Why is it so difficult for the mainstream media to mention the word racism?
Reviewing the national headlines and news of the latest massacre – this time in Charleston, S.C., I find no mention of the word. I checked the AP stylebook just to be sure and saw no problem with the word “racism”. So what is this reticence to mention it? With massacres of this type happening almost every five weeks, has it perhaps become a dirty word?
Author/jazz artist Gilad Atzmon has combined with cartoonist Enzo Apicella to produce, as it is entitled, The Definitive Israeli Lexicon: A to Zion. And true to its title, provided are the definition of words from A to Z — from a Jewish-Israeli standpoint.
On March 18, a student in Pine Bush High School near New York City recited the American Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. This was done as part of the school’s Foreign Language Week, which was conducted to celebrate the “many races, cultures and religions that make up [the US and the Pine Bush] School District.”
P. Sainath started building the People’s Archive of Rural India only a couple of years ago. But the passion behind the innovative online project that mixes journalism and oral history, which was launched last month to overwhelming acclaim, goes back more than two decades.
Former Speaker of the House and perennially failed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Sunday that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are the real instigators and root causes of the current racial tension now evident and obvious throughout the US.
Writing and reporting about the Middle East is not an easy task, especially during these years of turmoil and upheaval. Following and reporting on these constant changes without a deep and compassionate understanding of the region will achieve little but predictable and lackluster content that offers nothing original, but recycled old ideas and stereotypes.
From my humble experience in the region, I share these “dos” and “don’ts” as to how the Middle East should be approached in writing and reporting.
Question Terminology
Which #Democracy? There are so many to choose from: Rhetorical Democracy (R.D.), Civic Democracy (C.D.), Economic Democracy (E.D.), Political Democracy (P.D.), Social Democracy (S.D.). Let’s start with rhetorical democracy.
Political language can be used, George Orwell said in 1946, “to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” In order to justify its global assassination program, the Obama administration has had to stretch words beyond their natural breaking points. For instance, any male 14 years or older found dead in a drone strike zone is a “combatant” unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving him innocent.
at-will worker societies definitely not sexy tales for Media Magicians … and the”other fine messes, Ollie, you’ve gotten us into” don’t get copy: tales from a Laurel and Hardy take on the continuing criminal enterprise system that is Capitalism with an Eye to Total Educational Institution Destruction
John Steppling:
Note: I was asked to publish this piece in my School Yard Fights, apropos of the mission in the column — to explore the fight left in those who profess allegiance to education, both as mentor and student. This column has taken twists and turns, and as always, it weaves back to the essence of the oppressed in academia and the PK12 adventure in neutralizing humanity and critical thinking.
