For creating a story out of nothing and then finger pointing at US society and saying how evil it is, this Dec. 12th CNN story takes the cake. In "Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others", not only is a somewhat leading poll cited as evidence that America is still rife with racism, but CNN uses comments emailed to them by their viewers as some sort of follow up proof for it!
Very scientific, I know. After all, CNN used science via the Internet and phone lines to conduct this farcical poll, I suppose.
(CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.
And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves.
How convenient that those "experts" can see racism where no one else can. So, racism is everywhere, but we can't see it, don't understand it as racism, nor do we see any examples of it, but only "feel" it in others. The perfect "proof" to shore up Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for decades to come.
The "experts" that CNN dredged up really went to town on this "poll", too.
University of Connecticut professor Jack Dovidio, who has researched racism for more than 30 years, estimates up to 80 percent of white Americans have racist feelings they may not even recognize."We've reached a point that racism is like a virus that has mutated into a new form that we don't recognize," Dovidio said.
He added that 21st-century racism is different from that of the past.
"Contemporary racism is not conscious, and it is not accompanied by dislike, so it gets expressed in indirect, subtle ways," he said.
That "stealth" discrimination reveals itself in many different situations.
Curiously enough, "researchers" once thought that gold could be created from lead via alchemy, too! These "racism" experts are little different than the sooth-sayers and shamans who pranced around countless primitive campfires with their rattles shaking as they talk in tongues. All "saw" things no one else could and found gullible benefactors to pay them for their visions. The "social sciences" are barely better than cave paintings.
But, more amusing than these supposed experts telling us how we are all secret racists -- so secret we don't even realize it ourselves -- is the interesting reliance on viewer's emails that CNN used to add further "proof" to their shaman's tale.
"Racism here is quite subtle," e-mailed CNN.com reader Blair William, originally from Trinidad, who now lives in Lexington, South Carolina.
The scintillating expertise is overwhelming there.
"I am a firm believer that racism is rampant in the United States," wrote another CNN.com reader, Mark Boyle, of Muncie, Indiana.
Mr. Boyle of Muncie, Indiana is no doubt a learned and well-known observer of American society.
And, not to be outdone by the common folk, CNN pulled in the trenchant commentary from New York Times writer Calvn Sims who, we are told, "recently wrote about his experiences in the city".
"If a cab passes you by, obviously it is frustrating, it's degrading and it's just really confusing, because this is akin to being in the South and being refused service at a lunch counter, which is what happened in the '60s and '70s," he said.
I hope not too many Americans fall for this tripe as serious commentary or scientific study of American society. I also hope that this kind of negative nonsense doesn't turn too many away from the fact that ours is one of the most inclusive societies in the world and that people of every nationality and race can find more opportunity here in the USA than in any other nation.
... and I can find a LOT of emailers to back THAT up!
