Fox News's Witch Hunt

Fox News is an expert propaganda machine and, as such, is also good at demonizing people and forcing qualified, decent individuals to resign from their positions of power.

Their latest victim is Shirley Sharrod, an official in the Department of Agriculture under Obama, who has been accused by right-wind groups of racism. That message was reiterated ad nauseam by their cronies at Fox News and, as a result, she had to resign her post.

The truth of the matter is that the speech that led to accusations of racism is nothing more than a well-edited attack on her person. This is not the first time the right wing machine or Fox News have done something of the sort. On the contrary, many organizations and individuals have fallen prey to their smear tactics and have had to eventually resign or, in the case of ACORN, cease to exist.

Yet, we must admit that there is racism in this situation; only, it is not the racism of which they accuse Sharrod: It is a more concentrated and vitriolic form of the 0ld-fashioned whites-are-better-than-blacks racist stance. More concentrated because it is not the sole example in the last year and a half; more vitriolic because we allow it to happen and 'news' organizations such as Fox News propagate it without the slightest modicum of shame in this day and age. I guess I could call it shameful, too, because it feeds whatever latent traces of racism there are in American society, leading them to amplify and reach the public sphere where they are widely tolerated and touted as manifestations of our democracy.

Of course, this is nothing of the sort. I have said it before and I will say it again: a large chunk of the animosity against President Obama and his policies is a direct consequence of racism in this country. It is unlikely anybody can convince me otherwise. The rhetoric, the actions taken, the condescension with which they refer to the President on many media outlets is nothing more than a return to our shameless past when calling blacks 'uppity' and wanting to 'put (or keep) them in their place' was defended as 'American.'

Aren't we in the same crossroads as 40, 50, 140 years ago? And shouldn't we think before we take our next step into the road of peaceful existence, or into the abyss of hatred and bigotry...?

For more info, watch Rachel Maddow's segment on the issue, as well as the Sharrod's full allegedly 'racist' speech.