re: #258 alinuxguru

The barrier is “probably cause”. And, yes, the media has repeatedly made this story to be about race. Once this story took flight in the national media, it was all about “black vs. white” with no real evidence to substantiate that. The NBC example is the most egregious example, next to Spike Lee’s.

First - as has been pointed out to you, the NBC tape was fairly far along the trajectory of public attention to this case. I read tons of commentary about the racial components of this case prior to NBC’s tape.

Second, this story took flight precisely because of underlying racial tensions that exist. Read rightwing blogs and you will see tons of comments about black on black violence, or black on white violence. All of that commentary reflects a pervasive issue prevalent among rightwingers that whites are being unfairly blamed for problems in the black community. Similarly, it easy to find much commentary about concerns in the black community about racial profiling.

This case is a window into existing tensions and long-standing debates. To blame this on the media more generally is absurd, but to blame it on NBC’s editing of that tape is completely nonsensical. Why don’t you just admit that you made a mind-numbingly stupid statement, and then if you’re interested, move on to a discussion of the very real racial issues reflected in the notoriety of this case?