By MARC McDONALD
There are three things in life that are inevitable. Death, taxes, and the fact that Fox News loves white males who are involved racially divisive situations. For evidence of that, look no further than the likes of the right-wing ex-cop Mark Fuhrman, who has made regular appearances on Sean Hannity's program.
Fuhrman, in fact, rode his notoriety from the O.J. trial to fame and fortune (and a lucrative book-writing and radio talk show career).
Fox News has long embraced characters like Fuhrman. It all feeds into the network's unstated dog-whistle view that white males are the real persecuted minority in America. That, in turn, serves a handy purpose for the America's Rich & Powerful. After all, there's nothing like playing the race card to get angry white working class males to vote against their own class interests. (You'll be hearing a lot of these views from your crazy right-wing uncle during Thanksgiving dinner).
For a long time, America's Ownership Class has cynically used racial divisions to advance its own interests. In the 19th century, for example, the Robber Barons often pitted ethnic groups (Polish and Irish people, for example) against each other to divide and distract workers and hamper their efforts to organize.
And, boy, could the Rich & Powerful use some distractions right about now. After all, the nation is falling apart and divisions between the classes are growing to unprecedented levels. Class mobility is falling. And the Ownership Class desperately needs some good distractions to keep the average Joe from grasping that the nation is being systematically looted by the rich. (See corporate welfare, the war profiteering "industry," and the 2008 looting of Wall Street for examples).
I mention all of this simply to point out that nobody should be feeling too sorry for Ferguson Police Department officer Darren Wilson. After all, if he so chooses, he likely has opportunities ahead of him as a Fox News commentator.
I have little doubt that a year from now, when tensions over this case have begun to settle, Wilson will get a call from Fox News. Appearances on right-wing talk radio and even a book career no doubt will beckon, as well.
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1 comment:
I've been arguing that Wilson is the last in the line of right-wing hero murderers who are pussies. It bugs me that these guys are presented as tough guys when their arguments are always the same, "I was vewy vewy scared!" I've thought that Zimmerman didn't manage a Fox News job because he was forced to argue in court that he was really a wimp (a little man with a gun in his hand). But I can well see Darren Wilson at least coming on for the occasional segment. And I'm sure that he will get a book deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. So the evil little pussy not only got away with it, he will be greatly rewarded.
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