The senseless death of another unarmed black man has inspired protests throughout the country over the past week. His murder, and the circumstances in which it occurred, reignited the #blacklivesmatter movement like nothing that came before it. The “George Floyd Riot coverage” however has been as bad as the cops who sat by and watched it all unfold.
With the Covid Pandemic headed into its third month, unemployment hitting depression era levels, wealth inequality at record highs and another filmed murder of an unarmed black man, it appears the masses are pissed and have had enough. Rightly so. And I did not even mention Trump.
As the majority of us play it safe from the comfort of our quarantined homes, we find ourselves drawn to the 24/7 news coverage. The protests, the rioting, the looting, the fires, the footage of George Floyd getting killed over and over again.
If you tuned in to any of this nonsense, you’ve likely been subliminally convinced that the death of one man has caused the United States to explode. When you click on one of these channels, what do you see? It amounts to nothing more than murder porn, riot porn and porno for pyros.
You also get the play by play of everything happening at that moment as if the viewers cannot see the screen. Once in awhile, if you are really lucky, you’ll get some color commentary on how these 2020 riots compare to the riots of the 1990s or 1960s.
What you do not get is context. At all. Why are they protesting, why are they rioting, why are they looting? Why are so many people so angry over four cops’ disregard for a black man’s life? Journalists these days have completely forgotten the fifth W. Why?
One event, horrendous as it was, was the catalyst for what came next, but it is not responsible for all that followed. For example, people are not looting stores because a black guy got killed by a racist cop. They are looting because the system failed them and left them with little to nothing. Decades of inequality and racism combined with a non-existent government response to a pandemic and you get angry, desperate people.
Yes, there is an organized crime element to the looting, but the media does not talk about that either. They just show the steady parade of black people running in and out of various businesses. Leaving only when the trunks of the getaway cars are full. To the viewers however, all they see is the random carnival of criminals acquiring free goods for their own gain.
Never in a million years does the media acknowledge what white people have looted over the past few hundred years. When you acquire free labor for your own gain, is it still called looting? Perhaps you can, but it’s something much worse.
Even the basic protests themselves lack context on these MSM networks. When a journalist asks a protester; “so this is all over one guy, one cop?” It’s impossible not to yell at your television screen. How can you cover a protest, rooted in police brutality toward black people, and not mention the history and context that goes with it?
You can start with the fact that despite representing only 13% of the population, unarmed black men are killed five time more often then unarmed white men. How about mentioning some of their names, particularly the ones caught on camera? Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, on and on and on. We covered just a small percentage, that is how often this happens.
As for the violence, well, the “George Floyd riot coverage” has been openly hostile toward it, again with no context. It’s just the institutional press protecting their sponsors. Not unlike how they protect the politicians who spend all that advertising money. That is why you hear the words “riot,” “rioters,” “criminals,” “thugs” all day long. My question is why don’t they ever use the term rebellion?
That is really what it is. A rebellion against a system that has failed them. A rebellion against the justice system primarily, but it’s also against a racist president and his policies, among other things. There is a lot to be rebelling against these days. The media needs to stop equating these demonstrations with that of an actual riot when sports or music fans get screwed somehow (or succeed for that matter).
These major issues in the United States will never change so long as the language and lack of context stays out of the national conversation. Sooner or later, the streets will calm down and everything will return to the way things were. The media likes to refer to it as “normal.” Nothing will have changed because “normal” is only good for those broadcasting and those who fund them. Rich white people…
