Ben Carson, USA Today Op-Ed, Liberal Media Spin

I was reading an article today that talked about Ben Carson and his Op-Ed piece for USA Today on August 24th, 2015. In this article Carson is actually speaking out about the idiocy of the "Black Lives Matter" movement harassing Bernie Sanders, and how they are useless at addressing real issues that actually affect the lives of Black Americans far more. You can find the article at USA Today. The Article actually states "The "BlackLivesMatter" movement is focused on the wrong targets, to the detriment of blacks who would like to see real change" and even accuses Black Lives Matter of allowing themselves "to the benefit of it's[the movement's] powerful white liberal funders" in order to push "attacks on Sanders for political purposes that mean nothing for the problems that face our community." Carson then goes on to explain what these nutters should be concentrating on bigger issues to help the American Black Community, and gives some examples of what he means.

Now, the reason I bring this up isn't so much about Carson what he said, it's more about the leftist driven media and the narrative they went with. Such as the article written by Kira Lerner & Laurel Raymond of Think Progress. In these articles, with the Think Progress being the worst example of this kind of "reporting" or opinion journalism of the Carson Op-Ed I have seen, they aren't exactly reporting what Carson actually stated. Instead I am seeing a plethora of double speak and straw man, false equivalency fallacies going on. So it will be the primary focus of this posting.

The Think Progress article actually doesn't debunk or even criticize the over all context of Ben Carson's Op-Ed piece which talks about Education, the Entertainment Industry, dilapidated or abandoned buildings used as crack houses, among other things like having to lock your door with three dead bolts not being representative of an actually free society. Instead it takes one small comment about the error of concentrating solely on police brutality and use his comments about the movie Straight outta Compton to mischaracterize Carson as saying "Hollywood, not police, are to blame" when he made no such claims at all.

In the article they start off decently enough by actually using quotes of his in their proper context, at least until the end of the second paragraph where they begin their straw man argument. The article states "Instead of looking to solutions to reform the criminal justice system to eliminate racial disparities in policing — as the Black Lives Matter movement has done — Carson says activists should turn their attention to Hollywood, calling it one of the 'real sources of our hopelessness.'" The sad thing here, is this isn't what Carson was talking about. Carson was rightfully pointing out that instead of harassing a man[Bernie Sanders] campaigning for president with useless attacks that will accomplish nothing, they should turn their attention to other more important issues such as Education, the portrayal of Black Americans in the Entertainment Industry, and other such issues. Not only is this factually wrong, it is blatantly dishonest.

The movie Carson is talking about is a movie about the hip-hop[rap? Never knew the difference to be honest] group N.W.A., of which the original members were Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, the Arabian Prince. The movie is about the rise of what is considered one of the most influential hip-hop artist groups, and not surprisingly has a lot of stuff about police brutality in it. The article by Think progress however, uses the movies examples of police brutality as bonafide examples, instead of sensationalized elements of a movie that is not a documentary but a dramatic telling of their life story. Not only is this intellectually dishonest, but it's really stupid as well.

Carson's criticism of the movie wasn't based on the content of the movie either, it was based on the way the entertainment industry aggrandizes the stereotypes that young black men in America are all a bunch of violent, drug dealing, sexist, criminals. Which is how N.W.A. got famous in the first place. By espousing drug dealing, violence, criminal behavior, the sexist idea that women are little more than "hoes and bitches" as the "authentic" black experience in America. Treating is as though it were the ideal to aspire to and not problems to be fixed. Now, the movie can't be blamed for this, because that's what the N.W.A. hip-hop artists did to become a success. So portraying that in the movie isn't wrong. I also don't think Carson was directly referencing the movie itself as a contributing factor, but the fact that according to the trailers for the movie this perpetuation of blacks as violent criminals is a problem. Because it has become a sort of blue print for what is considered "authentically black" in America.

The funny thing is, you see this stereotypical characterization everywhere, in shows like the Fresh Prince in the 90's, shows like The Wire which had a predominance of blacks cast as thugs, criminals and drug dealers. Love and Hip Hop, a show that uses the drama of abuse and just plain disrespectful behavior of Male, black cast members like Stevie J to keep the show entertaining. Here's a few other: Basketball Wives - A "Reality show" that feed negative stereotypes by portraying black women brash and angry who's conflicts are almost always solved by violence, Real House Wives of Atlanta - a show that portrays women, and especially black women, as angry and violent. And remember, most of these are "reality" shows not sitcoms, so they are presented as "authentic" black people. But Carson is the stupid one for pointing out how the entertainment industry uses negative stereotypes to get rich. That's not even including the music industry with has people like Snoop Dogg, a drug addled alcoholic that sing songs with lyrics like "I got bitches in the living room gettin it on and, they ain't leavin til six in the mornin" and like "I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too So turn off the lights and close the doors But (but what) we don't love them hoes, yeah!" And let's not forget, this man's a "role model" for black youth, right? How about So ghetto by Jay Z? Can we see where Carson is coming from?

Given these portrayal of blacks in America as ghetto, drug dealing, thug life, criminal "gangstas" is there any wonder people have a hard time not believing the stereotypes when the "culture" of the American black community is based around it being "authentically" black? And anyone who seeks to educate themselves, isn't some sex crazed nutter unable to control himself, and who tries to address these issues that is killing the American black community at far, far greater numbers than "racist" cops is called an Uncle Tom, or House Negro. And I, of course, will be seen as racist for pointing these things out as well.

The irony here though is that people like Michelle Obama have even stated that black American are lazy, yet nothing was ever said about her remarks to the Bowie university graduating class when she stated "when it comes to getting an education too many of our young people just can’t be bothered, they’re sitting on couches for hours, playing video games, watching TV, instead of dreaming about being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper" Yet let Ben Carson actually try to address some of the bigger issues that are keeping the American black community in poverty, and he's branded stupid and ignorant and an "Uncle Tom" for doing so, and why? Because he doesn't support Democrats?

I'm going to end this with a question: Given the facts about the black community in America, such statistics as crime rates, incarceration rates, joblessness and poverty levels, among others, what exactly has the Democrat party been doing for blacks in America that has actually helped them out and live better lives than they did before the majority of blacks moved to voting almost exclusively Democrat? Because as far as I can tell, the black community has only had it worse and worse in this country since the mid 1960's, and if Democrats aren't helping at all but maintaining the status quo, why continue to vote for them?

That was two question I know, but no one seems to have been able to answer me these. And every time they try, they point to legislation that didn't help do much but maintain the poverty of blacks in America and had majority Republican support to get it passed. So why don't Republicans get the credit for passing these pieces of legislation as well? I guess someone has to be to blamed, and it's always far easier to look without than it is to look within. And it's far easier for white liberals to pander, than to actually do something that fosters real change. Which is why Think Progress chose to mischaracterize Carson and what he was talking about instead of actually address the issues he was raising. Because keeping American blacks poor, angry, and violent is what Democrats want, makes it easier to manipulate and control people that way.