When Racists Believe Everything on TV Evening News
I remember encountering a troll in another blog that suggested the old “blacks-are-more-criminal-prone” routine. Honestly, every new poor soul who equates the shade of skin as an indicator to divinity believe that crime is a genetic factor, not a political one. One of their usual tactics include the news.
I avoid the local news whenever it comes on in the evening, especially the first several minutes, because I know what to expect. Crime. Violent crime. The path to ratings for newsrooms much be drenched in blood to add sensation and fear. Like the saying goes, “If it leads, it leads.” That’s why I also avoid newspapers.
Anyway, this troll tried to preach to the not-so-gullible choir that black people are generally a criminal race out to rob, rape and kill anyone in sight, especially white people. How does he know, you asked? “Look at the news,” was his reply.
It didn’t stop there. This special ed troll even cited fictional programming, mostly cop dramas like ‘Criminal Minds’. I was surprised he didn’t include reality cop shows like ‘Cops’ and ‘The First 48′, but bringing up a work of fiction was staggering enough. I’ve never watched ‘Criminal Minds’. I’ve watched ‘Cops’ a few times in the past. And I stay the hell away from ‘The First 48′. But listening to this guy, you would think that racist TV stereotypes are as informational as an encyclopedia.
Now, let’s be honest. We know there are white people who are purposely racist, but act like they don’t know any better. But sometimes, I think part of the problem is due to their lack of brain power, because you know, thinking is liberal and that’s just wrong and un-American.
Adam Dachis at Life Hacker explains:
Basically, when presented with the option of fact-checking every statement made by a politician or newscaster, our brains just make a snap decision because it’s easier. If the argument seems convincing, our brains like to believe it.
Most racist internet trolls, who laughingly refer to themselves as race realists, are really white supremacist who try to sound intelligent. Many of them use news articles and videos they pilfered from online news websites or from Youtube to cite the savage nature of the negro.
But it works the other way around. Seeing whites -white males in positions of power help give them ego boosts. Fox News is their oracle of information with Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh as their prophets challenging the changing world on behalf of the struggling white race.
Black-on-white crime reports are their fuel for inner white rage. Seeing a fellow white person whom they most likely have never cared about to begin with before the crime viciously harmed or killed by at least one black male ignites a quiet maelstrom protesting the mere existence of the entire black race. And if you see plenty of stories like this, the more they will conclude that black-on-white crime is running amok, and the white race is in deep shit.
If anything, TV is guilty of aiding in confirmation biases. White racists eat stereotypes up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is their steady diet to stay alive and miserable, sad that they are not alone in the world or that the world doesn’t largely look like them. Interracial crimes where the victim is white and the suspect is black heightens the white racist’s paranoia. You know, he(she) is scared to death of historical karma.
Many people argue that those who take TV seriously shouldn’t. The counterargument is that TV shouldn’t partake in racism in the first place and should try to spark a change in the society it supposedly exposes and imitates. We know there are limited portrayals of blacks on television, and we know that most of said images aren’t too pleasing to our self-esteems. Don’t take this as a Bill Cosby moment, but a small part of that is thanks to the brothas and sistas acting the fool for popularity and dollars.
Still, white racists race realists should be old enough and smart enough to know better. They chose not to, because that would actually require some mental pondering and some introspection. Though TV is not entirely to blame for this, it is not exactly an innocent bystander either. The television set a.k.a. the idiot box is a powerful means of information, and that information can be harmful if we are naive enough to ingest it before, after and during commercials.
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