CNN Loves Lou Dobbs’ Leprous Lies More Than It Values Latino Lives
Let’s visit CNN, where talking about the “diverse experiences and challenging issues facing Latinos” today is about everything Latino except the very most pressing issues, such as the climate of hate that is giving white supremacists a wink and a nod as they bring violence upon us.
IT’S FUNNY. In the middle of June of this year—when Brisenia and Raul Flores were murdered by Shawna Forde and Eugene Bush and nobody was covering it—CNN got a lil bold, via Rick Sanchez, who can be cool on the situation when he wants to be. And by bold, I mean that someone repping his show got in touch with me and asked if I’d agree to being on a shortlist of people to speak/give opinion etc on immigration related matters, or at least this incident specifically. The cat from CNN repping Rick Sanchez’ slot mentioned that they wanted some voices/opinions unlike Lou Dobbs...which made me laugh and in my immediate honest reaction I forgot that CNN was the same station that did both shows and started riffin’ about how that was a pretty low bar and so on and basically was just real about how most people I know think Lou Dobbs is a crazy ass relic etc and only later it hit me that I said this to a CNN person…not that I regret it, I’m glad I got the chance to offer my feelings on good ole lou. But it made me laugh to realize a little later that it was the same channel.
My point is, clearly CNN sees the writing on the wall. And surely they know it’s only a matter of time until Dinosaur Lou ambles off into the acrid back pages of history; that this nation is way different a demographic than Lou imagines, that as fondly we all remember the Cleavers and the Hollies, this is the age of the Obamas and the Garcias! The smart move? CNN really oughtta go balls out for the “We are down with Latinos”; with “We are of this new day,” and just ice Lou, just get with the inevitable and pose like they are ahead of the curve. Because that would gain them a lot of cred, I’d guess, to the Latinos paying attention right now. CNN should just take the cash from the Ad buy that America’s Voice offered them to place this slick lil spot below during their Latino in America special.
But they turned it down. Ouch!
But, but, but what about…what about our shared journey and your sincere desire to “explore the diverse experiences and challenging issues facing Latinos in America”? I’m not feeling the love, yanno?
CNNito! Showing yourself to be in solidarity with the old, old, oldschool-white supremacist’s crew (Arpaio, Rush, Beck, Lou, Buchanan, O’Reilly, Imus, the list goes on, but not for too much longer) soon to exit Cultural Scene Right? and right before your much hyped Latino special? Not a good look, mi gente. Not at all. And you, as TV people, oughtta know this.
But then again, you are making it clear, eh? You don’t really care too much about what it’s like to be Latino in America.
Posted in Borders, Cultura, Human Rights, Immigration, Latinos, Liars, Media, Messaging, Putos, White Supremacy
I’m gonna ramble a bit. I agree with you on what’d be the smart move, but I don’t see t happening. They’re not smart.
The money Lou pulls in for them in the present is worth more than the anticipated value of cutting him. If they keep some FOX-lite personalities on staff, they feel it still gives them their hippy-punching cred (or in this case, immigrant-punching) so hopefully SOME wingers will call them Communist News Network a little less often (but not much). Losing him would mean promoting some unknown or lesser-known quantity to prominence, and they don’t have the balls MSNBC does in allowing liberal voices like Maddow and Olbermann. That may change depending on how those two do in time, but you never know.
Best case scenario I can see: someone at CNN with the capacity of forethought decides not to renew his contract whenever it runs out, but still keep him on as a fill-in for other shows where they won’t touch on immigration that day.
Most likely: They’ll just keep him on and let their ratings dwindle through another contract period or two, ignoring his racism the whole time while continuing to play him up on their endless commercials as a “tough, independent” voice. After a while they’ll cut him for the low ratings, pretending it has nothing to do with his racism or the ever-building anger at him so they can pretend hiring him in the first place, not to mention keeping him so long, WASN’T a horrible idea.
Least Likely: He goes over the top using some incendiary phrase like “brown tide,” really reveals himself for what he is and pisses people off, and they can him for it. You DO recall he almost said “cotton-pickin’” when discussing african americans once already, yes?
Unless that last scenario is how it happens, with a big catalytic moment they can’t ignore and lots of public pressure in response to it, WITH this backlog of his racism built up too (good and valuable work you guys are doing on that, btw), chances are they’ll play it down and work hard to make it look like it isn’t in response to pressure from latinos or the left. To allow that perception would be to admit fault for hiring him in the first place, and that’d harm their brand.
Whaddya think? Am I way off track?
you know, I hear cotton-pickin’ said here all the time not in reference to African-Americans, like “that cotton-picken washing machine broke again” or something. I never used it, just because it seemed like an older person kind of way of talking I guess, but, for example, I know my grandparents said it all the time.
Still, I never thought about its racist etymology before you just mentioned it here. You just made me think about how it really came to be a saying, Pablo.
Pablo
I don’t know, in truth. My first thought was that they won’t get rid of him. I think he’s too big a money maker to get rid of this way. As the culture shifts, the Old Guard will want its few mouthpieces braying unto the very end. They will be moneymakers for a certain faction of oldsters and southerners for a while.
But hey, ya gotta try. And mostly I’m happy to see it underlined. Fine, if CNN is as crappy as we know they are already. But let it be understood how grossly hypocritical they are. Let that, too, be part of the public understanding. So even if the effort doesn’t succeed, I’m down with pushing. Hey. I’ve been talkin smack about Lou for a while! It’s an easy motion for me to pick up and help amplify.
My overall fight is of course much bigger than this weird ole white supremacist.
No, I do’nt think CNN is “smart” enough to do what I advised. But hey. I’m showin ‘em the way if they want it.
They’ll realize one day, Nez was correcto.
As far as Lou going “too far” or being “incendiary,” I mean…are you serious? Do you know the things he has said already? “Brown tide” really doesn’t push the bar up any!
I don’t think corporations worry too much about the hypocrisy of them being wrong in the first place, or showing that. Nah. They know the public has no grip on time, or holding corporate hypocrisy to account for the most part. Which is why campaigns like this can feel refreshing. Even if you can’t get ride of a wart by chopping it off.
I thought you might like to know that finding this site unnerves me as an US of A citizen. If you read history look at the French Revolution. You sound similar to the voices calling for the recreation of society around the rights of man. That didn’t work out so well for them. Our freedom is based in our respect for law. As such, though it is not perfect, you are served much better if you follow the law in an effort to change and improve the law. Otherwise, you may find yourself in the same position as the revolution in France – with the guillotine consuming all in its path, friend and foe alike. Tyranny loves a vaccuum.
For now, you help to awaken my resolve to repel foreign invaders who think they can write their own laws. I’ll applaud the efforts of men like Sheriff Arpaio.
citizen
to quote henry david thoreau from a lecture he gave in 1848, then printed as an essay regarding resistance to civil government, and civil disobedience.
“it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right…. law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”
this was part of his response to his experience from when he did not pay the massachusetts poll tax, denouncing the mexican war when it had just begun in the summer or 1846. thoreau was jailed, and when his friend ralph waldo emerson, (who agreed with him but thought protest futile), visited him in jail, asked thoreau, “what are you doing in there?” it was reported that thoreau replied, “what are you doing out there?”
this is from a book i am currently reading, “a people’s history”, by howard zinn.
anyway, i guess i am saying that if you so choose, go hang at arpaio’s camp… i’ll choose waldens pond any time any day.
also, you will reap what you sew. that i believe came from jesus originally.
peace, one love and pass it on.
I am missing something, obviously. Where is peace in trespassing into another country with disrespect for their laws? Where is peace is taking their money in education and medical care and welfare. That sounds like robbery.
I agree with thoreau if you read it as understanding that there is a higher law (i.e. the law of God) that supersedes maan’s law. But your application escapes me.
What is your thought about organizing a civil society. How do you think we should interact to maintain peace and order. Should each man determine what is right in his own eyes and do it. Could we function that way? Agreed, the majority can be so wrong that an individual must disobey. However, he should resist in peaceful fashion first and use the agreed civil system as well as his power of persuasion first.
You seem to advocate raw disregard for anything but you own desires. Like a true narcissist. Do you believe this can produce a civil society where you and your children and grandchildren can flourish?
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I thought you might like to know that writing this site greatly pleases me, as a US of A citizen. So I do it.
Wow! Sounds like a terrible goal for a society, to actually try to center its functions around “the rights of man.” I’m shivering imagining it. Yes, I mentioned and illustrated a few pages on the French Revolution in my (children’s) book. Thanks for the warning, but you, too, might find yourself with your head cut off if a vacuum comes sweeping into this land, you know? A vacuum loves little tyranny sucklers. But wait that’s silly because vacuums don’t sweep! Or take heads off. Still, you should be careful. One never knows, right?
For now, you simply tire me, pretending a rogue cop with hundreds and hundreds of lawsuits against him and a DOJ investigation into his civil rights violations against the population is somehow the righteous one. And PS, I don’t entertain commenters who use phrases like “foreign invaders” for Mexicans. It shows you to be a stone cold racist in my book.
It’s funny that you write
Should each man determine what is right in his own eyes and do it. Could we function that way?
and
You seem to advocate raw disregard for anything but you own desires.
and after giving support to Sheriff Arpaio??? Que rico! The man who breaks law to arrest people, even blatantly ignoring the government that rescinds power given him to do so (287g). Obama is “us” as in the law speaking as collective voice in this issue. By your logic, Arpaio should heed this representative of the People, rather than go off on his narcissistic crusade against Mexicans.
“Do you believe this can produce a civil society”
By your own logic you’d repudiate Arpaio. But you’re another fake. A person pretending reason but soaked in racism masquerading as logic with only half its face. When law comes down on the brown, you are all about “law.” But when law tells old, white, racists to leave the brown alone, then it is law that should be ignored (especially when the govt is now headed by a black man.)
Go ride off, or cough off, or fall off ya damn horse into the sunset or the junk heap, or the mason dixon line, i dont give a shit just get off my blog.
I’m gone. Perhaps you should take a few lessons from sweetleaf on civil discourse. By the way, I’m not white. I think, I read history to get some perspective and I try to talk civilly about these complicated things because I don’t think I have all the answers nor all the questions.
Your response to me above is clear. You don’t want to engage a discussion. You know your right and anything that contradicts you is by definition wrong. That was the definition of the French revolution. It didn’t work out for them and it won’t for us. We need structure that we agree to work within in order to have civil society. But you will have to see that for yourself.
I can clearly see Arpaio has an axe to grind but he would be in jail right now if he was breaking the law. His opponents are in the house and they would lock him up if they could find an excuse, let alone a reason. You think it is wrong for him to break the law (by your definition) but it is ok for your brown buddies. Great logic – you did mention logic? Your anger will not lead to a better society but it might make you feel better – for awhile. Until then, God help us all.
Bye, Bye. I’ll leave and you can continue in your unchallenged diatribe learning nothing from those who believe as you do. It has been nice talking to ya.
Youre not gone. You’re back. Gone means I don’t open my email and read you. Please try that again.
If you read my blog you’ll see that I do entertain respectful argument. But you began this thread with sleaze so ride your fake civility out the door and don’t let your powdery wig be bumpin into la puerta on the way out.
PS who said you were white? and who cares? your spirit is what grosses me out.
uh excuse me citizen,
“I am missing something, obviously. Where is peace in trespassing into another country with disrespect for their laws? Where is peace is taking their money in education and medical care and welfare. That sounds like robbery.” citizen
… did you jump tracks to the history of the founding of the usa…(ie that is how “we” acquired this land from the natives who lived here, as well from the mexican people who lived in california, new mexico, texas,…etc,)… wow, and how do you fit that with the wars recently or currently taking place (ie, iraq, iran, afghanastan?) i don’t see any regard for these peoples laws, education, medical care or welfare in doing so. i do however see occupation by our country. seems like, whats that word, you are being a lot hypocritical.
btw, people coming in from south of this country’s borders are not doing so for a take over, nor are they armed or dangerous. these people are not a threat to our way of life period. i feel the opposite, that they can add to a quality we lack. they have a beautiful culture, are a beautiful people, that we can learn from. period. i personally love diversity. keeping it in perspective the numbers of immigrants aren’t that great to have that much impact. (ie there is still more of “us”), depends on what you focus on or who you listen to. (for example; lou dobbs, propagandist and idiot extrodinare?). i am tired of the distraction that he and other racist like him are using immigration groups as a scapegoat. i personally never ever listen to him. i can’t stand to.
here’s a question for you, “were the reporters, reporting a feeling in the public, or creating a feeling in the public.”
it is for my children and grandchildren, (and their neighbors) that i take interest and do care. i do not want them to see or be influenced or effected by the character or lack of, that is arpaio, as an example. he is someone who as a child was bullied and beat up and now has an ax to grind with the power to do so. he is a disillusioned opportunist whose actions hurt us all. he is a sad man that should not have that kind of power as he runs an extremely hurtful program. arpaio’s program is not a good example for the use of a man made law, but an example of the abuse of it, period.
that is why i used the quote of thereau. arpaio abuses the law which abuses the people. it is an argument about man made law, not god’s law. i do not want my children and their children to live in the type state where power is abused and simply wrong, as i do look at what is better for the greater good. can’t believe that was a whoosh for you?
in knowing myself, i am far from a narcissist.
i think nezua said it…you sir or mam’, are but a shortsighted racist, and maybe you need to take a look at that and examine your own reactions to things first. i come to this sight often, as i like to explore what is outside of my own ability to experience in this world. because i do care about all people in this world. i truly do. i know nezua does too.
nezua is someone who understands “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – George Orwell … unlike lou dobbs.
peace, one love and pass it on. period.
[...] in joy and were collectively uplifted. CNN has fired Lou Dobbs. It’s a surprising move which I barely imagined in my dearest cynical calculations. Yet, it is practical, too. And laudable! And it torques back [...]