HEM: Semi-Regular Observations
-
@Kcmatt7 Your dad’s interpretation of the playing of the national anthem differs from the interpretation of the players. Let me ask a direct question. Does your Dad watch Fox News and support Trump? I ask because I think if it weren’t for the spin artists stoking the fire here and galvanizing voter groups into a single voting block, the story would be “hey, the players have an issue with standing, but they say they have nothing but respect for the troops”. That story is drowned out by the my-way-or-the-highway “NO! THE NATIONAL ANTHEM CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING! THEY SHOULD ALL LEAVE THIS COUNTRY!” logic.
More than one perspective can be valid. It is, at the end of the day, an opinion of what the National Anthem means, nothing more.
You say the fans can be pissed off if they want to be. I believe they don’t want to be pissed off. Nobody wants to be angry all the time. It’s the noise they listen to that is making them mad and intolerant of other perspectives.
-
@approxinfinity absolutely my dad is a Fox News drone. But, to his credit, he was pissed before it became a Trump rallying cry.
And while the players say that, my dad is also a police officer. So it is more of a slap in his face than just being a former vet.
I don’t think, in my dads case, Trump would have anything to do with him being pissed about this.
I mean, imagine serving your country and community for over 30 years of your life, and then people don’t appreciate that.
To you and me, the issue is small and stupid. And I truthfully believe that we are probably numb to it at this point. But to him it is a spit in the face of his entire life’s work.
-
@Kcmatt7 I’m sure he’d be pissed given his background but I would hope he’d get over it and find resolution if not for Fox galvanizing and encouraging intolerance. On the other side, the players probably would have felt heard with a President inviting them to the White House to talk or whatever and would have desisted by now.
These guys are not letting divisions heal, they’re pouring salt in wounds.
-
@approxinfinity well I think it should have never been a presidential issue. But I also think neither side is doing anything wrong?
It is not wrong for players to kneel and use the platform they have earned.
It is not wrong for anyone, including the president, to use their platform to get people to boycott games and teams that have players kneeling.
And, to be honest, why would the president stop hitting on this? He has won the battle. Players who would easily make a roster if not for the kneeeling are not even signed. The players have essentially lost the battle. The public has spoken. Stand or lose millions.
-
@approxinfinity and again, why are the police officers and veterans the ones who have to get over it? Sorry, I just can’t wrap my mind around it. I mean, it MATTERS to them. They are getting flipped the bird basically.
And you want them to get over it and give money to the people flipping them the bird every Sunday? Not happening man.
Especially when they are the ones with leverage right now.
-
@Kcmatt7 the two groups are not acting the same.
Group A - Players Interpreting honoring national anthem with “hand over breast” as an acceptance of injustices in our culture, and making slight variation in how they honor national anthem to signify that police brutality toward black people is not acceptable.
Group B - Insulted People Interpreting honoring national anthem with “hand over breast” as a salute to our military, and any variation in how it is honored as a grievous insult to their values.
Group B (Insulted People) is reacting to Group A (Players) here. They are being encouraged to react in an intolerant manner… ARE acting in an intolerant manner.
Conversely, based upon what their cause is, the case that Group A (Players) is intolerant is if you think that they aren’t being tolerant enough of police crimes against black people.
-
Wait… did someone actually say police officer should get over it?? Wow!
-
@approxinfinity What are they doing that is intolerant, specifically?
-
@Woodrow resolving a conflict like this takes acknowledgement that there is an issue, communication and collaboration.
Again, saying “these people protest specific acts of police violence, therefore they hate all cops and I need to be offended!” Is not the right conclusion but you will never hear Fox News make that distinction.
-
@Kcmatt7 they are intolerant of peaceful protest.
-
I want to continue to point out that it is not the people that are the problem here, as I see it. An emotional response as a police officer to people protesting the acts of police officers makes sense. It is the media encouraging the perpetuation of single-threaded thoughts on the issue that is a big problem, keeping people from more nuanced stances, compromise and understanding.
-
All right everyone group hug! Let’s just leave it where it is!
-
@kjayhawks We had a yard sale today in 83 up to 95 heat. Maybe a group handshake would be better than a hug!
-
@mayjay lmao we may stick together if you’re involved
-
@kjayhawks My contribution to unity!
-
7/31/18 - Lebron James, a complete sham. He now attacks Trump, claiming Trump is using sports to divide the country. Of course, Trump did no such thing. Trump did not kneel on an NFL field during the national anthem. That singular act is the act of division – it is an attack on our country and what a great majority hold important and sacred. That’s the act of division, so we’re clear. That was the act of injecting politics into sports. What James is irritated with is that someone with a national voice has the temerity to speak out against this woefully ignorant and misguided behavior. We’ve seen the histrionics here – referencing totalitarian regimes and such other alarmist baloney. No one is required to march, bow, salute, place hand over heart, sing, or curtsey, which is a purposefully false narrative promulgated by leftists. Remember that – it is purposeful dishonesty. No, the truth is that all that is asked is that an individual, during work hours, at his place of employment, not show disrespect for the national anthem and just stand quietly. That is all. Nothing affirmative or objective. Just stand quietly. Anything suggested beyond that is the classic “fake news.” Made up. It’s exactly what we expect from the left. Guys like Lebron get to talk because they have a microphone in their face. They never debate, they never get challenged. That’s how the left operates best. No debate or discussion.
Of course, others, like Dak Prescott, get it: "I never protest during the anthem, and I don’t think that’s the time or the venue to do so. The game of football has always brought me such peace, and I think it does the same for a lot of people … When you bring such a controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game, it takes away. It takes away from that."
-
If this issue is so important, I always wondered why is it that all these players that kneel on company time don’t do it on their own time? They have the money, resources and connections to set up events like town hall meetings or press conferences to discuss the issue outside the football field but I just don’t see this happening. I know of many players that quietly do a lot of outstanding community work without looking or asking for the limelight or credit but the more vocal protesters do nothing. Something to think about.
Here is an article I found that uniquely describes the current situation and points out the real issues in the black community.
-
@HighEliteMajor said:
Guys like Lebron get to talk because they have a microphone in their face. They never debate, they never get challenged. That’s how the left operates best. No debate or discussion.
Isn’t that exactly what you are doing here? Every post you’ve made has been a declaration with no acknowledgement of anyone’s response.
-
Read this. Or this. Or this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, or this.
When you finish that, then read this, this, this, this, this, this, and definitely this.
-
@justanotherfan lol, that I like!
-
Cute. Perhaps you should re-read my post where I said…
“I know of many players that quietly do a lot of outstanding community work without looking or asking for the limelight or credit but the more vocal protesters do nothing.”
I don’t need you to tell about the good work players do. My comment was about the protesting football players and most of your references are about basketball players.
Again, this is what I wrote…
“If this issue is so important, I always wondered why is it that all these players that kneel on company time don’t do it on their own time? They have the money, resources and connections to set up events like town hall meetings or press conferences to discuss the issue outside the football field but I just don’t see this happening.”
Here, I was talking about discussing the issue at the center of the protest, not charity work, and I don’t see that happening other than ranting and raving against Trump which does nothing to solve this issue that has been there since long before Trump jumped into politics and will likely be around long after he is gone.
Now, maybe you can give your opinion on the article I cited.
-
@JayHawkFanToo thats why he posted links to storied about the “more vocal protesters” doing things…
-
@JayHawkFanToo What about the one entitled “Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins speak at congressional forum on community-police relations. For the second time in six months, NFL players visit Capitol Hill to push for change”
That sounds like doing something off the field to me.
-
You also need to re-read my post in which I already indicated that many players do great community/charity work so there is no need to lecture me on something I readily acknowledged on my original post. All the links except one about ride alongs are about charity work and most about basketball players.
The “football” players protest was not and is not about charity but about the claim that police kill black people indiscriminately and I don’t see much being done by the players to address this particular issue.
Maybe you took the time read the one article I cited and would care to comment on it?
-
-
@JayHawkFanToo ah, but you did admit it wasn’t about disrespecting the flag. I would never and my boys would never not stand for the NA. But, I’ve coached a lot of kids and witnessed 2 black kids on my team treated like pos! The other white kids were completely left alone. This was in Wisconsin. These 2 kids were as good as gold, so until you walk in someone’s shoes or have seen such injustice, maybe you can’t get it. Believe me, I asked for the manager of the place and let them have it. I have no place in my heart for people who are racist!
-
No, that is not what I said. Unfortunately the protest chose to carry out their protest by disrespecting the flag on company time.
Racism and discrimination are the result of ignorance and abhorrent in all their forms and by anyone and should never be tolerated; I certainly do not condone or tolerate it. That is not to say that racism does not exist, it does, but the best way to defeat it is by education, teaching understanding and tolerance and not by one sided confrontation. I commend you for speaking out agains racism.
-
@JayHawkFanToo I think where there seems a disconnect is that you aren’t acknowledging that the charity work these players are doing is in many ways directly attempting to address the problem of relationships between the black community and police. For example, this one from @justanotherfan s list:
http://themalcolmjenkinsfoundation.org/tag/community-service/
They are clearly trying to make a difference through channels they believe make a difference.
-
@JayHawkFanToo I read the link you posted, and i think we can agree that systemic crime is a complicated thing, with many causes, and needs to be addressed from many angles. Certainly law enforcement needs to be a friend to the people and not positioned oppositionally, and that is why the charity work these athletes do can’t be understated. But it isnt everything.
This isn’t just about police violence against black people. It’s about profiling, and assumption of guilt, and about black Americans feeling safe.
Malcolm Jenkins, on why he raised his fist instead of kneeling:
“The reason I don’t kneel is not because I think it’s disrespectful. It’s because I think it’s misunderstood,” Jenkins said. “I want my demonstration to be effective and received. I think whatever that is is going to be to the individual, but everybody’s saying the same thing: We need change. We want to be that vehicle to change our communities, and we need to use the platform that we have to do that. So, hopefully, people can begin to listen to some of those issues.”
What’s so wrong about that? What does it say that people feel the need to break this mentality down and make it stop?
-
JayHawkFanToo said:
I don’t need you to tell about the good work players do. My comment was about the protesting football players and most of your references are about basketball players.
For those who didn’t click through my links, I linked to three articles about Colin Kaepernick, 4 about Malcolm Jenkins, 2 about Marcus Peters, 1 about Brandon Marshall, 2 about Michael Bennett, 1 about Martellus Bennett and one about Arian Foster. I also linked to four articles each about Lebron James and Steph Curry.
So @JayHawkFanToo, that’s 14 articles about football players and 8 about basketball players. 14 is more than 8. Your statement was either outright false or at least misleading.
Again, this is what I wrote…
“If this issue is so important, I always wondered why is it that all these players that kneel on company time don’t do it on their own time? They have the money, resources and connections to set up events like town hall meetings or press conferences to discuss the issue outside the football field but I just don’t see this happening.”
The Kaepernick article about his donations shows the types of organizations he has supported, including organizations that work on things like fighting mass incarceration, assisting single mothers, mental health treatment for former inmates, and organizations combating police brutality.
Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin spoke to congress about police brutality.
Malcolm Jenkins’ foundation works with high school students in New Orleans to improve graduation rates and provide resources for under-resourced communities.
Jenkins also did a ride along with Philadelphia police.
Brandon Marshall met with Denver police to begin a dialogue between urban communities around Denver and the police.
Martellus Bennett and Michael Bennett donated all of their profits from 2017 jersey sales to after school programs and inner city garden projects, as well as inner city schools as a way of expanding education opportunities.
Kaepernick, Jenkins, Marshall and the Bennett brothers have been among the most consistent protesters.
Again, the articles I linked to addressed what you said specifically. Your statements were, again, either outright false, or at least misleading.
Now, maybe you can give your opinion on the article I cited.
I will give my opinion on the article you cited, but only after you acknowledge that the statements that you made, which I cited above, were either outright false, or at least misleading. Otherwise, you do not merit my response to your question.
-
Is it me or is it getting hot in here? LOL
-
@DoubleDD did you escape the 'nados in Iowa?
-
8/1/18 - A march in Chicago against violence is scheduled in favor the poor and those victimized by rampant inner city violence. But where oh where are the black athletes that speak vehemently against the killing fields in our inner cities? Where are the black athletes challenging and demanding that young blacks stop the killing, maiming, robbing, and violent behavior in our inner cities? Where are the black athletes that actually demand personal responsibility among inner city blacks? Where are the black athletes that stand up for the victims of black inner city crime (ironically, the victims are mainly black)? Where are the black athletes demanding changes among their own race? Where are they? If the inner city black culture of violence doesn’t change, nothing will change. The baloney you see above is that of an apologist. One that favors victimhood over personal responsibility and accountability. One that will use “black power” as his avatar, but in the same breath makes post after post demonstrating the weakness of those that kneel and insult our nation. Real “black power” is looking inward and demanding change – personal responsibility. Not whining the whine of the perpetual victim. Just like the millions of blacks that aren’t in this inner city culture of violence, and who don’t buy the victim mentality – the ones that achieve. The ones that seize opportunity. Where are these wonderful black athletes? Do they stand up for the nightly victims of black inner city violence? No. They cower just as the leftists do. Blame others. It’s a convenient and pathetic exercise. They focus their efforts on a symptom of the inner city black culture, not the cause. I don’t want cops killing innocent people. But a sure fire way to decrease that chance is to have less need for contact with the police (Odd how that works). You know, when you there are crime ridden sh–holes, the innocent residents need protection. Otherwise, they die. Remember that. Without the police, innocent inner city blacks die at even a greater rate.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-lake-shore-drive-shutdown-protest-20180723-story.html
-
Let’s start w/LeBron and his new school. Education. Please don’t get personal. I know you don’t care what anyone thinks, so I’m just asking. It’s very ugly.
-
Again, you are conveniently changing the subject and showing mostly charity and contributions, something that I acknowledged in my original post. You listed a number of links but they refer to only a handful of individuals and not the 100s of players that actively participated on the football protest. This was the gist of my post that you conveniently ignore.
Lets go over some of the items…
The Kaepernick article about his donations shows the types of organizations he has supported, including organizations that work on things like fighting mass incarceration, assisting single mothers, mental health treatment for former inmates, and organizations combating police brutality.
And none shows where he attempted to reach out and start a dialog with the other side. Instead he insulted lae enforcement agencies and wore sock with pigs dressed as police men creating a greater divide instead. He also praised Castro and Che Guevara, two blood thirsty sociopaths that have done more to oppress people including black and along with North Korea represent the most repressive regimes in the world and whose security forces make the worst alleged police crimes look like a walk in the park. I know this first hand. This is the epitome of hypocrisy when you condemn institution that, while not perfect, are by and large good and praise a totalitarian regime that is orders of magnitude more oppressive, repressive and bloody. Google “El paredon Cuba” and you will learn first hand what a real repressive regime is like.
Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin spoke to congress about police brutality.
Excellent, there is one that wants to make a difference although change will not come from congress where members are more interested in their own welfare and r-election that solving issues.
Malcolm Jenkins’ foundation works with high school students in New Orleans to improve graduation rates and provide resources for under-resourced communities.
Great work, but how is this addressing the issue at hand?
Jenkins also did a ride along with Philadelphia police.
Excellent. I posted on different thread before that everybody should do this one time to understand what being a police officer is like. I did one and I now how a lot more admiration and respect for the work they do.
Brandon Marshall met with Denver police to begin a dialogue between urban communities around Denver and the police.
Again, excellent and a good step toward finding common ground and a solution to the problem.
Martellus Bennett and Michael Bennett donated all of their profits from 2017 jersey sales to after school programs and inner city garden projects, as well as inner city schools as a way of expanding education opportunities.
Great charity work that I acknowledged before but does not address the police or flags issues.
So we have what…a small handful of players, 3? 4? 5? addressing the issue? Where are the rest of the hundreds that protested during games? I can post 100 links about 3 or 4 people and it is still about 3 or 4 people and not 100, right?
If every one of the players involved would go to his home town and organize a town hall meeting with police and local residents and organizations then we would to see the intent of wanting to find a solution and maybe the beginning of one but I have not seen that. Having the issue appears to be more important than finding the solution.
Now perhaps you will address the article I originally cited although I am not holding my breath.
-
@JayHawkFanToo https://www.sbnation.com/2017/9/29/16375378/nfl-players-charity-donations-jj-watt-hurricane-harvey-patrick-peterson-foundation
Don’t forget many White players knelt to support their teammates
-
I should also include @wissox. So many educators are working in the inner cities and so underpaid. @wissox choses to do this.
-
I am a lawyer. Because of that, I read and analyze things a certain way.
Your first statement, which I refuted with a few minutes on Google was as follows:
I know of many players that quietly do a lot of outstanding community work without looking or asking for the limelight or credit but the more vocal protesters do nothing.
You even wrote it in bold so it would stand out.
So I looked up the most vocal protesters - Colin Kaepernick, Malcolm Jenkins, the Bennett brothers, Brandon Marshall, plus Marcus Peters for some local flavor - and posted links that I found after doing a simple Google search about stories of them doing community service.
You attempted to respond in two ways. First you tried to re-frame your statement, saying you were talking not about community work, but work focused specifically on the police violence issue. You said:
Here, I was talking about discussing the issue at the center of the protest, not charity work,
That would have been a good argument, except that, as you yourself had to admit
Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin spoke to congress about >police brutality.
Excellent, there is one that wants to make a difference although change will not come from congress where members are more interested in their own welfare and r-election that solving issues.
I can’t help that Congress is lousy. They make our laws. These players went to try and make change happen, which was something you specifically said they did not do.
Jenkins also did a ride along with Philadelphia police.
Excellent. I posted on different thread before that everybody should do this one time to understand what being a police officer is like. I did one and I now how a lot more admiration and respect for the work they do.
Brandon Marshall met with Denver police to begin a dialogue between urban communities around Denver and the police.
Again, excellent and a good step toward finding common ground and a solution to the problem.
These were things I directed you to. Yet, you said in your initial response that I hadn’t cited any of that work.
You also said that:
I don’t need you to tell about the good work players do. My comment was about the protesting football players and most of your references are about basketball players.
That was easy to dispel because, well, math.
These were false or misleading statements that I called you on, but that you don’t want to acknowledge.
You then tried the old tactic of moving the goal posts, claiming that you were talking about all protesters, not just the “more vocal protesters”:
So we have what…a small handful of players, 3? 4? 5? addressing the issue? Where are the rest of the hundreds that protested during games? I can post 100 links about 3 or 4 people and it is still about 3 or 4 people and not 100, right?
There were a number of players that met with the NFL regarding donations and charity work to address this issue. You can find stories about that here, here and here.
But that doesn’t change the fact that this is not what you initially said. A timeline:
- You said “the more vocal protesters do nothing”
- I disproved your statement
- You claim I didn’t address your initial statement, and said I provided more links to basketball players.
- Several other posters on this board point out that the links I posted address those concerns.
- I point out that 14 is more than 8.
- You claim that it’s not just the more vocal protesters, but all protesters.
It sad, honestly. If we were two opposing lawyers dealing with an issue in court and that same scenario played out as I listed above, you would likely be in line to be informally admonished by the court, or possibly formally sanctioned.
It’s okay to be wrong if you own up to it. It’s not okay to be wrong and change the topic.
So, given that, are you now ready to acknowledge that your statements were either outright false, or at least misleading, or will we continue to have to wait?
I do have a response about that article, by the way. But it can wait.
-
Once again. In my original post I did mentioned about players that do charity work precisely because I wanted to concede that and did not want to mix the charity or community work with the stated reason for the protest. My point about the more vocal protesters is that they do not do much about what they are protesting, i.e the alleged one side killing of black people by the police. If it was not clear in my first post I repeated the same thing again in every post since then and you keep merging the two issues which was not at all my intent. Basketball players are not even part of the conversation because the protest took place on the football field and not on the basketball court.
You can spin it any way you want but I have consistently maintained the same point and did agree with you about some of the things a few out of hundreds of players involved are doing to address the issue in question, namely killing of black people by the police but it does not fit your narrative and you keep steering back to what it does. I get it. You just don’t want to address the items in the article I cited so you accuse me of changing the gist of my post and use it as an excuse not to address it…it’s ok, you really don’t have to do it and don’t need an excuse.
This horse has been beaten to death…
-
I nominate @jayballer73 to be the judge of this raft between @JayHawkFanToo and @justanotherfan. May the odds forever be in your favor lol
-
By Dr. Seuss From The Sneetches and Other Stories Copyright 1961 by Theodor S. and Audry S. Geisel:
One day, making tracks In the prairie of Prax,
Came a North-Going Zax And a South-Going Zax.
And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood.
Foot to foot. Face to face.
“Look here, now!” the North-Going Zax said, “I say!
You are blocking my path. You are right in my way.
I’m a North-Going Zax and I always go north.
Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!”
“Who’s in whose way?” snapped the South-Going Zax.
“I always go south, making south-going tracks.
So you’re in MY way! And I ask you to move
And let me go south in my south-going groove.”
Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride.
“I never,” he said, “take a step to one side.
And I’ll prove to you that I won’t change my ways
If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!”
“And I’ll prove to YOU,” yelled the South-Going Zax,
“That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax
for fifty-nine years! For I live by a rule
That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School.
Never budge! That’s my rule.
Never budge in the least!
Not an inch to the west!
Not an inch to the east!
I’ll stay here, not budging!
I can and I will
If it makes you and me
and the whole world stand still!”
Well…Of course the world didn’t stand still. The world grew.
In a couple of years, the new highway came through
And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax
And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.
-
kjayhawks said:
I nominate @jayballer73 to be the judge of this raft between @JayHawkFanToo and @justanotherfan. May the odds forever be in your favor lol
UMMMM - - - NOPE -lol - -not gonna get mixed up in this lol - - heck probably if I said anything they would BOTH turn on me lol - -gonna let those dogs run and hunt leave them alone lol. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
-
Thanks for the break from the summer doldrums!
White privilege is misunderstood in my view. On the one hand Obama proves a black man can be elected to the highest office. That was a great event for many of my older African American friends. But a black woman, a few heartbeats from the presidency in Condeleeza Wright gets stopped in a Texas airport walking with the presidential party a few years back by some dolt who assumed she didn’t belong with Bush because of her skin color.
Schools have been desegregated yet they’re still obscenely segregated, most often by race, but sometimes by class as well. If you’re not sure how this matters, a simple tour of facilities would suffice. Visit the athletic complex in your average suburban HS and then find the athletic complex, if it exists, in the underserved communities. The contrast is striking. I’ve seen light polls erupt in flames, and a single bulb explode and fall into the stands with spectators. The brightness of stadium lights, soccer pitches with large mudholes vs. playing on turf fields. Inside the hallways, I had 10 principals in 11 years. I’ll let you guess which type of school that was. Teacher turnover leads to despair among poor students. Not happening out in the whiter areas generally. This is the issue I care most about.
The protest you mentioned today in Chicago. It’s way more about the economic disparity between Chicago’s north side and it’s south and west side. You have to understand something about the evils of redlining which created segregated neighborhoods. When someone is prevented the ability to own a home in a decent neighborhood several things happen. There’s a divide between classes and races. Owning property is a way families develop a legacy for children that someday they can own or benefit from. Simply put, it creates wealth of varying degrees.
Read the book Evicted. This is a great expose on a sometimes necessary but oftentimes evil practice that obviously impacts the underserved in our cities and suburbs.
National anthem? Sorry, but some of the stuff I’ve read here bothers me. Just because the rich athlete didn’t suffer the injustice doesn’t mean they shouldn’t protest does it? By that logic no rich, successful people can protest, speak out, etc. Totally harmless but effective protest. I thought our country stood for that.
-
Just Mercy by Brian Stephenson is a startling book about the inequities in capital murder cases in Alabama. Even among criminals there’s white privilege.
-
@wissox your kids are blessed to have you!
-
8/3/18 The Kansas City Star runs another media hit job on a conservative, attacking Kris Kobach. But this is a much larger issue than Kobach. It’s how it is done that is the problem. Let me illustrate the problem. The KC Star runs an editorial claiming that Kobach is “not fit to serve.” An EDITORIAL. Editorials are just that. The opinion of the Editorial board. May not like it, but it’s clearly opinion and clearly under the editorial section. However, the KC Star also runs a front page story attacking Kobach less than a week ahead of the primary - that corresponds to the publication of the editorial. The alleged “news” is moving in lockstep with the “editorial.” That is the problem. The reason the news media is viewed as the “enemy” by conservatives is quite simple - The mainstream news media blatantly favors the democrats and the left, while claiming that they are objectively “reporting” the news. They make their opinion, the news. It is comical that folks attack Fox News. If Fox News leans right, then we must be clear ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC lean left. The overwhelming weight of the media leans very much left. But the left demeans folks that watch Fox as “drones” as we see above, or in other ways. Same way they’d refer to Rush Limbaugh, as if those folks are robots. It’s a typical leftist tactic. The news reported on Trump is nearly 90% negative by many reports. Look, I know. The media has always been left leaning. But this gets me to an important point that I started above related to the KC Star – the media is now couching its “opinion” as news. With the KC Star, one obvious area is immigration. The KC Star will run front page stories on immigrants, their sob stories, run front page photos, follow an immigration hearing of a professor here illegally. All because they favor open borders and open immigration. They refuse to run stories with front page placement, and proper headlines, on the other side of that story. They will place stories on the front page with headlines that are noted as “commentary” – which is opinion, not news. Importantly, they phrase headlines to influence opinion – to play up their view, or diminish the position they disagree with. Not to report news objectively. So they choose to run an attack piece on Kobach, who is obvious rigid on the immigration issue. During the court case related to Trump’s immigration policy (which he won at the Supreme Court), the KC Star and the rest of the media refused to report on his most powerful arguments (that the statute/law was undeniably clear). They would bury the arguments deep in the story. This is propaganda couched in objectivity. This is why the media is the enemy to conservatives. Look where the “media” and it’s member give money for campaigns. I personally favor a media that challenges those in authority. The problem is, when a liberal/leftist is the one in authority, the media shades its reporting, crafts its headlines, diminishes its aggressiveness. The mainstream media is the enemy of conservatives. The media nearly unanimously refuses to report on the violence of the left against conservatives. And at the height of its hypocrisy, the media continues to fawn over women who are “leftists” but attack women on the right. Women in power on the right are not admired by the media as they do on the left. They attack them. It is why the media is the enemy. The media is the enemy because the media controls information. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,and other media target conservatives, limit opinion, and seize accounts, while permitting the leftist opinions a much wider range of freedom of expression. The only folks that deny the overwhelming bias and purposeful promulgation of propaganda by the mainstream media are folks that are blinded by they viewpoint (intentionally or otherwise).
-
A couple of observations.
-
@wissox is doing some tremendous work in the education system. Inner city schools are often strapped for resources at every level, from books and lab equipment to sports facilities. It takes a special person to work in that environment, and @wissox is clearly one of those people. Thank you for what you do!
-
The reason I am so passionate about police violence against African Americans is because every time I see one of these situations I know that it could very well be me. Many on this board would argue against that, but several of these incidents that led to the shootings occurred during otherwise routine traffic stops(studies show that minorities are stopped at a higher rate than whites, and searched at a higher rate than whites, even though those searches turn up contraband less frequently than when whites are searched). I’ve been stopped by the police more times than I care to count, so I know what it’s like to be in that situation, where I know that the officer can shoot me dead, then claim he feared for his life, and no one will ever be held accountable for my murder, like Philando Castille.
Pointing to black on black crime doesn’t solve this. When black on black crime occurs, someone can be held accountable for the crime. When police violence occurs, NO ONE is held accountable. The current Department of Justice is getting rid of the department that investigated police departments. There is no interest in holding anyone accountable for these things. That makes it much different than crime, which is being actively investigated and punished.
And that is why I (and many others) speak out against this. If officers were being held accountable, there would be far less outcry. But officers are rarely even charged in these situations. Even when they are dismissed from one police department for potentially inappropriate behavior, they often just get a job at another police department because many law enforcement agencies will accept a resignation, even under bad circumstances, and allow an officer to leave without making a permanent note in the officer’s personnel file.
Think of it this way - if a day care worker was mistreating children, you would not want that worker to simply be able to resign from a position at one day care facility and move across town, or to the next county, or across the state line, and immediately get a job at another day care facility. Studies have shown that the overwhelming majority of complaints regarding officers focus on a handful of officers. Most police officers are not bad. Let me repeat that since some on this board think I am anti-police.
MOST POLICE OFFICERS ARE NOT BAD
In fact, I would do so far as to say the majority are good officers trying to do their jobs the right way. The problem is that many departments refuse to eliminate the worst officers from the force, instead soiling the dignity and reputation of their good officers to protect the bad ones. Why are we, as a society, okay with this?
-
-
Good post on the media. I generally have chafed for 30 years over the biased media. However, media has evolved to where the internet is now mainstream media. You can get whatever news and commentary there that you want. And it goes without saying you can find whatever you want to support your particular view point.
It always cracks me up when you read on FB some shared post that starts out, “The media won’t report this” and then it goes on to report on some supposedly damaging story about a politician who breaks the mold on what they’re supposed to be doing. I respond to that with “how did you learn about it then if the media didn’t report it?”
You said “The KC Star will run front page stories on immigrants, their sob stories” You accuse the media of bias, but there’s a lot of bias right in that statement, isn’t there? I worked with a lot of immigrants from Central America when I was living in Baton Rouge. These were not sob stories in my view. These were kids escaping the most extreme violence on earth. Read about San Pedro Sula, Honduras someday. Most violent large city on the planet. I’ll tell you then about two girls in my classroom who had to get out of there. They were great young ladies, didn’t speak any English, but worked hard in class every day. But some people will cheer when or if they get deported. That would be a sob story. I don’t know if they were here legally or not. They didn’t need to be there, in Honduras.
Trump unfortunately gives the MSM plenty of ammo in their battles against him. His outlandish statements, immoralities, etc sway Americans away from his accomplishments which you started talking about in your original post.
-
@wissox We can’t save everyone. At least not all at once. And that is why I am so against illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration is a problem to me, because by letting in anyone, we are undermining a system of those who follow the rules. Of allowing us a vetting process of any sort. And that is what bothers me the most. Good people are not getting the opportunity they deserve because other people are doing the wrong thing.
-
