So many news stories these days, on the lefty-side of our weird bifurcated information landscape, are about The First ____ to serve as ____ in American history. It’s usually a racial or sexual orientation thing, like the first Asian postmaster of the state of West Virginia, the first time Colorado has elected an openly gay governor, the first Siamese Twins ever elected as Insurance Co-Commissioners of the state of Nevada. Whatever it is, it’s always essentially the same article. Journalism by Mad Libs.
And yes, I will readily admit that there is value in having representation, diverse representation. Sure, the thing itself is a good development…but the stories are having the unintended effect of turning off white people at an alarming speed. Not just white people. Most people. It’s the same story every time. We get it. It’s people. Enough. We’re doing better with the race thing. Great. Done, move onto the real stories. I’m not sure that these stories aren’t on some level DESIGNED to divide us (ironically if you think about it).
The day of the first Obama inauguration was a big symbolic day for America. Let the balloons drop in celebration of the fulfillment of a long-held dream come true, everyone can run for president, black people worldwide are now officially granted a seat at the symbolic table. Great day.
But the very next day, he’s just the president. Not the black president. The president. And yet large swathes of the media were so enamored with the symbolism that they, and by extension we, forgot that, as Americans, we’re supposed to harass the president into doing the right thing, and that his skin color is irrelevant after we’ve cleaned up the falling balloons. BUT WE DIDN’T.
Instead, we got trapped in this weird notion of the symbolism trumping the reality. And we’re still there. Journalists are simply less willing to question the actions of people of certain minority groups. And that ain’t equality, it’s just rearranging the hierarchy. Equality is questioning EVERYONE. Equality is recognizing our shared humanity and then harassing the hell out of our leaders, regardless of the amount of melanin in their parents’ skin.
The right-wing side of the news landscape, of course, does harass the new first people, often gleefully and with an undercurrent of the evil side of our past. They’re right about the importance of the harassment, but they take it too far.
These first stories routinely drown out bigger news, too. There can be a volcanic eruption in Hawaii, an asteroid nearly missing Earth and an ongoing war in Eastern Europe, all in one day, but what gets the headline? The first “Shelection” in a Michigan gubernatorial race. Swear to God, they called it a Shelection (which seems unironically wildly insulting to women).
I do think we’ll get there eventually. Actual equality is possible, and we’re on the road toward it. No doubt. I, even, do think the symbolism matters, but only for a day. I mean, at some point we’ll just run out of firsts. Right?
