“Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as racists."

…Thomas Sowell…

Morgan Freeman says it best

What is happening to our country? It is rapidly going down in flames and there are people that don’t seem to care. Or at the very least, don’t see it. The saying “You can’t see the forest for the trees” probably sums this up best. It’s right in front of you and yet some cannot see the problem. Right now, in 2023 race relations are at an all-time low it seems. And it shouldn’t be. But is it really that bad? Do you REALLY feel that way or is that the ONLY thing that you see on television? On (So called) news feeds. I call them “So called news” because “News” as I once knew it doesn’t exist anymore. It truly does not. It’s all about whatever agenda that the station, organization or individual wants to promote. It’s opinion. It’s biased. It is not just the news anymore. It’s “So called news”. And in so many cases, it’s “Fake news”. And this goes on for both sides of the political aisle. Fake news is widespread. All organizations use it now. They stretch the truth of a story to fit their narrative and then if it turns out that their source of information was inaccurate. Then they might retract the story in a 3 second byte at the end of their segment several days or weeks later where no one sees it. Or if it’s a paper, then the retraction is on page 56 in two sentences in a section that nobody reads. That way they can claim that they reported the error. But the original story was seen by multitudes of people and only a few saw it withdrawn. So, their task was completed. It used to be that news was just the news. At one time, there were just 3 stations that reported via a newscast. They would come on at night and read the news. That’s it, just read it. No opinion, no leaning one way or the other. Just report it. You could draw your own thoughts, feelings, judgments any way you wanted to.  But the story was the story. In today’s world now, the story is only a small part of what is talked about. The narrative of whoever is talking about it puts in their own spin or twist to make the story come out the way that they want you to view it. I sure miss being able to just watch the news.

   Certain companies or even individuals only show you what they want to promote. They will show only one part of a video clip or only one part of someone talking but only show the part that fits what they want you to take from the “So called news” piece. Here is an example of that very thing on a popular TV show. I watched a season of “The Bachelor” one year. (For the record I’m not proud of that but it makes my point). During the whole season, you either pulled for or against any one or several of the contestants. You cheered or ridiculed the women on the show. And then when the rose ceremony came, you were shocked by ones that got the rose or shocked that certain ones did not get a rose. Then talked about it at length at work or to your friends and certainly discussed it on social media. Which is exactly what THEY wanted you to do. So, when the last rose was given out through a FINAL episode, you were probably shocked about the person chosen. But you were watching EXACTLY what they wanted you to see. They edited the episode so that you only watch what they want to show. I saw some outtakes of that very season and was shocked to learn that in almost all of the scenes that you watched were scenes that they shot several times. They faked outrage, happiness or surprise until it was played out the way that they wanted you to see it. None of it was real. It was all done for ratings. Most of what happened was cut and not shown so they could give you the content that they wanted to show. It’s their prerogative, of course but it’s being promoted as Reality TV. And doubling down on the record again, I want to be absolutely clear that I only watched it with my wife at the time to be supportive. Just sayin…

   The same thing is happening now on social media and “So called News” organizations. They are peddling what THEY want you to see. They are touting their agenda. I’m sure you have heard the phrase “Click Bait” before. “Click Bait” is what the headline says that makes you want to click on the story because on social media, you get paid for how many clicks you get. So, the headline needs to be enticing enough so that you click on it to read. And many times, the headline has nothing to do with the story or they only tell one side of a story to push their agenda. The number of clicks is how journalists (And I use that term very loosely) get paid. The more clicks that an article or story receives, the more money they can make. And that makes sense from a business perspective. If more people are reading your story, then you should reap the benefits of that. So here is an example of Click bait:

Headline: “African American waitress horrified when racist customer throws food at her”

   Sounds like a story you want to read, right? You are already horrified at what the customer did without reading a single word of the article. What a racist piece of s*** you may say as you start perusing the headline. Your opinion that race is alive and well everywhere is validated by the press in the headline. But as you read the actual story, you find out that is not at all what happened. It is nowhere near what was stated in the headline. A waitress never experienced anything close to what you thought you would read about. But you read it anyway and either dismissed the story as false and moved on or you didn’t read it at all and instead just repeated the headline. You may even be talking to a friend or family member and mention “Hey did you hear about that racist customer that threw food at that black waitress”? Either way, their objective was achieved. Division was perpetrated in people’s minds and the headline enticed people to click on it. Mission accomplished. Some “So called news” organizations actually print out two separate headlines for the same article. They target certain groups that they think will induce interest. Same article, two separate headlines. This way, they have played both sides of the argument so to speak. They are creating division and are sitting back laughing at us.

   Race. Is race an issue in this country? Yes, to some degree. But is it at the level that the “So called news” industry says it is? NO. I repeat, no it is not. Then why do “So called news” organizations keep polluting stories, headlines and full-blown discussions that go on for days about it? It’s because they truly like the division. Click Bait. Headlines. The more that our country is divided, the more that “So called news” organizations make money and report it and their agenda is then advanced. It is in their best interest that we are at odds with each other. That way, whatever side you are on, you’re either disgusted with the story as it is written or repulsed that the other half doesn’t agree with you on the story. Either way they win, but as a country we lose. There are so many terrible stories that you hear about daily. But why is everything about race? Why can’t it just be about a bad person doing something wrong to someone else? Because it’s not as exciting. Not as sensational. Not as dramatic. When the word “racist” is thrown into everything, it cheapens the meaning of the word. So, when you hear it over and over again on just about EVERY story that is conveyed it’s convoluted. Then when something racist actually happens, it’s just another racist story. It is just added to the excrement pile of everything else. I have watched “So called news” stations before and they will bring in panels of experts (Allegedly) and talk about what someone said. The way that they said it. Or even if they didn’t say it, that is what they really meant. They are talking in racist code they will say. Or they will mention that the person is talking in “dog whistle” which is a secret way of communicating to your bigoted super-secret base by talking normal. Race is always in the headlines. But remember, they control the headlines. So once again, they are force feeding you how bad race relations are in this country. They are literally ramming race down our proverbial throats on a daily if not hourly basis. And the race-baiters are extremely good at this. Race baiters are people that incite racial hatred and usually for a political purpose. They fan the flames. But essentially, they are the ones that start the fires about racial indifference…………Did you know that Covid-19 is racial? Who knew? Did you know that supporting law enforcement or the military is racial? Surprised? Did you know that math is considered racist? Some college professors say so. If you didn’t know that these were considered racist, then you are not WOKE. You need to get with the program and understand that you are part of the problem. This type of rhetoric is absolutely nuts to me. But this is what the “So called news” and people on social media are spewing. I repeat the question again. Are race relations really that bad? I still say no.

   Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit and many more, are all platforms that we use to communicate. But these forms of communicating seem to be the enemy too often in my opinion. How many times have you seen a picture with a caption describing what someone was doing or what they felt in a certain situation? They might be just expressing what they want to share with their friends, family or whoever. Should be harmless right?  But if you read the comments that follow, you will see that some are complimenting the picture or the story. Nice. But most are actually negative comments about their looks, their weight, what they are wearing, how stupid it is what they are doing or how senseless it was that they posted this. Just an array of negativity. And it’s rampant everywhere. And on top of that, you can even “Like” someone’s negative comment reinforcing how terrible it was for that person to post something so horrible in the first place. We would be better off if there were no comments at all. Imagine going into an art gallery and seeing a painting with nothing but negative comments saying how ugly it was or how bad the artist is. Or what type of drugs they were on when they painted it. There would be comments like “How elementary that his brush strokes and colors didn’t reflect the character of the artist during the impressionist period”. And then that comment would receive tons of likes and agreement on how bad it really was. It’s probably a good thing that Monet, Van Gogh, DaVinci, Rembrandt have already passed, or they would be reaping the benefits or lack thereof in Social Media. They would probably be considered racist in some way for their paintings. But when you go to an art gallery, you just see the painting. That’s it. Just the painting. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant because your opinion is not plastered as disgusting under the painting. It’s just the painting. Wouldn’t it be nice if that’s how Social Media operated?

 hy·poc·ri·sy

noun

1. the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

   Hypocrisy. Double standard. Both are basically the same. And sadly, most everyone is not immune to it in some way or another. We all at some point in time are guilty of same said noun. But “So called news” and all politicians take it to a whole new level. It’s prolific. The highest-level player in Fortnight would be astounded at which level they can take it. There are countless times that BOTH sides politically and “So called news” do this…………Did you know that Democrats thought that impeachment of a President was bad for the country when it was against Clinton but great when it was for Trump? Did you know that Republicans thought that impeachment was great for the country when it was Clinton but bad when it was for Trump? Did you know that you are endangering and killing people if you go to church even if you practice social distancing, but you are not endangering or killing people if you go to a liquor store? Did you know that if you had a loved one pass away recently, you couldn’t even have a funeral with more than 10 people there to honor them because you would be jeopardizing their health by passing on Covid-19 to others? But you can attend a nationally televised funeral by the thousands if it fits your narrative. Did you  know that you can even be arrested if you open your business before a politician tells you that you can because you could be killing people? But the same politician can go to a “So called protest” and walk amongst hundreds of people on top of each other because when they do it, it’s for the right cause and I guess people won’t be killed in that case. It’s amazing to me that the Virus knows the difference. Covid-19 is pretty impressive to be able to separate the two.

    The moral of all this is simple. Do we have a race issue in this country? Yes, but once again it’s on a miniscule scale. There are too many times that you read an article or see a video and don’t think much about it, only to find out later that it was racist because that’s what you were told and that’s what became the news. In these days, my advice would be to research everything you see, read or hear about. No longer should you take the word of “So called news”, politicians or what you see on Social Media at face value. Challenge their narrative. Challenge their premise. All of what you see, hear and read is only a minor part of reality. But above all else and hopefully your takeaway from this piece would be to Trust God. Put God first in whatever you do and put it in His hands instead of “So called news” and Social media… Even if you are not a believer, it’s still a good practice…