As a journalism teacher, I like to try and catch when reporters are spinning things to dupe us into thinking what they want us to think. With msnbc, it's like stealing candy from a baby... but I couldn't resist on this one.
Even though this article is mostly about the concern over the black community potentially having a harder time overcoming this down job market, there is some strong implication that racism is the cause for this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34068710/ns/business-economy_at_a_crossroads//
Now, there is no doubt that every race is being affected by the recession. Of course, some are more affected than others. In a complex system, such as the job market, it is impossible to achieve equal distribution of goods (jobs, in this case).
Realistically speaking, of course racism is the culprit in some cases, and that is sad that some people would use race as a factor in hiring an individual. However, this article is telling us that black people, due to racism (and not other potential factors), are suffering worse in this economy.
So I did a little number crunching. Here is what I came up with using the exact same statistics. In fact, I just pulled the numbers they used and looked at it from another angle:
Since this recession started, if you are black, you are 43% more likely to be unemployed than before.
However, if you are white, there is a 52% greater chance you are unemployed.
Or, if I want to stretch it even farther, the white community has been more adversely affected by the recession than the black community by almost 10%.
But you won't get any of that from msnbc...
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
"Charisma. Circumstances, promises... Not enough of us spoke out to question him until it was too late. It happens on your planet, doesn't it?"
Well I am back from the land of the sick. I’ve been out for a little while. I was hit with some illness that never was diagnosed. I never have been sick like that. Finally, after about 5 days, I went in to Urgent Care. They tested me for H1N1 – I had no idea something could go that far up my nose (anyone who has been tested for this knows what I am talking about), then they tested me for strep throat, then for mono (“great, how am I going to explain this to my wife”), and then – for good measure – H1N1 again.
Unfortunately the world doesn’t stop when we are sick, so it has taken me the last couple weeks to catch myself up at work, but I’m back in the saddle again, as they say.
The other day, my wife and I were watching an old TV mini-series from the early 1980’s. Some of you may have seen it; it is a show called “V” and it is a sci-fi thriller about “V”isitors coming to Earth from outer space because their planet is tapped of its life-sustaining resources. (It was replayed on ScyFy channel because ABC recently launched a re-hash TV series which I haven’t had a chance to view yet.) The visitors come to Earth hoping that we will help them with their needs of resupplying their planet with these resources. At first they come as “friends” with a plan to put in action (working together, we help create the materials they need to replenish their resources), then they start to impose an agenda on humans (controlling us through fear and public persuasion to the point that humans won’t act of their own will), then they begin to take over the whole system. Soon any humans who are not part of their movement are outcast and ultimately forced into hiding, and ultimately the visitors enforce their real plans (enslaving and harvesting humans).
The thing that really got me with this show is how it reminded me of what is happening in our country right now... except for the human harvesting (as far as I know). In the course of this mini-series, my wife and I must have looked at each other half a dozen times with that look – the look of… “ohh, that sounds all-too familiar”. The irony of this is that the show is really a political allegory to Nazi Germany during its rise to power. I swear that if an American with no context of the history of Nazi Germany were to watch this mini-series, they would think it is a political play off of our current administration. At first, the humans saw opportunity. They were so charmed by these visitors, they didn’t stop to consider any of the right questions. Then, before they knew it, the opportunity to do anything was no longer there and their lives were no longer under their control.
Main Protagonist, Mike Donovan: (Asking a question similar to one I ask myself often) How'd someone like that get to be your leader anyway?
Friendly Alien, Martin: Charisma. Circumstances, promises... Not enough of us spoke out to question him until it was too late. It happens on your planet, doesn't it?
By the end, I wished I had taken notes to point out all the similarities between what the aliens imposed (with the help of blinded Earthlings) and what is going on in our government today (with the help of blinded Americans). I guess you’re just going to have to watch it. Now I am waiting on Netflix to send me the follow-up, "V: The Final Battle" and I should have a solution to our countries problems.
Unfortunately the world doesn’t stop when we are sick, so it has taken me the last couple weeks to catch myself up at work, but I’m back in the saddle again, as they say.
The other day, my wife and I were watching an old TV mini-series from the early 1980’s. Some of you may have seen it; it is a show called “V” and it is a sci-fi thriller about “V”isitors coming to Earth from outer space because their planet is tapped of its life-sustaining resources. (It was replayed on ScyFy channel because ABC recently launched a re-hash TV series which I haven’t had a chance to view yet.) The visitors come to Earth hoping that we will help them with their needs of resupplying their planet with these resources. At first they come as “friends” with a plan to put in action (working together, we help create the materials they need to replenish their resources), then they start to impose an agenda on humans (controlling us through fear and public persuasion to the point that humans won’t act of their own will), then they begin to take over the whole system. Soon any humans who are not part of their movement are outcast and ultimately forced into hiding, and ultimately the visitors enforce their real plans (enslaving and harvesting humans).
The thing that really got me with this show is how it reminded me of what is happening in our country right now... except for the human harvesting (as far as I know). In the course of this mini-series, my wife and I must have looked at each other half a dozen times with that look – the look of… “ohh, that sounds all-too familiar”. The irony of this is that the show is really a political allegory to Nazi Germany during its rise to power. I swear that if an American with no context of the history of Nazi Germany were to watch this mini-series, they would think it is a political play off of our current administration. At first, the humans saw opportunity. They were so charmed by these visitors, they didn’t stop to consider any of the right questions. Then, before they knew it, the opportunity to do anything was no longer there and their lives were no longer under their control.
Main Protagonist, Mike Donovan: (Asking a question similar to one I ask myself often) How'd someone like that get to be your leader anyway?
Friendly Alien, Martin: Charisma. Circumstances, promises... Not enough of us spoke out to question him until it was too late. It happens on your planet, doesn't it?
By the end, I wished I had taken notes to point out all the similarities between what the aliens imposed (with the help of blinded Earthlings) and what is going on in our government today (with the help of blinded Americans). I guess you’re just going to have to watch it. Now I am waiting on Netflix to send me the follow-up, "V: The Final Battle" and I should have a solution to our countries problems.
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