© 2019 Jim Spence - The power of the media should never be underestimated. When
news broke of the shootings in El Paso Saturday, my wife read some of the
breaking details from the app on her phone. We both shook our heads and grieved
for the families involved. Later that day we heard the news that our
sister-in-law’s own sister was in the check out line at the Wal-Mart when shots
rang out. Fortunately for our family, she left the store safely. And yes, she is
Hispanic.
After some time passed, I went back to my sports
programming. I record the golf tournaments on the weekends and watch them on a delayed basis. When I turned on the recording of the golf tournament, the CBS local affiliate in El Paso
preempted the golf to broadcast news of the horrific events.
Of course, the national news media was all over the shooting incident
with wall-to-wall coverage too. Not long after these sorts of tragedies take
place, the politicians are brought on the air to try to score political points.
As soon as it became clear that El Paso police were dealing with a sick racist
scum ball with a vendetta against Hispanics, the acrimony against the GOP was
heightened. This was followed by calls for more power to go into the hands of government. Of course, the
solution to every problem for Democrats is to give more power to the state and of course, to end GOP influence on government policies.
This all seems so sad. The horrific nature of these killings
is just awful, and it seems almost sanctimonious to wade in. But the hypocrisy
of what the news media tends to emphasize these days needs to be scrutinized.
The loss of life in El Paso was horrific Saturday. And nothing that anyone does
or says is going hasten the healing of the families affected.
However, we need make
our national news media outlets stay true to their supposed concern about the
loss of life. El Paso is a pretty large city, but it has been a pretty safe city.
Things don’t happen in El Paso like this very often. In fact, I can never
remember anything like this happening in the city that is just forty miles
south of our home.
Let’s consider how the media handles the greatest unreported
scandal in U.S. history. In Chicago over this very same weekend, as was the nightmare
in El Paso, more than 50 people were shot with six people killed. The number of
shooting victims in Chicago in 2019 is close to 1,700 and the dead body count
is close to 400. And the vast majority of the victims are black. In my place of
birth, Baltimore, Maryland the city has a per capital murder rate that makes
Chicago’s seem tame. So far in Baltimore in 2019, the murder count is 199. Again,
the vast majority of these victims are black as are the murderers.
Let us all hope and pray that nothing like this ever happens
in El Paso again. But sadly, there seems to be no hope for Chicago, Baltimore,
or dozens of other American cities where local gun crime is a way of life.
Where are the news reports? Where are the documentaries? Where are the TV specials?
The cynical side of me thinks that what amounts to a never-ending El
Paso and Dayton never gets any coverage because these cities have been firmly
under the political control of Democrats for decades. Also, Chicago and
Baltimore already have the toughest gun control laws in the nation.
What is the media interested in if it is not interested in reporting on murders in these cities that dwarf what happened this weekend? Is it simply interested in helping Democrats acquire more power for the state and
federal governments? Is it simply in damaging the GOP every time there is a mass shooting instead of fifty individual shootings?
Know this. Chicago and Baltimore are and have been KILLING ZONES every single weekend for decades, not just once in a
lifetime. Where is the mounting concern? Instead it seems diminished. Where are the calls for solutions? Where is the
accountability? Does anyone care about all of these shooting victims when there
is no way Democrats can play the race card and get a gotcha on the other side?
Shooting victims in Baltimore and Chicago are human beings.
They all have families. Many are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. These
THOUSANDS of victims should not be ignored because they are of no economic
value to the news media or the politicians who think giving more power to the
state is the solution to every problem.
Here’s a news flash THAT WON'T BE REPORTED…..next weekend
there will be the equivalent of another El Paso and Dayton in Chicago and
Baltimore.
Does anyone care? Not the media. It seems obvious that with journalists and politicians, in areas where strict gun laws are on the books, astonishing levels of black-on-black crime is not newsworthy.
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