In the midst of Lebron moving to South Beach, the ongoing Epic Fail that is the BP oil spill, Lindsey Lohan going on vacation to prison, and Mel Gibson saying “FML” in only so many words… a bigger news story managed to emerge this week.
As most of you may know, Shirley Sherrod, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, was fired forced to resign and offered her job back in 48 hours. A video of her giving a speech was edited to portray her as a black woman, in a position of power, using this power to exercise reverse racism against a white farmer. She was painted as not helping the white farmer out because of his skin color and “superior attitude.” (The events she recalled in the speech occurred 24 years prior)
That’s when fhit hit the san. Things got real. The plot thickened. Fallout occurred: The NAACP condemned her. The White House, in an attempt to jump on the situation before Glenn Beck, threw her under the bus. The media, primarily Fox News, judged her faster than the word “prejudice” itself. When the facts came out, and the full video surfaced, her speech was actually one of reconciliation, self-reflection, and the plight of poor people… regardless of skin color. Oh, and it also helped that the very white farmer she was accused of discriminating against 24 years ago said she helped save his farm, and that she deserved her job back.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mrs. Sherrod was apologized to by the president of the NAACP, her superior at the department of agriculture (Mike Vilsack), and the White House. She was also offered her job back.
Now that this story has reached its climax, what is there to say? I believe Keith Olbermann said it best in the video below:
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Tags: fox news, mike vilsack, Obama, race, racism, shirley sherrod, usda, white house
He is no better than the right wing he is lashing out against. If it bleeds it leads. That is the “news” mantra of the day. If it hooks watchers/readers and sells ad dollars then it will run. True or untrue it matters not, just ask Dan Rather. The more sensational the story the less likely they are to check their sources.
Personally the over reactive PC element of our society is as much to blame as those who broke the story. Had someone at the DOA taken the time to ask a question find out the whole story before offering Sherrod up as the sacrificial lamb this whole thing would have blown over and no one but those who ran the story would have looked bad. As it is, the leadership of the DOA looks just as bad as those who ran the story due to their hasty dismissal of Sherrod. If instead of immediately dismissing her they had talked to her and gotten hold of the full truth to combat the half truth, held a press conference or just a press release of the full truth. The only bad guy would have been those who released the edited speech. As it stands the DOA has egg on its face too.
…and you can’t seriously tell me that the abc, nbc, cbs, and cnn have NEVER done this to a conservative? Dan Rather (in case you’ve already forgotten).