Part of why racism won't go away

[radcen]

I think we need to do what the French do which is stop classifying people according to race/ethnicity. That starts with the government.

Yet they still have race/ethnicity problems.

 

[Lutherf]

"After arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, witnesses on the flight told reporters the banned passengers were being disruptive."

* Report of "reporters" following investigation by said reporters


"Spirit Airlines has not responded to CBSLA’s request for comment."

* Report of Spirit Airlines declining to give a statement.



What exactly is the problem that makes this a basis for a "lame" claim to balance? The airline didn't want to talk, and those passengers that did want to talk said the passengers were just being jerks. If someone were to read this article and conclude it was proof positive of actual racism, that someone would be a moron. But it also wouldn't be the article's fault that they did it.

This is exactly the kind of brief article that covers the bases but doesn't go further that one ought to expect from a local media outlet.

If the passengers were kicked off the plane for being unruly it wouldn't even be a story. The ONLY reason this hit the presses is because there was a claim of racism....an unsubstantiated claim...a claim that even you admit was refuted by other passengers.

The ONLY reason they went with the story was to push an agenda.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

Bump....anything?

Part of why racism won't go away....(is)......The media is promoting it. Period.

So, it is a "copycat" phenom, people read about racism....and then do it.

Any sort of research available to support this POV?

 

[Mr Person]

If the passengers were kicked off the plane for being unruly it wouldn't even be a story. The ONLY reason this hit the presses is because there was a claim of racism....an unsubstantiated claim...a claim that even you admit was refuted by other passengers.

The ONLY reason they went with the story was to push an agenda.

Anyone who reads the article knows the claim was unsubstantiated. Anyone who reads the article knows that the author cited only those passengers who refuted the claim of racism. Are they not supposed to ever report on claims of racism because someone leap to the conclusion that the claim was legitimate without having read the article?

I think you're reading things into the article that aren't there.

 

[Lutherf]

Bump....anything?
So, it is a "copycat" phenom, people read about racism....and then do it.

Any sort of research available to support this POV?

I don't even understand what you're asking. Where are you getting "copycat"?

It's pretty straight forward. The "news" story posited racism as being a motivating factor in the incident yet no evidence for that was presented other than "the people were black". Hell, as others have pointed out, the article cites other passengers saying they were disruptive. There is no reason this should have ever been a story unless the goal of the reporter, editor, management in general, whoever had the express intent to foment racial hatred.

 

[Lutherf]

Anyone who reads the article knows the claim was unsubstantiated. Anyone who reads the article knows that the author cited only those passengers who refuted the claim of racism. Are they not supposed to ever report on claims of racism because someone leap to the conclusion that the claim was legitimate without having read the article?

I think you're reading things into the article that aren't there.

If it was an unsubstantiated claim of racism then the way to present the item is something along the lines of "Passengers got kicked off the plane. People on scene claim it was due to the passengers being disruptive. The passengers claim it was a case of racism." End of story until something else comes out validating one version or the other.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

I don't even understand what you're asking. Where are you getting "copycat"?

You don't understand? Do I need to write slower? When the premise of your post is....and I will quote you AGAIN:

"Part of why racism won't go away....(is)......The media is promoting it. Period."

You have posted a declarative, that racism in the US is caused by the media, that the media is "promoting" (furthering the cause of) racism. The mechanism you have described is that the media distributes stories of racism, people read it....and the racism spreads. If you don't know what you wrote, perhpas you should re-read your own posts, including the title. So again I ask, where did you read that this "promotion" of racism is happening, what studies cite this copycatting phenom that YOU have described?

 

[Lutherf]

You don't understand? Do I need to write slower? When the premise of your post is....and I will quote you AGAIN:

"Part of why racism won't go away....(is)......The media is promoting it. Period."

You have posted a declarative, that racism in the US is caused by the media, that the media is "promoting" (furthering the cause of) racism. The mechanism you have described is that the media distributes stories of racism, people read it....and the racism spreads. If you don't know what you wrote, perhpas you should re-read your own posts, including the title. So again I ask, where did you read that this "promotion" of racism is happening, what studies cite this copycatting phenom that YOU have described?

Once again, you leave out the "in part" part.

If you don't believe that sensationalizing claims of racism is a form of promotion then there's not much I can do about that.

 

[Mr Person]

If it was an unsubstantiated claim of racism then the way to present the item is something along the lines of "Passengers got kicked off the plane. People on scene claim it was due to the passengers being disruptive. The passengers claim it was a case of racism."

My point is...that that is precisely what they did, just not quite in that order.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

Once again, you leave out the "in part" part.

If you don't believe that sensationalizing claims of racism is a form of promotion then there's not much I can do about that.

This is not about what I believe, this is about what you believe, so again, I will ask you to provide any sort of unbiased analysis showing that "media" is furthering the cause of racism in the US.

 

[faithful_servant]

Predominantly white people should pretend that racism isn't a problem, and predominantly black people should just bow their heads and accept the status-quo.

Now THAT'S racism....

 

[Lutherf]

My point is...that that is precisely what they did, just not quite in that order.

Not in that order at all. The fact that the airline staff version was substantiated didn't come until the very end of the article...after the unsubstantiated claims...after the video....after the average reader stops reading.

 

[Gardener]

The media is promoting it. Period.

Why is this story even in the news? - 6 Passengers Kicked Off Plane At LAX Accused Of Being Unruly Claim Discrimination « CBS Los Angeles

You've got one side of the story and nothing else. The cops POV isn't presented, the airline's POV isn't presented and no other passengers have weighed in but a major market "news" outlet decided to push the story anyway. Why would they do that? Where is the journalistic integrity?

I'll tell you why any semblance of journalistic integrity is missing...it's because the "news" outlets are now in the business of fomenting outrage. Outrage sells, bottom line. If these so called journalists can put a story out that starts a Twitter and Facebook frenzy then more people click their page and their advertising opportunities become more attractive.

It's pretty ****ing sad.

The "Behavior doesn't matter" folks are having a field day.

 

[faithful_servant]

What is a "predominantly" white/black person? Someone who has 3 of 4 grandparents of the same race?

It's how racists see the world. They see only the skin, not the person...

 

[Gimmesometruth]

Not in that order at all. The fact that the airline staff version was substantiated didn't come until the very end of the article...after the unsubstantiated claims...after the video....after the average reader stops reading.

Wow.....so now...is it "the media" who is at fault for the "average"reader not finishing the report? FFS. Where are you gaining all this information about how much "average " readers read?

 

[Lutherf]

This is not about what I believe, this is about what you believe, so again, I will ask you to provide any sort of unbiased analysis showing that "media" is furthering the cause of racism in the US.

A Yale professor says media influences racial perceptions - Mass Media and Racism

This Canadian article goes in depth on the subject - Racism and the Media | Stop Racism and Hate Collective

The Daily Independent thinks media influences perceptions of race - Media coverage of ethnic minority Britons 'promotes racism' | TV & Radio | News | The Independent

These folks believe that even stuff like sports teams called "Redskins" promote racism - National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media (NCARSM)

Like I said, if you don't believe that media influences people's outlook on race that's your opinion and I'm not about to try and change it.

So, since you seem to be going down that path I'll just ask now, do you think that positive presentations of race in the media help mitigate negative opinions on race and if so why do you think it wouldn't or doesn't work the other way too?

 

[celticwar17]

Predominantly white people should pretend that racism isn't a problem, and predominantly black people should just bow their heads and accept the status-quo.

This just shows your ignorance on peoples views entirely...

racism exists and it is a problem...Very very very few deny it...

Black people should not bow their heads...

It's a typical liberal philosophy of treating the symptoms but not the problem.
The only difference is is opinions on HOW to combat racism... I honestly believe people like you have got it all wrong on how to stop racism, I think it was the right way to go in the 70s and maybe even 80s... but the nation has grown, it needs to go to the next step, new plan of attack... and that is just erasing the racial social construct all together, because now it's dividing more than it is uniting.

 

[soot]

This is not about what I believe, this is about what you believe, so again, I will ask you to provide any sort of unbiased analysis showing that "media" is furthering the cause of racism in the US.

Books have been written about it.

College courses are taught on the topic.

Academic studies have been done.

The thing is, though, that for the largest part of American history while that research was being done it was done from the perspective of how media reporting on African American's involvement in gangs, crime, the drug trade, violence, and etc... foster and reinforce negative stereotypes of African Americans within the white majority.

The gist of these studies has been that if you're a middle-class white man living in white suburbia with little or no exposure to African Americans in your everyday life, and every day you're fed news media discussing the latest African American gang violence, drug crime, incarceration rates, rates of fatherless children being brought up in a single parent home, and all that, you can't really help but form a negative opinion of African Americans.

I don't know how well the authors of those books and studies proved their hypothesis, but if, again, college classes are being taught on the topic, I suspect that they're at least somewhat credible.

To the point of this discussion, I don't know if any studies have actually been done in relation to the converse of this previous research and related to how constant accusations of racism in the media lead people to believe that there's more racism in America than there actually is.

But it would stand to reason that if constant reporting on African American crime rates leads to a perception that African Americans are involved in more crime than they actually are then constant reporting on racism would lead to the perception that there's more racism than there actually is.

And when white folks think that every black kid is a criminal they'll be more inclined to be on the look out for black kids committing crime and perceive crime or the likelihood of crime where none actually exists (crossing to the other side of the street when approaching a group of black men on the sidewalk, locking the car doors when pulling up to ma red light and seeing a black man standing in the cross walk, following around a black kid wearing a hoody on a dark night because you suspect that the kid must be up to no good).

It would make sense to me that if African Americans are being fed a constant stream of "racism, Racism, RACISM!!!" they would be more inclined to see racism where none actually exists.

Like, maybe, when an airline made a simple, and fairly common, mistake of overbooking your flight and you're asked to disembark the plane you might be inclined to believe that it's because of racism rather than due to the simple fact that airlines overbook flights all the freakin' time. And maybe you'd stand up and get all mouthy with the flight attendant and accuse him or her of racism, and maybe a bunch of other black folks seated in the vicinity would go all social justice warrior and start causing a scene and acting out and jumping on the racism bandwagon. And when they, too, were asked to disembark the plane because their unruly behavior was considered a safety violation they'd actually, mistakenly, see it as racism.

 

[Amadeus]

What is a "predominantly" white/black person? Someone who has 3 of 4 grandparents of the same race?

You missed my point. Perhaps I did a poor job of communicating it.

 

[radcen]

You missed my point. Perhaps I did a poor job of communicating it.

I got your point, but yeah, you did do a poor job of communicating it.

 

[Gardener]

Wow.....so now...is it "the media" who is at fault for the "average"reader not finishing the report? FFS. Where are you gaining all this information about how much "average " readers read?

Well, I suppose if one was a below average reader they might fail to note how obvious it is that the media sensationalizes any negative interaction between black people and a white authority figure where the belligerent attitude of the black person is ignored and the reaction by the white person is highlighted.

....and then there are those with an agenda.......

 

[Jack Fabulous]

Racism would "go away" if the media refused to report on things individuals suspect might involve racism?


Something "going away" and you not hearing about it because nobody mentions it are two different things.

Maybe it should be properly vetted before it gets "mentioned"? That way we could have actual discourse instead of mind numbingly stupid poo flinging contests which end with one side sulking away after they realize that they've been duped.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

A Yale professor says media influences racial perceptions - Mass Media and Racism

This Canadian article goes in depth on the subject - Racism and the Media | Stop Racism and Hate CollectiveThe Daily Independent thinks media influences perceptions of race - Media coverage of ethnic minority Britons 'promotes racism' | TV & Radio | News | The Independent[/url

These folks believe that even stuff like sports teams called "Redskins" promote racism - [url=http://www.coalitionagainstracism.org/#!blank/c16up]National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media (NCARSM)

This so incredibly stupid, either you don't know what you are arguing or don't understand the article you linked to (I suspect you just read the titles without reading the contents). First off, your complaint about the article in the OP is that their are UNFOUNDED accusations of racism by those passengers who were forced off the plane.....whereas.....wait for it.....these article are describing the NEGATIVE VIEW the media has perpetuated AGAINST Blacks.......the complete OPPOSITE of what you are arguing! You are not saying the OP is biased AGAINST the Blacks involved, you are complaining that the news report is taking the side of the Blacks.

This is so pathetic.

Like I said, if you don't believe that media influences people's outlook on race that's your opinion and I'm not about to try and change it.

The problem is that you have not supported your claim that the media has been "sensationalizing" claims of racism, instead you brought forward studies showing how Blacks are shown in a bad light.

So, since you seem to be going down that path I'll just ask now, do you think that positive presentations of race in the media help mitigate negative opinions on race and if so why do you think it wouldn't or doesn't work the other way too?

The simple fact is that racism begins at home, you are taught at an early age to hate, what you choose to read later in life more often reinforces views already held.

But again, you are not complaining that the OP is biased against Blacks, you are upset because you perceive the article as being too much in favor of the Blacks.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

Well, I suppose if one was a below average reader they might fail to note how obvious it is that the media sensationalizes any negative interaction between black people and a white authority figure where the belligerent attitude of the black person is ignored and the reaction by the white person is highlighted.

....and then there are those with an agenda.......

Yes yes....we have a long history in the US of overplaying the levels of racism that really exist.

But then that in no manner addresses the point I made....but then I didn't believe you could.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

Books have been written about it.

You have completely missed the point, the OP is not complaining that the Blacks in the article were getting the short end of the stick, he is complaining that their story is overplayed, that there is a long history of the media in the US sensationalizing racism, overplaying it, promoting this over-sensitivity.

then constant reporting on racism would lead to the perception that there's more racism than there actually is.

I'll ask you the same thing, show this is the case. Don't speculate, prove it.