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It's a BLACK Thing

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Now comes an irony. Recently, at my mention of President Obama singing "Let's Stay Together," an acquaintance sort of instinctively let out: "I can't stand Obama." This was a stunner because the assumption was that he's thoroughly apolitical. Regardless of the candidate or the issue, this guy never votes.

He was asked if he watches "Fox News" and though he replied in the affirmative, it was later determined that he actually views general programming on a local Fox affiliate (like The Simpsons or American Idol). But he never watches the Fox channel that matters; the spiteful "fair and balanced" network of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and a host of other journalistic frauds. So, as it turns out this guy doesn't even know that he doesn't watch Fox News. Yet he's likely to score higher than someone who watches the Fox News Channel every day.

As this incident seems to illustrate, you don't necessarily have to watch the Fox News Channel to dislike President Obama. However, it sure seems like the place to go if you want to learn to hate him. And that's something that I gather is linked to Fox News Channel's "dumber than a doorknob" viewer demographic which the Farleigh-Dickenson study again uncovered. But it wouldn't be "fair and balanced" to fail to acknowledge that "dumb," isn't exactly how Fox viewers were identified in the study: "least informed" was the description used.

While one can only speculate how hard-core Fox viewers would react to that bit of politically-correct terminology, it's hardly conjecture to presume that at the very least, only the least informed would give credence to the aborted "re-swift boating" if you will, of President Obama. It was to be a multi-million-dollar plan -- underwritten by the owner of the Chicago Cubs -- to resurrect Rev. Wright as a campaign issue. As is generally the case when it comes to anti-Obama agit-prop, racially-motivated or otherwise, this endeavor would rely heavily on the immense network of right-wing conservative media outlets including of course, the place to turn for blatant liberal distortions and distinctive WTF-did-they-say?-style presentations of over-the-top hyperbole -- Fox News.

A Racist Renaissance?

It should be pointed out that Fox News Channel is not the primary focus here. But its influence on social and political discourse in America and abroad is far too significant to be overlooked, particularly when the topic is racism . It's also worth noting that media racism is not a problem struggled with by Fox alone. And while it seems to run rampant among Republican social conservatives, one can safely assume that racial prejudice doesn't discriminate on the basis of political party or philosophy. What is inarguable however is that since the election of this President, both the presence of racism within the GOP and Fox's contributions to racial pot-stirring have grown so overt that denying it would be nothing short of delusional.

But it's said that only a fool leans upon his own misunderstandings and clearly within the ranks of the Obama-haters reside quite a few. As such, there's rarely a shortage of stalwart defenders of an alternate reality. And they come forth prepared to respond to charges of anti-Obama racism in a manner expected of anyone prone to under-thinking and overreacting: by blocking their ears and bellowing out the familiar litany of nauseatingly trite denials. But the challenge to anyone considering joining those ranks is how to explain any of several well-publicized events with racial overtones that involved the President.

Among them:

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Anthony Barnes, of Boston, Massachusetts, is a left-handed leftist. "When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the (more...)
 

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