post of the day

[coppqueen5129]

I am writing my letters in the morning. I am not blind and I am not MUTE, goddammit! I will call you out, media bastards!

Black People Loot and White People Survive

Comments

[saffirebleu.livejournal.com]

Maybe my eyes are failing me, but it appears to me that one of the people in the first photo is white. It also looks to me like two of the people wading in the chest deep water are black.

But it seems everyone else disagrees with me.

[(Anonymous)]

yes, the person looking in the bag IS white. and they are NOT identified as "looting."

[saffirebleu.livejournal.com]

I see what you are saying. I hadn't read the comments by the pictures when I first commented. But obviously, the person looking through the shopping stole the items.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

i agree, she did! and i don't think there's anything wrong with that. all of the video coverage I've seen is of people stealing things they need - diapers, food, batteries. which is why i am upset that black people are being called "looters" for taking things that they NEED. this only seems to be acknowledged when white people take what they need.

it's just one more example of the countless examples of media bias around race that i have encountered. this in itself is not a big thing, but it's just ANOTHER one.

don't know how else to explain it.

[saffirebleu.livejournal.com]

I understand what you are saying. I hadn't read the comments by the photos when I first replied. When I went back and read the comments, it was clear that there was media bias.

[princessdisdain.livejournal.com]

Maybe we should start our own documentary on white looters...
(We will have to do it in 6 months since I have to lose a few pounds)

We will first start with one of biggest example of whites looting: The slave trade. They were looting...

Then after that, we can start talking about another act of white people looting: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo..That is a hell of a loot there...

Hmm, now that I think about it, we may need more than an hour. Maybe make it a mini series: White Rappers, White women wearing bindis, colonies, conquistadores, Bush, Lewis and Clark, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

LOL ... you are too much! I love it ....

[blindness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's obvious that the news coverage is very skewed.

Frankly, the fact that people need to resort to stealing supplies to survive is an huge embarrassment to the US. From the news coverage, it really looks like a third world situation. Shameful.

I think Chevaz is making a good point when he offered American hospitals cheaper gas prices, because the American government seems to be more interested in everything except it's citizens.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

i really wonder how it's being covered overseas. it's pretty horrible. for the united states - this is very, very bad. we are so not accustomed to this kind of situation on such a large scale. i am glad to be safe (*crossing fingers*) in oregon. we are still waiting for our "big one" from the earthquake goddess.

any day now, apparently.

i am so very glad not to have to commute to work by car - and not to have very far to go. i can probably make it through october on the half a tank of gas left in the car (because i won't be here most of the most, haha).

[blindness.livejournal.com]

As always, US news gets very negative coverage here. Europeans love to consider themselves as superior in every possible way, which I think is pretty pathetic. They ignore their own inadequacies; social, cultural, economical,etc, in favor of focusing on American as the evil stupid empire. It's crazy here. Talk about racism, man. In Tuebingen and Vienna, there is little talk of how to deal with racism because there are no (okay, very few) black people living there.

I'm thinking of a photo project where I will capture the not very well publicized poverty and mental illness that pervades Vienna. I think people would be shocked. Granted, it's nothing compared to some American cities, but still, fair coverage!

[(Anonymous)]

You know, I've always felt a little uncomfortable with the way many liberal Americans will be very quick to say that Europeans are better and Americans are stupid, lazy, wasteful, etc. And while I want to live overseas someday it's not because I dislike America at all - I just want to learn other languages, challenge myself by living outside of my comfort zone, and be closer to other cultures. And although there are some things here that I definitely do not like (e.g. public education system), I think the problems we have here in the States are merely on a grander scale as a matter of course - we are a large country spread across a broad area.

But all an American needs to do is read the foreign papers to see in-house political bickering. Assassination attempts. Open ones eyes and see the slums in France, Spain and Italy. The rampant prostitution. It's not all cobblestone streets, vine covered bicycles and good bread . And parts of Andalucia have 25% unemployment rates. And bombings. And just because people don't talk about their problems publicly doesn't mean they don't have any. Some things are better and some things are worse and some things are just different.

I've come to the conclusion that life is pretty much life wherever you go. What matters most is the willingness you have to be engaged. True, one may be more suited for one place over others, but there is no heaven on earth.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

oops - that's me - forgot to log in (again).

[blindness.livejournal.com]

I think that some people like to look at Europe as a model, when in fact they have never actually been there, or have bothered to keep up with current events there. I went to Germany because I wanted to see what Europe was like, especially after having known Europeans in America say how much better Europe is. I needed to see it for myself! I can see a lot of good and bad things, and I suppose my European friends were probably homesick. That irritating quality that travelers sometimes have to put down their host country is ubiquitous. Sometimes I do the same thing. I think that if I were back in the States, I wouldn't have such and such a problem. I don't think one can fully understand this feeling uneless one has lived in a foreign country for at least a a couple of years, and not just for a few months during an exchange program.

Most people think what they see in the news is what it's all about. That is irritating, but I just bite my tongue because this is just the nature of the masses.

America is under such a microscope; pretty much anything that happens is broadcast all over the world.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

ahh, i like the idea of seeing it for yourself. reminds me of the lines from whitman's song of myself:

You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

[blindness.livejournal.com]

To listen and to filter from your self is so much work! But it is the work that is so important, not the result. At least this is what i try to remind myself of. That is a wonderful quote. Thank you <3

[djeannot.livejournal.com]

Give 'em hell girl. I am sick of the skewed coverage too. I've only found some decent coverage on radio so far--Pacifica Radio, helping put things in perspective---and not so focused on the loss of "property" as opposed to what the poor people (mostly black people) who could not leave the area.

[reveurnomade.livejournal.com]

This made me so angry, I actually commented in the OP!

So, my goal this week is to find out for you how Europe and Morocco are covering this (I don't know if Morocco will, but I buy Euro Newsweek and Time every week, and I'm SURE they'll cover it).

Such fucking bullshit. Kind of like EVERYTHING IN THE US MEDIA.

Inconsistent

[(Anonymous)]

Those stories aren't from the same source. Half are from the AP, and the other half, from the AFP. From the short blurbs and single images, much cannot be inferred. There is far too little context to draw a solid conclusion. Perhaps if there were 10, or 20 or 100, examples, then a pattern could be drawn -- but two examples from two different sources does not a conspiracy make.

Re: Inconsistent

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

ignorance and bias don't need a conspiracy to be perpetuated.