Media biases

Okay, so by now we've all heard the comments that Kanye West made last weekend, and while it may have not been the best venue, I'm glad that someone addressed the media bias with respect to looting.

Furthermore, to all the jackasses saying "I don't see any white people looting," you need to look at the demographics of the people who did not or could not evacuate New Orleans. It is well documented that the majority were black. Anybody of any race put in the position of those in New Orleans would look wherever they could for water and food. Also, in any large group of people, there are always going to be jerkasses who will take advantage of a situation to steal tvs and clothes. So, given the fact that the majority of people left in New Orleans were black, it stands to reason that there will be more footage of blacks looting.

After reviewing that last paragrah, I realize that I need to clarify some terminology. These days, 'African-American' is the PC term for people of African descent. I have some issues with this label. First, the Sammy Sosa's children argument. Sure, Sammy's ethnically African, but he's from the Dominican Republic where they speak Spanish and have a culture considerably different from his African ancestors. I suspect his children would feel more comfortable putting down Hispanic on their SATs. I'm probably more sensitive to this distinction than others, because I'm in a similar situation. I'm ethnically Indian, but my parents were born in South America and raised in a Caribbean culture. I don't necessarily want to be lumped together with Indians just because my skin happens to be brown. Another 'broken' case is Dave Matthews who is from South Africa. Technically, he is African-American! Until enough mixing occurs such that asking someone's ethnicity is meaningless, I, personally, don't have any problems with using black, white, brown, etc. as labels.

A few weeks ago, shortly after Peter Jennings death, ABC ran a documentary on his life and career. About halfway through the program, the subject of Jennings' alleged pro-Palestinian bias came up. Prior to watching this segment, I was not aware that some individuals viewed Jennings as having such a bias. It has always seemed to me that most news outlets and politicians in ths country have a pro-Israeli bias, and it always seemed that I was more sympathetic to the Palestinans' plight than the average American. I was not sure where this came from until I saw the documentary. From pre-school until around sixth grade, I watched ABC news every night with my parents. I think I absorbed Peter Jennings viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whether it be biased or just more objective than other journalists.