Wow, it certainly has been a while since my last update! Passionately following the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign since the early Jan 8 primaries, most of my online time is now devoted to following articles, analysis, blogs, and websites dedicated to the election, leaving no left-over energy to update my own blog. (No life much? LOL.) Still, there's definitely no better year for a political junkie! ;)
What compelled me so that I feel the need to vent out today? Answer: I'm sick of the media bias, in this case CNN, for the way they cover the presidential campaign. Self-important, biased, totally subjective and unfair in coverage, I can't believe they feed us this garbage masqueraded as "news" designed to inform and educate the masses! Two recent observations of this misbehavior are:
1. The general bias for Obama against Clinton. This is blatantly obvious for anyone who has read or watched a large enough share of political coverage: he is less scrutinized, his triumphs and actions are more celebrated, the ludicrous way in which he is continually being compared to JFK, and the sheer volume of coverage he gets in the media everyday to keep him in the public eye... In short, more often than not, Obama is portrayed not as "one of the Democratic presidential candidates" but as "media darling." How is this fair??! In today's NY Times, the Op-Ed piece "Hate Springs Eternal" by Paul Krugman describes in a bit more detail Obama's "cult of personality" and the media's unjust "Clinton rules".
2. The invisible Republican candidate Huckabee. Picking an old bone, yes, but I still laugh when I think about the Republican Debate on CNN aired Jan 30. Anderson Cooper as the moderator?? One certainly can't find a more camera-hogging, self-important, pompous moron! CNN effectively snubbed Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul during the debate, whose combined on-camera time and speaking points did not even add up to what the moderator enjoyed! They were sidelined as the debate, and Cooper's questions, centered solely on McCain and Romney. IMO, the "McCain vs. Romney" media focus is partly to blame for Romney's (now we know as) delusional "This is a two-person race [between] me and John McCain" proclamation. Pray tell, where is Romney now?
OK, Press bias has long been irritating, but what really ticked me off today -- and what got me to blog about it here -- is this insidious piece of work, a two-minutes segment aired on (who else but?) CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 on Feb 8:
Oh so, according to CNN and their brilliant research, the two reasons why Asian Americans vote overwhelmingly for Clinton are: 1. We are fearful/distrustful of African Americans 2. We are fearful of change
...NOT because Asian Americans support Clinton's stand on whichever social, economic, or political issue, obviously. In fact, at the end of the two minutes, we still DO NOT know WHY exactly do Asian Americans support Clinton. Apparently, the two 'reasons' listed above are good enough for CNN; no further investigation is necessary.
*out-raged*
Please, CNN, DO do further segments on how the different races in America "fear and distrust" each other! No need to do any homework, just interview a handful of people on the streets and broadcast their preferences on presidential candidate as true and valid assumptions on the entire Asian American population! And please broadcast and incite more unfounded racial prejudices! (*sarcastic* if you can't tell)
Heck, are those people interviewed (and chosen to appear on the TV segment) American CITIZENS? Do they even follow the election? Do they even plan to vote??
Instead of a bunch of heavy-accented shoppers and (who to me looks like) study-aboard students in an Asian grocery store, why didn't CNN interview someone with more credential? Perhaps a professor or scholar of Asian decent in political or social studies? Someone from the Asian American Institute or, heck, someone from the 80-20 Initiative whose organization has ENDORSED CLINTON as early as Jan 18?? Quite obviously, CNN is interested not in a serious and logical explanation, but a sensational story on racial prejudice and racial politics -- however ungrounded.
How does that one guy in a Seattle coffee shop speak for ALL Asian Americans that they are "afraid of change"?!!
I will refrain from ranting on (I honestly can rant on and on about this!) but urge you to instead...
