O.J. The very mention of his initials stirs an emotional response. For some, it brings up anger for the racial injustice he suffered at the hands of biased law enforcement. For others, it’s hate for the heinous crimes he certainly committed but for which he was not convicted. For TV executives, it stirs their pathological longing for a repeat of the ratings bonanza that only a similarly televised reenactment of the racial tensions of those times could muster. Nothing attracts views like breaking news of a good old fashioned race riot.
It’s a guilty pleasure I’m told.
George Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin was the answer to the Satanic prayers of TV execs everywhere. They saw this story not for what it was, but for what it could be. “If we fluff and promote the metaphor of Black vs. White hard enough and at a suitable volume, we may finally have what the sponsors demand – Must See TV.”
The extreme TV personalities of each ideological viewpoint did their part. Al Sharpton reprised his signature role in the Tawana Brawley case by finding racial animus and obscene expressions of prejudice in every motion, every glance from the defense, and every pronoun used by white people in power. Sean Hannity, on the other side, had his opportunity to salute the rule of law and defend any Floridian’s right to shoot and kill anyone proven to be “scary and threatening”, even if that fear was of an unarmed black kid in a hoodie walking home from a convenience store. That’s the essence of liberty in a fully armed society surrounded by walls and protected by gates.
I did not follow the case or the trial very closely, much to the disappointment of advertising executives. I felt that becoming too invested would reward the cable news channels and encourage them to seek the next Trayvon Martin and the next George Zimmerman to replace these newly anointed network personalities once the case ended. I was not interested in a sequel.
The practice of race baiting and the promotion of the fact that people are practicing race baiting (whether real or imagined) is big business. Paula Deen lost millions by using offensive language and vocalizing racist ideas, but the Today show had big ratings by broadcasting part of her Apology Tour. The reality show Big Brother, an irrelevant program in a crowded marketplace, returned to relevance briefly by highlighting its in-house bigot. Thankfully, she was attractive too, which helped make her bigotry all the more watchable. Ratings are up this season.
And then this happens in New York this week:
(AP) – Yesterday afternoon an African-American couple was eating at the outside tables at Benny’s Burrito in Greenwich Village when a drunken man, complaining about his wife leaving him and his job at Goldman Sachs, crashed their table. Douglass Reddish, 25, the man with his girlfriend, tried to help the man steady himself but got a different response than he likely expected.
“This nigger wants to fight me?” said the unidentified man according to witnesses at the scene, “You niggers are why I lost my job!”
Reddish clocked the man with a punch to his face which knocked him out cold. The back of the man’s head then struck the concrete and started to bleed profusely.
The unidentified man was obviously angry and needed a target for his anger. I am left wondering if cable news television profits added to this man’s hate quotient and contributed to his explosion, a hate crime if there ever was one.
I don’t like the race baiting sanctimony from the Right. It detracts from the legitimate conservative point that as diversity becomes less a sensitivity issue and more of a business necessity in America, we’ll need fewer programs in the future that are measured by equal outcomes for all.
I don’t like the race-ploitation on the Left. It detracts from the legitimate liberal point that racism still exists in America in a systemic way, and that equal opportunity for the races has not been achieved just because one black guy became President.
The whole Battle of the Network Racists is a commercially fueled enterprise that cheapens the real debate in exchange for market share, and I for one prefer not to participate in this “guilty pleasure”. The issues of race are real and the solutions complex, but making Zimmerman and Trayvon the proxies for the discussion is nothing but an excuse to sell commercial spots.
The profiteering on these cases started with the “success” of the O.J. trial, so I guess that’s another thing we can blame on The Juice. Or maybe we should blame Fox, CNN, and MSNBC.
Why can’t we all just get along?
TheMSRP 