Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Big Clout, Big Media, Mike Brown, Eric Garner

You know, I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to start this. I keep thinking of just listing a bunch of stuff that has happened recently that is bad, or symptomatic of the larger problem. The problem there is what actually heads the list? What actually makes the list? What makes the cut? Does Mike Brown make the cut? I’m not sure, I've looked at a lot of the stuff available, and I don’t think he’d make the cut. On the other hand, the press coverage of that would probably make the cut, so in its own way his story would make the cut. Did you know that Eric Garner was a black man who was killed in Staten Island? The M.E. declared the death a homicide.


Here’s the story. He and some others were standing out on a sidewalk. The cops approached him. He’d helped to break up a fight, and that was the reason the police were there in the first place. He had previously been arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. There’s a bunch of video of it. Supposedly he was once again selling untaxed cigarettes. Did he resist arrest? He pulled his arm away from the officer and told him not to touch him. That qualifies. Did he VIOLENTLY resist arrest? No. However, one of the cops decided to jump on his back and put him in a choke hold. Back in 1993 the state of New York banned the use of choke holds when attempting to detain a suspect. Mostly because there was too much chance of accidental death.


In the case of Eric Garner, that’s exactly what happened. There were other contributing factors, Garner was overweight, had heart problems (from his obesity), and asthma. Here’s the thing, Eric Garner got ten out of his fifteen minutes of fame, because right on the heels of that (less than a month later) Mike Brown happened. Here’s where just one symptom of a much bigger problem comes in. Big Media. Big Media is part of Big Clout. Big Clout… well you've got Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma… They’re all part of this vast machine that works against everyone who isn't them, or anything that might have a negative impact on their profits.


So you’ve got Garner, he’s no angel, but if you watch the videos taken while he was being killed, you can’t help but say, “That shit is just wrong.” Here’s a fact for you, people realizing that they’re part of a society that is helping to oppress them is bad for profits, and seeing Garner’s video could do nothing but remind people that they don’t even rate as high as a cog in the machine. So Mike Brown goes out and gets himself shot, and that’s good for Big Clout. Suddenly the focus is shifted. We’re not talking about Garner anymore. We’re talking about a thug who robbed a convenience store, assaulted a cop, and got himself shot.

You wanna know why poor white trash getting shot doesn't make the news? Because as long as Big Clout can make it a Black problem, we’re divided. If we can make the Black problem about a black guy who may have just partaken in criminal activity and maybe even did something to bring that on himself instead of the black guy standing on the sidewalk peacefully, it’s a Thug problem. If we can use that thug to distract people from all the other examples, well, it’s not my problem.


People don’t understand. Big Clout has used Big Media to turn us against each other. This isn't a white versus black issue. There is an us and a them. If you’re living in the shrinking middle class, or even the upper middle class, if you’re living in poverty, or on the edge of poverty, or if you’re having to work two jobs or more just to get by, or if you’re living in a household where more than 60 hours of work each week is the norm, you’re us. The part that hurts the most is that the media has worked so hard to brainwash people for the last thirty years that most of us hate us and disagree with us and work against their own self interests.

Whether you agree with anything I said about Brown or Garner, the fact is that Media and Big Clout have worked against the people.

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