Anyone who has watched an episode of Law and Order, Homicide, Hill Street Blues, or Matlock knows the term “Good Cop/Bad Cop.” It is an investigative technique that works on sort of a tag-team system. One officer is the “bad cop.” The bad cop is overtly against the suspect or witness and is determined to undermine, insult, berate, or otherwise intimidate. And just when the object of this torture is about to reach the boiling point, here comes the “good cop.” His savior: the one offering kindness, a cup of coffee or soda, and a way out. But here is the kicker: they both have the same goal. That’s the game being played by news media outlets, whether they know it or not. The obvious bad guy might be FOX NEWS. They make it real obvious where they stand on the issues that divide society. And just when you’ve had all you can take and change the channel: Enter MSNBC. They present things just right to appeal to our sensibilities−just enough to get the Blacks’ pundits and critics not to criticize them. I’m always amazed how CNN and MSNBC get a pass from Black critics. However, the Black critics don’t hide their feelings about Fox news.
I know over the years Fox News hasn’t hidden their true feelings about the Black community by airing their manipulated negative statistics or negative stories about the Black community. I once heard Fox News’ political commentator Bill O’Reilly say the Black community needs to pick new leaders, in his reference to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. I wanted to jump through the television set and say, “look you dumb ass, who said these men are Black leaders??? I didn’t vote for them. You and your counterparts in the media were the ones who put them on camera all the time calling them Black leaders. Their divisive talk was no different from Rush Limbaugh’s and David Duke’s but I didn’t see the media labeling those two dimwits as White leaders.
Bad cop will say or do anything to get his results, right or wrong. The good cop treats you just as badly but does it more subtly with a smile without demeaning you. However, it’s what MSNBC doesn’t do that is the equivalent of sliding you that pen and paper for your confession. At almost any time you can turn to MSNBC and watch a prison show such as Locked Up. Not an economist’s show. Not a foreign correspondent. Not even a part-time junior weather girl. Instead they show us prison shows. And although only 40% of the prison population is Black, they occupy 90% of the featured prisoner slots.
On the other side of the coin, they don’t consistently do positive stories that feature everyday Black people. They don’t do stories of missing Black kids, and they don’t do stories of Black women being kidnapped. They have spent over a decade of not having any news primetime shows with a Black host. And when they finally give a Black guy a chance to speak to issues that matter, whom do they chose? Al Sharpton − a man who not only doesn’t have a degree in journalism, but who dropped out of college half way through. In fact, Al’s most fantastic accomplishment occurred 53 years ago when he delivered his first sermon at age four.
As for the quality of that sermon…who gives their salvation to a four year old? But it musta been some pretty good bullshit cuz he has been talking trash ever since. He calls himself a civil rights activist, but what he has actually done is divert attention from the real issues and turn civil rights into a road show. Remember Kramer’s (Michael Richardson) n-word tirade? Al stepped into the spotlight and demanded an apology from the actor, and got it. What good did that do? Kramer never apologized to the men his foul mouth attacked. All Al’s involvement did was divert attention from the real issue and prevent the actual victims from being compensated.
In 2007, a Florida woman and her juvenile son were both viciously attacked and sexually assaulted. Al couldn’t let such a golden opportunity pass him by. He swooped in like a super idiot and got directly involved−not coming to the aid of the victims, but questioning the treatment of the SUSPECTS. Let’s see, Mr. Civil Rights Leader…you have a Black victim, and Black criminals, and you choose to champion the cause of criminals and call it civil rights? All he did was make FOX NEWS’ job easier because now you’ve changed civil rights from a shield of the average citizen to the sword of the criminal.
Are you that stupid? Are you in on the destruction of the community? Or are you so desperate for money and attention that you just don’t give a damn anymore? You never hear of a nation campaign against crack dealers, a campaign against gang bangers or Hollywood. Hell, you didn’t criticize negative hip hop until decades after the damage was done.
What Al does is like someone who kidnaps and beats kids, then parades those kids at a fundraiser to help abused children. You accept credit for bringing to light the bad conditions that you helped create. And MSNBC eats it up. It’s a win-win for everybody EXCEPT the Black community. MSNBC appeals to their audience base as open, giving a voice to the Black community through their own prominent leader. I definitely don’t follow the path of greed and stupidity. And Al keeps lining his pockets as he creates a charity case, and profits from its existence. The way I see it, Al has taken blood money from the media. MSNBC’s good cop routine doesn’t fool me. But what does baffle me is how you and Jesse have gotten so much media attention over the years. Can someone explain this to me?
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