Clouded by profits

I know the media is a cheap whore.  It's not exactly a secret that the media will do whatever it wants to draw people in to watch commercials, view web ads, or buy newspapers.  It's why KDKA radio gives its audience what it thinks they want to hear.  It's why TV news loves to show blacks as a criminal menace.  It's why they refuse to admit how close the presidential race isn't.  Must generate drama, must get the cash.   Heck, I even think it's funny to hear conservatives whine about McCain getting more negative coverage.  I thought they liked the free market....

So I really shouldn't have been surprised to see this on the front page of the Allegheny Times this morning:

 

Yesterday's rally was about people gathering together to bring change to Washington.  Barack Obama's message is about possibility.  There is hope in each of the stories on that page: violent extremists foiled before they could hurt anybody, working class people refusing to be tricked by right-wing scare tactics into voting against their own interests.  The support for Barack and the sense of optimism and excitement among attendees yesterday were amazing.  But of course the paper has to find something sensational and grim.  Ugh.

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Oh, and in other news: this idea that voters shouldn't be able to wear campaign attire to the polls.  I don't like it.  I should be able to vote naked if I want to.  It's not like they don't have people with flyers outside pressing the flesh anyway.   Smells like one more attempt at voter suppression to me.

Obama in Pittsburgh!

First, on the old topic, I should add that when a caller on Sunday night obliquely referred to the station's "hoax," Chris said he wasn't allowed to talk about it. Hm....


In other news, I took a couple hand-held shots and used the gigapan stitcher to turn them into a panorama. They're too small to post there (50 megapixel minimum) and I didn't want to even try to get the robot through security, but I was pleased by the disjointed, imperfectly seamed little critters. Here's the one I took outside of the crowd lined up. Look at all the supporters! They're lined up all the way up the hill!

And, speaking of hoaxes, a local artist--the man in red here--offered the crowd the chance to annotate his response to the recent report and then retraction of a woman who claimed a tall black man attacked her and carved a letter on her face. Apparently the woman herself has mental problems, so I don't really blame her. I do think that the way the Republican campaign continues to prey on fears of racial violence is reprehensible. This woman is just a reflection of that e-whispering campaign. BTW, I declined the offer to write on the painting.

The other piece of racist fearmongering that gets tossed about is fear or riots--if Obama gets assasinated, or even if McCain gets elected through shady dealings a la 2000. (I thought I saw this on openleft.com but can't find it now. The context there, or wherever, was national police officials telling their local field officers to be prepared in case, given the historic nature of this election. Original is here; wish I could find the commentary. The gist of it was that, you're not kidding anybody by suggesting gender is a consideration along with race, and gee, doesn't this just play nicely into the Republican fear strategy.) Given the news I caught on TV from State College today, I can only conclude this about civil unrest in America: Black people riot in response to grave injustice. White people riot at the loss a football game. Or win. Hard to tell sometimes.

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Update: I realize I posted the photo of the Ashley Todd caricature that obscured the artist's signature.  Oops.  Here's the shot of the other side of the painting: