Dear CNN …
I must confess, sometimes I do not listen to you. Occasionally, you’re just on and I’ve muted you in favor of music.
It’s only partially your fault. I’ve been in news media for a while and that whole gallows humor has definitely set in. I get why you guys sometimes have to talk about inane shit, but occasionally I just can’t bear to hear it.
I cannot tell you the countless joys muted news has brought me. Watching your busy screens and random, scrolling text set to my favorite vibrations and letting my imagination run wild has been a pursuit of mine for years.
Your friends over at Fox News are especially entertaining, if the tune is right. I’ve opined before that Shepard Smith set to Dethklok can show one a whole new way to look at the world. I used to be especially fond of listening to Lamb of God while Brit Hume was on, he was always so into scary shit … Likewise, O’Reilly goes great with some Immortal Technique. Maybe this somehow ties into my love of obscene contrast, but I digress.
The point is, sometimes I am not listening to you, CNN. As it so happened, Tuesday evening I was settling in for work and jamming some Last.fm when I looked up and saw this …
I briefly hesitated, unsure what to think. My first reaction was to snap a photo — and just in time too, as the graphic soon vanished. It was 5:34 p.m. CST. I waited until after work to share it.
So, staring at this Thing, I realized how much more entertaining some of these graphics are without audio. I kept the TV on mute as my head turned sideways … It dawned on me that they probably explained this away with some loosely defined economic analysis and maybe a couple people who simply disagree for the sake of being on television. I have no idea what kind of words can and did excuse this graphic.
After dwelling on it for a few hours, I don’t really care how it was explained. This almost strikes me as a grade-school piece of social programming.
What? The white woman has the small business? But the black man, who’s apparently bad (thus the ‘X’) is somehow with her, but also on the side of the big banks and he’s costing you TEN POINT FIVE BILLION DOLLARS AND DRIVING UP UNEMPLOYMENT TO TEN POINT TWO PERCENT?!?
Dey took eour Jarbs?!?
(Unemployment is actually closer to 17.5 percent.)
Is CNN’s graphics department really suggesting that The Black Man is on the side of the big banks, causing spiraling unemployment? And that he’s somehow got the white woman and small business to go along for the ride? AND SHE HAS A PEARL NECKLACE??? X HIM OUT!!!
Seriously, what the fuck?
(Also: did anyone else on True/Slant catch this? Any clue as to their excuse? Anyone care to offer their own?)
Sincerely,
Stephen C. Webster
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P.S. I know my theory is wrong, on the merits. I would never imply that’s what was being discussed during this particular segment. I’m just saying … WTF?
“It donned on me that . . . .”
Presumably you meant “It dawned on me that . . . .”, as in “Comes the dawn!”
Let’s play “Schindler’s List” for a moment. Think of how many jobs at the Associated Press could have been saved today had CNN not bought that huge screen and all of its technical accessories. Harry Cabluck, a veteran photographer, just lost his job in Austin, Texas, after serving the AP for 40 years. But the white blouse Wolf Blitzer has on there looks mighty pretty, huh? I bet she’s wearing all her makeup just in case Kim Jong Il shows up for that surprise interview, too. Watch CNN and fall asleep. Google “Harry Cabluck” and see history.
I find your piece a bit strange.I see it as darkness in general as always being depicted as evil, bad for eons, not so much trying to depict a black man specifically. She’s glowing with a beam of light on her via photoshop and he’s lurking in the darkness blurred et. But interesting.
No photoshop here. Projection TV + iPhone camera, uploaded direct to the blog.
In response to another comment. See in context »Amazing catch. It’s the weirdest thing since I watched CNN’s Richard Quest and thought… “Is he high on amphetamines or something?”
That graphic was definitely the product of the in-house graphic artist on day three… no, day four of the joo-joo tweak zone.