Take a deep breath

Assassin's Creed - a baller game for sure - not the topic of discussion. Assassination however...

I'd like to propose a completely serious question here: If you had the ability and means to assassinate any one real person, who would it be?

Before your mind jumps to the person that you wanted to punch in high school, let me stop you for one second. I'm really serious here. This is totally weird, I know. I'm not exactly one to talk about killing people. But there are some truly fucking hateful people in this world!

So - as usual - I'm writing a blog when I should be working on a paper. I'm writing a midterm paper for a Minorities & Mass Media journalism class, and reading a book entitled Racism, Sexism & the Media. Basically, I'm learning about how racist white America is, has been, and will continue to be. It's disheartening, for sure, but easy to remember that there are many, many, many people out to constantly promote diversity and equality and an overall fairness to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual-orientation, etc.white males, and one white female.

In the last chapter I read (really only about 30 minutes ago), it briefly mentioned former Philidelphia television news anchor, Rich Noonan. Noonan worked for the local Fox News station, and in 2002, his contract with the station was not renewed. Having been a lead anchor at the station for roughly 10 years, he was angry, but not only because he was let go, but because his replacement was Dave Huddleston, an African-American anchor from Minneapolis. Noonan claimed that his contract was not renewed because he was white, filed a formal complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission seeking more than $300,000 in "compensatory and punitive damages" (whatever the fuck that means?). I would also like to point out, the other three members of Noonan's news team were two other yet.



I would also like to point out, I still haven't gotten to the person I'd like to whack

After reading that little bit of information, my first reaction was "What an ignorant asshole!" Rightly so! Philadelphia has a very large African-American population (approx. 43% of the overall population according to the 2000 census) and media-industry jobs, specifically journalism, should have that percentage reflected in the newsroom. That being said, this particular station should have had a more diverse employment long ago (and I admit, I'm definitely judging them a little because they are, in fact, a Fox News station). So, for a white male in a white male dominated newsroom (and society) to claim that he is being racially discriminated against when he is replaced by a black male is, clearly, absurd and majorly douchey.

Even though this story was not at all the focus of that chapter, it was one of the last things I read, and something that astonished me, so I wanted to look more into it (even though I will not be writing anything about this in my paper that I should be writing...). I wanted to know the following: Was Huddleston a qualified anchor and replacement for Noonan? Was this local Fox station only hiring Huddleston to boost their statistics, as an "affirmative action hire"***? Is Noonan a totally douche or is that station guilty of unjust hiring? Did Noonan win his lawsuit? Was anyone else at the station replaced by a minority?

Unfortunately, this wasn't a widely covered news story, and if it was, it happened in 2002 and the Philadelphia Daily News requires me to pay if I want to look through their archives soooo I can't tell you for sure. I do know that (of the few articles I found) not all commentary mentioned, or was aware of Noonan's replacement, and that Noonan was supposed to stay on the air through the end of February 2002 but apparently made some comment on air about the news-writing and was let go early. I cannot find this comment anywhere!

ALSO guess who supported Noonan! Ah yes, the good people at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Led by Pastor Fred Phelps, these are the same good people with the website deemed godhatesfags.com - the same people that protest at soldiers funerals and say that god created aids because he's angry at homosexuals and America. The same people that - ugh - you get the idea... whatever let Tyra tell it (and that's not something I normally say - but I didn't want to link to Bill O'Reilly). Also - I didn't know until now that apparently the WBC is NOT racist, just completely intolerant of everyone as a whole.



Again - STILL not to the person who I'd kill yet. Surprisingly. I know I've mentioned a few douches in here. Honestly, any member of the WBC is not one of those people. They are horrible people, to say the least, but they are based on religion, and that's just not worth my time. Also they're made up of families, and whether or not losing a family member would cause them to mourn or praise god, I have no idea, but I'm not out to destroy families. I'm only out to destroy one person. Still, they are so convinced that they are right, and they have a very strong community of about 70 people, that taking out one of them would result in them thanking god for strengthening them. Cults are an unknown force in human psychology that I will never understand. Ugh. It really grosses me out to talk about it actually, moving on.

On doing a basic google search for Rich Noonan, I was taken to a post on vnnforum.com (before you click, if you click, I apologize in advance for exposing you to the idiocracy on that site). On that page alone, there are only 7 comments (one is a comment within an article, with ignorant shit added in) and they are incredibly anti-semitic, and anti-African-American. So, of course, I explored a little more, found a few links, and ended up so fucking appalled that there are people who not only really, truly believe in white supremacy, but that they have so many followers! At first I thought that these people must be just completely uneducated, only to find out that, uh, no. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Vanguard News Network was founded by Alex Linder (DING DING DING!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!! CONGRATULATIONS ALEX LINDER! YOU ARE THE MOST QUALIFIED TO BE THE VICTIM OF A RANDOM ASSASSINATION!!!).


And since that picture gets cut off, let me present you with another one.


Why yes, he DOES look like a douchebag!

Linder "claims that the experience of working in mainstream journalism opened his eyes to an institutional anti-white bias in the field, and led him to take-up pro-white activism." HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?? Just submersing myself in a BOOK about mainstream journalism makes me almost shameful about being part of white America (although, to be fair - to myself - and to justify myself a little bit in this shame - I am of Jewish and Irish decent - so it's not like my ancestors had an easy breezy life or anything)! Anyway, Linder runs this site, which is like, the MOST racist site ever. It's motto - only slightly worse than "God Hates Fags" - is "VNN. No Jews. Just Right." (an oh so clever mock of CNN's motto - ah, you're a witty one Linder!) If you feel so inclined, you can find links to essays, blogs and other shit about the most hateful things ever towards jews, african-americans, latino-americans, native-americans, women, minority women, and pretty much the entire human race. Oh wait, except for caucasians of European decent (specifically German) in favor of preserving Western Civilization and halting racial (and intellectual) diversity. Awesome! Would you like to read his blog? I bet it'll make you pretty angry! Kirksville Today - go to town!

I just don't hate this guy for thinking what he thinks. I hate him for promoting it. I hate him for forming a community of support around these hateful ideas that have people so against embracing their fellow humans. I HATE him for thinking that being white is a symbol of racial and social superiority and that people should be concerned about preserving this precious, precious race. Uh hello! White America isn't going anywhere! I hate him for thinking that women are inferior to men (but to be fair, I hate all misogynist), but I hate him even more for speaking out against women. I hate him for being so ignorant as to think that white America DOESN'T have privileges in mainstream media and that there's an "anti-white bias". Ugh! FUCK YOU ALEX LINDER! I hope you trace back your heritage one day and you find that your great-great-great-great-grandfather was Jewish.

Okay - so I've already spent WAY too long on this blog entry (because I've actually been doing research for it - again - instead of what I should be doing) and I'm kind of outraged and frustrated at this guy (and at Shirley Phelps - I apologize for posting that youtube video, it's really hard to watch) and I've gotta quit now. My stomach hurts (either due to the adderall, the Red Bull, or the disgusting nature of the things I've been reading) and I'm thirsty. Fortunately my professor emailed me a while ago and gave me an extension on this paper (again) so I'm not fucked right now. Well, only a little bit anyway.


Have a good day! Go out and express kindness to some one new. And if you see Alex Linder, you tell him I'm on to him. You tell him I'm comin' to take his balls...

Also - if any of this made you mad (which I'm sure it did if you have a heart and you're NOT a white supremacist or crazy WBC member), look into the Anti-Defamation League. They are a large interest group whose goal is "to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens." Basically, they are an anti-hate group focused on promoting diversity and equality, and yes, they have events and groups in Austin (link on the picture). In addition to promoting equality, they also promote the separation of church and state, support the legal precedent that it is unconstitutional for the government to post the Ten Commandments in public places, and has also condemned the public school "Bible curriculum." AND they track and keep lists of various extremist groups and individuals in an effort to "monitor and expose those who are anti-Jewish, racist, anti-democratic, and violence-prone" and regularly releases reports on such groups. These are the good guys. And right now I am SO fucking thankful that they exist.



Also - I need a little bit of Obama Love right about now:



*** "affirmative action hire" is basically hiring a minority for the sake of having the minority on roster - this was a practice by broadcasters when the FCC started monitoring diversity within the newsroom (on air and in management) - this started before people stopped saying shit like "Well, minorities are just less qualified for the position" - thank god people eventually started to realize that yeah, minorities can be, and are, just as qualified as your average white guy - however, some broadcasters will still hire minorities just to say that they now have a black man as an anchor. but shit! for a while they would hire non-white females because they were "two-fers" and could mark them down twice as a minority and as a woman - the FCC called this cheating and busted their asses (btw I say "for a while" but this obvs still goes on in some places)!