2 responses to “Hot Topics: The Sad Death of News & Notes and Sexy People”

1. 

   Andrea

   February 16, 2009

   NPR is the Old Guard of East Coast elites who are mostly WASPs Liberals. Black People keep thinking Liberals are their friends but what Liberals do is throw scraps. But after they find out you can use scraps to make gravy and in Farai’s case, educate Blacks in nuanced ways, they want their scraps back. Now Farai’s show had low ratings. Day to Day had higher ratings. Still, the people of color–not just Blacks–the people of color are starting to educate themselves and decentralize authorities as seen in this last election that it is scary to the Old Guard. They still control everything because they have the most money but in cases of possibility that the decentralized masses might be empowered to be educated about "how things work", it is better to cut the communication streams. Social Networks through internet technology is what is finally offering minorities access to power. Finally organization can be created which has been the impeding obstacle of minorities educating about systems and how they work. With the amount of money minorities spends, all it would take to leverage a equal balance of monetary power is for minorities to start to collectively pool their money in investing in their interests. We have yet to understand that yet because the education has not been taught in layman’s terms and layman’s business math.Our taxpayers dollars do pay to subsidize public radio and television but as well a lot of donations keep them afloat. Large sums come from wealthy contributors that dictate to the organizations how they want their money dedicated. They can and do tell the public organizations that their money goes to certain shows and types of programming. Is it racist? Yes and no. It’s carnal. It’s self-preservation. It’s Darwinian. It’s survival of the fittest to want to use your millions to support programming that supports your self-interests. How is that all racist and not just Darwinian? WASPs and even Jews may fund shows from their trusts to programming that is to us "White" but they are not. They are American. They are the ruling class’ interest. They are what the people in charge dictate of importance. They don’t see it as White. They see those shows they ask NPR and PBS to fund to be things of their interest. We may send in $50 donations but these people are donating hundreds of thousands to millions a year that pay for keeping the stations alive as well as their interests. We have to learn the business of philanthrophy and understand that sometimes it is not just racism and sometimes instead preservation of control and dominance. These people that do this are mostly Liberals who Blacks cuddle up to. Everyone has their limits when it comes to self-preservation.Also, Blacks really did not support her show. Since Tell Me More is still in operation, that meets the quota. We will have to become more educated about business and fairness. I would not keep a show on the air that was not pulling in numbers no matter how good-natured it seemed when it is already known that Bush wanted to axe funding at public radio and television. Donors know and they pay to first keep public radio and television alive and they pay to keep their interests continuing. We would have to do the same. People think it is racist and unfair but we, Blacks, are so used to thinking that people have to look out for us in being fair when most humans think of preservation first when they still want to help you. It is nuanced. It is complicated. We always want equal treatment but we did not put in equal investments in money or listeners. It is not fair but it is lesson we refuse to learn. We could have still kept the programming if we were more actively invested in understanding the prospectus of public radio and television and we lobbied as a group to pay to play like others do. It’s a hard reality but it is play to play even in public media. At the end of the day the budgets have to be balanced and if the under and uneducated constituency of minorities refuse to understand how to tussle, then we deserve to get spanked. As much as I don’t care for Bishop Eddie Long’s fleecing of his members, he runs that church like a business. I am against the corporatizing of religion but at the same time I understand why the good and the duplicitious do it. Nothing would get paid for or sponsored if you just hoped on good faith that our people would reach in their pockets and donated. I read the church bulletin of one of my senior officers at work and her church is a powerful one filled with politicians in Congress and around the beltway. They don’t even have to police the structure because Whites know to give to pay for their interests. So I understand why the mega-churches have to fleece to build. We would not give freely.When I was out as an activist and people would see my shirts, they would bemoan about paying $25 when they were wearing designer clothing from head to toe. They saw me as a Black woman and Black person unworthy of $25 to donate in the equivalent of a building fund but they would not even whince at letting go of $200 on some boots they didn’t need. The same person would gripe about us not having anything but they don’t want to use their money to donate to building in their best interests or supporting someone that looked like them. We don’t get it.Even Farai refuses to get it. Maybe I get it because I was out there and I witnessed how we are and I work at one of the most powerful organizations in the country to see how they work. Until I came to work where I work, I only could speculate. Now that I work with the elites, I see how they work. They will do for Blacks as long as it does not threaten their retained dominance and control. So they donate to our programming but they want their Euro-culture to remain the "message" of what is American culture and the American Narrative. The West Coast studio threatened them because the youth’s ability to social network could be a cambrian explosion to shift the power balance. All minorities have to do is start to pool their money to back their interesets. Until we NOT GET THAT, the wealthy will still make all decisions. Even if we pooled our money to match and outmatch their donors, we could leverage positions on boards (governance/decision makers) at the organizations. We have to learn and trust.

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2. 

   conye

   February 17, 2009

   I was getting ready to suggest Sendhil Ramamurthy, but I did a nifty search found he was all up in the great wall of sexy. Please note that the photostream is way up on my list of top favorite things ever. THANK YOU.

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