Barack Obama Disciplines America for "Acting Like Children"

A few thoughts:

1. I wish I would have numbered my blog posts

2. I wish I would have known they are graded individually rather than the previous statement of “basically if you post all your blogs, you'll do great”

3. I wish I watched more TV so I could understand you kids and your crazy pop culture references

I have watched no more than three significant programs in the last week. One involved the raising of gorillas in Cameroon, one involved UNI's very own Deric Mickens winning Tila Tequila's Fantasy Couple Contest at South Padre, and the final and most significant program was Barack Obama's speech on racism and diversity in America entitled “A More Perfect Union.”

While I will gladly stand proud for participating and taking interest in the American political system, I would by no means classify myself as a political revolutionary by any stretch of the word. I feel my powers are better utilized at calling out people on their bullshit and pointing out the cold, logical, and sometimes unwanted, rationale behind an issue. Let me tell you this...if every American spoke about issues of racism and discrimination as Mr. Obama spoke about it on Tuesday, America would be a very different, and most likely better, place – and yes, even on television.

Barack Obama addressed racism and diversity in America as every American should – with a cold truth and a smooth baritone voice. He addressed the scared black man that grew up in the South during the Civil Rights Movement. He addressed the illegal immigrant looking to better his family's well-being. And he addressed the confused white man – a man that can't express fears about a downtrodden urban community without being labeled as racist. Just as America uses statistics and polls to avoid the larger issue, so too does the American television industry.

The television industry makes the mistake of addressing race and diversity quantitatively - “...only 6.4% of owners are minorities, while only 3.7% are women, and only 12.9% of television news anchors are black, while 2.1% are homosexual, but only 10.4% can afford to hire a part-time gardener...” When it comes down to it, it's not a matter of statistics or regulation - it's a change in lifestyle and culture. Sure...everyone wants to live in a happy world full of equal representation and ownership, but it doesn't work like that. There were “network families” and personal relationships rooted long before any issue of diversity in the media ever came up.

In my opinion, the issue of minority and queer television is a textbook “band-aid issue.” Sure...we can flood the market with “classic black programming” or “notably queer personalities”, but rather than asking why these programs aren't on network television, we should be asking why the American public doesn't tune into these programs on network television. It is often said that the public interest determines the programming, or sometimes even that the programming determines what the public watches. I believe that by this point we've all come to the realization that it is a double-edged sword and the relationship flows both ways. Whether it's the producers or the viewers that don't “approve” of alternative programming seems to be a moot point. It's time we all just cut the bullshit and talked “as if we were adults.”

In case you're interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU