It seems that every time you tune into current or entertainment news something horrible has happened — from the continued chain of police killings to large scale shootings and attacks abroad. It seems that even the people who report the news have a stake in creating it — as demonstrated by Roger Ailes, the former Fox news chief, who stepped down after facing accusations of sexual assault.
But wait, there’s more… while everyone was concentrating on Melania Trump’s blatant plagiarism at the Republican National Convention, there was much more going on. For instance, a speech made by Steve King,a Republican representative from Iowa, who openly proclaimed on live television that he supported white supremacy.
Hear for yourself: ?This ?old white people? business does get a little tired, Charlie,? King said. ?I?d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you?re talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization??
The phrase “subgroup” particularly stands out, and is reminiscent of the way Nazis refered to Jews of “subhuman”. Also notable is King’s complete avoidance of the fact that he is talking exclusively about Western culture, from which non-white were completely excluded and oppressed by — not to mention that the “civilization” he refers to has provided the basis for colonialism, slavery, and the contemporary systemic racism which is at the fore of current news.
King was speaking at an appearance with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Later, in a follow-up interview with The Washington Post, King said ?The idea of multiculturalism, that every culture is equal ? that?s not objectively true.?
Unsurprisingly, this blatant display of white supremacy has been thoroughly covered by liberal media sources, urban news, and black news websites. But unfortunately, it has not been an isolated incident, which is a very scary fact for the 45 million African Americans who have to hear it. There has been a particularly large volume of hateful speeches and dialogue, which we can probably expect more of as the election season heats up.
Entertainment news sources can unfortunately have a large impact on public opinion, or so 45% of adults believe, and it grows harder and harder to distinguish between celeb news, which rakes in $3 billion a year, and political news sites.