Like the classic film starring my favorite comedy team, this is more funny than scary. And it couldn’t happen to a more deserving news organization.
An online NPR article and a tweet promoting the story reported that Michelle Wu, just elected as Boston’s first woman and first person of color mayor, had disappointed some activists with her victory.
“While many are hailing it as a major turning point, others see it as more of a disappointment that the three Black candidates in the race couldn’t even come close,” the story, like the tweet, read. This being The Great Stupid, NPR was quickly accused of being racist. Trapped like a rat, NPR’s Boston affiliate apologized and said it had deleted the tweet which was “causing harm”, though all it had done is report, and accurately, the reaction of others in the city, notably the black community. “We realize we don’t always get things right the first time,” it groveled, saying that the “tweet/headline misrepresented the story.” No, what NPR was really apologizing for is reporting the story, which exposes the fact that black race-activists only care about one race, their own. They did see Wu’s victory as a disappointment. NPR’s sin was telling the truth, instead of being a reliable propaganda organ and spinning the story to the satisfaction of those who want to avoid letting on that the conservative criticism of the Left’s race obsession is legitimate. What “harm” had the tweet done? The harm was not following the approved script and hiding the ugly hypocrisy at the core of progressivism.
Bad progressive lapdog! BAD!
“The story is still Asians vs. Blacks for some unknown reason. The ‘tweet/headline’ was hardly the issue,” one outraged Bostonian tweeted. Unknown reason? Harvard and other elite colleges are rejecting better qualified Asian-American applicants to admit Blacks with lesser credentials. A disproportionate number of the attacks on Asian-Americans hyped by the media was at the hands of Blacks.
Now the updated tweet says that “many were hopeful Boston would finally elect its first Black mayor,” with “Black activists and political strategists” left having to “reflect on what they can learn from the 2021 campaign season.” But they weren’t disappointed that Boston didn’t elect a black mayor, you see?
No, I don’t either. What NPR correctly noted is that “many” in Boston and elsewhere in Progressiveland care about color more than character and ability. NPR’s story had quoted civil rights activist Danny Rivera as saying he wept at Wu’s victory, though she was Boston’s first mayor who is not a white man. “I cried my eyes out because I don’t know the next time we’ll see a Black mayor in our city,” Rivera said. Now I lived in the Boston area for many years. I just wanted a mayor who wasn’t an incompetent, corrupt political hack for a change. His or her color was irrelevant. NPR quoted black community leader Rev. Eugene Rivers warning that “we can only play [the] race card for so many occasions….Black leadership failed to produce success even with an incumbent. We failed. Now that’s not on white people.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
This is prime Great Stupid. NPR reported accurately on the Boston community, and was attacked as racist for revealing the underlying racism of the Race That Can Do No Wrong, thus doing “harm” by telling the truth. Then the infamously biased news source engaged in self-flagellation for not hiding facts unflattering to an anointed minority, promising to “do better.”
But apparently it’s being punished anyway, for not being unethical as usual. This is where “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” the twice filmed 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain comes in.
At the end of the story, dumb and manipulated Frank is facing execution for his lover’s murder, though her death was an accident. The two had gotten away with her husband’s murder, and Frank muses that just as the postman always rings a second time to make sure people receive their mail, fate has made sure he will pay the just price for his real crime, even though it comes in the form of a wrongful conviction.
For once, NPR reported a story straight and without shading it to please its progressive-leaning core audience, exposing black racism rather than enabling it. Now it’s being punished for practicing good journalism, after getting away with so much of the unethical kind.
Perfect.
Ethics Alarms 
Stopped supporting NPR when they stopped even pretending to be balanced. At least several years ago, NPR often had a contrary voice. It was almost as if they felt obligated to give 5 minutes of a different side amongst the 25 minutes of liberal view. (Case in point was Diane Rehm, whose own views were apparent but who generally has at least one dissenting guest in her program). No longer. Unfortunately, PBS is increasingly going in that direction. Always used to listen to PBS news hour. Now, where do I go? Certainly not CNN,MSNBC, Fox, or (increasingly) BBC — though BBC remains the best of the bunch. And if one wants to know any news outside our borders? BBC and France 24 give at least a smidge.
My parents had the exact same experience, Michael.
The words “national” and “public” imply content for the entire community. Products cannot be called “organic” or “made in the U.S.” unless they truly are. When the present administration is voted out of office, the FCC should deny PBS the use of “national” and “public” unless they provide appropriate time and content to different points of view. Otherwise, let the network call itself what it truly is — left wing propaganda.
That sounds suspiciously like a calling for competence and accountability in the community if they want to advance, rather than attempting to blame and guilt third parties for they’re failure. My guess is NPR truncated his statement to make it ambiguous and avoid “causing harm”.
Second.
He’s simply saying, “We should have run better candidates if we expected to win.”
“What NPR correctly noted is that “many” in Boston and elsewhere in Progressiveland care about color more than character and ability. ”
To coin a phrase – duh! That’s been known for two, maybe even three decades. The fact that black activists are out for blacks only is one of the greatest cases of “it isn’t what it is” that Americans still turn a blind eye to. I just sat through an hour and half of CLE (after a medical test required me to be anesthetized and left me unable to do much for the rest of the morning) in which black lawyers stressed that the key was making everyplace look like America, and that means 40% people of color in every partnership, every corporate boardroom, every legislature, everywhere, while maintaining that meritocracy was a myth. Bullshit, what they were saying is “white boy, step aside, we don’t just want A seat, we want YOUR seat.”
Well, the current VP is an example of what happens when someone who isn’t qualified is elevated for no reason other than color and gender. You get a failure you have to constantly cover for and make excuses for and defend. Obama at least had charisma. Harris has none, in fact she is downright unlikable.
This week’s epi of “FBI” provided an example of where that should end up. I won’t recap the whole episode, but suffice it to say Missy Peregrym’s Special Agent Maggie Bell lets a family emergency (which of course comes at EXACTLY the wrong moment) distract her just as a violent arrest is about to go down. At the end Jeremy Sisto’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine tells her he should probably have pulled her off the case, and, although she isn’t going to be immediately fired since no LEOs were killed, that “the people I thought were helping me the most, weren’t,” implying professional consequences are in the near future. It’s time for Biden, or whoever is pulling the strings, to pull Harris in a room and tell her that the person who is supposed to be helping the president the most, isn’t, and if she can’t do that, it’s time for her to be replaced by someone who will.
Maybe the black community will begin a “Defund NPR” movement? I could sign on to that.
Oh man… Spoiler alert… now I will know what happened in that 75 year old film. I guess there is no point in watching it now. I was finally ready too.
You mean the title wasn’t enough?
I’m still not clear on when Asian Americans or “of color” or white. They’re evidently “of color” compared to white people, but “white” compared to black people. Kind of like chameleons or those little things in Cracker Jack’s boxes that show a different images if they’re moved. You can’t tell your players without a lefty approved program, folks.
One of the things that really aggravates me about this story — that is such a joyous picture. You feel that this woman has achieved one of her lifelong dreams.
And then NPR goes and spews all over her supreme moment.
What a shabby thing to do.