be in regards to the stories that shock and titillate. This is why, when we deal with a story about racist rants, like those of Michael “Kramer” Richards or Duane “Dog” Chapman, or racial insults, like those of Don Imus and his on-air staff, they get plastered all over the screen. Racial animus and ratings go hand-in-hand.
DeNeen L. Brown and Darryl Fears of the Washington Post deal with the media’s preference to reduce real racial issues to mere entertainment. In a nutshell, they addresses the shamelessness with which the media presents issues of race and how, instead of providing context and education on a particular issue, they instead continue to stoke the fire for mere ratings.
Sadly, we see this in the manner in which entertainment sites like TMZ.com have come to be the first source of information when issues like this pop up, which given our fascination with entertainment over substance, is now a perfectly acceptable place to check for information.
In many ways, in regards to race relations in America, I say we are going backwards. In no small part, it is due to our fascination with the shock value of overt racism and our disinterest in really fixing this issue.
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