No, Newspaper, YOUR Apathy Is Why the Election Failed!

Today's Philadelphia Metro had a headline that was both clever and a show of how little they care:

If turnout's so low, why should we care?

It's simple why this is a misfire on their part: On election day, the only way you would have known there was an election was TWO LITTLE FUCKING ADS ON THE FRONT PAGE FOR JUDGE! No front-page story about an election! No, it was on page 2. To me, that's like saying, "Well, we don't care... but lets PRETEND to care."

The problem is that they are stating that since turnout was low, because nothing "exciting" was happening with the race, they have every right in the world to simply ignore it, to pretend like it was only happening in the slightest of ways. That the election that determined the very makeup of our local government, one where we aren't fighting or arguing about who should be our top leaders... we shouldn't know unless its INTERESTING?!

AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE?!

God damn it, THE MEDIA'S JOB IS TO MAKE BORING CRAP INTERESTING!

Take the lives of "celebrities", for example! I keep hearing about some reality show star couple arguing about their lives, or how some other start was shown naked. We can devote 30 minutes to trash celebrity gossip shows on CBS, NBC, and FOX, BUT WE CAN'T TAKE THE SAME TIME TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO CONTROL US?!?!

AND NO ONE IS SPARED HERE! Local news blogs, I'm looking at you bastards, too!

Coverage of the election was SCARCE AT BEST. Instead of taking the time to educate voters, devoting more time to this election, we were instead treated to stories about the FUCKING HIPSTER FUCKING GRIFTER! WHO THE FUCK CARES? Oh, wait, sorry, YOU BASTARDS DID! YOU decided the "Hipster Grifter" bullshit story was worthy of the time and effort needed to attract readers. And, my god, it worked! A boring, uninteresting story about a con-artist that, by and large, YOU supported (even if only in passing), became the biggest story possible.

Well, when you weren't posting events the day before or the day of them happening.

But that's me pissed off.


The fact of the matter is that I would be FAR too dismissive I didn't state the fact that, yes, they DID cover it and they DID try to make it matter. I would be lying if I said they didn't. Philebrity even went so far as to write this awesome article about who they were endorsing. If I had been a registered Democrat and not Independent, I would have gladly voted for him. City Paper also tried hard, and I do respect them all for it.

My rantings, my anger, me pissed off? It all comes from a pretty simple, and pretty fair place; that the turnout was abysmal and, on the surface and to the casual observer, this failed due to lack of media saturation. And, really, that's what it was; Lack of saturation. I guess we all were too tired from the last Presidential election to pay attention.

In turn, we've seen a man who let violent criminals plea bargain only to kill again as DA, the same-old controller, and given City Council the power to pull almost any bullshit it wants.

God damn, I fucking hate this place sometimes...

The list of election results are still coming in through my favorite election-night website, 6ABC.com. A full list of winners, losers, and how fucked we are can be seen here.

Photo: Rikard Larma

Our Free Press is Now Propoganda Again

I keep forgetting that people never learn from the past.

Eight years ago on this day, an idiot was elected president. Despite that, the media simply ate up whatever Bush did or say and didn't question anything. They simply stayed content to follow the lead, to do whatever he said, and when it came time for the war on Iraq, they went with the name they were given. No objective reporting, no warnings, no original thought. Instead, we were fed lies and propaganda and were told it was news.

Today we get to see history made; we get to see the end of the last 8 years of Bush and the start of a new president. I won't echo his words, and I won't simply say I agree with what he has to say. His actions will say more than anything he could give in a speech. I will say, though, that I do have fairly high hopes.

Just remember this quote as we go into the next 4 years: The Time to Ask Questions is When No One Is.

SHUT UP WITH THIS "STATE OF BLACK PHILADELPHIA" CRAP!

I'm writing this on behalf of no one but myself, but also for anyone else, black, white, hispanic, asian, whatever, who is sick and tired of the non-stop dribble that is being haled by the local media as the "greatest insight on blacks in Philadelphia ever!" Let's get something straight; you would have to live in either a hole in the ground or live on the moon for the last 50-odd years if you didn't know that, sadly, blacks have it a little bit harder than whites, and in Philadelphia it isn't much better.

I wanted to write today that the report was 100% unabashed stupid, unnecessary, and a slap in the face to all the hard-working black people who aren't the beer-drinking, pot-smoking, lazy, welfare check depending idiots that 90% of all media (even black-based media, BET I'M LOOKING AT YOU!) depicts us. We also do not all fall into the insanely-successful blacks who are doctors, lawyers, and live in massive homes.

I speak of the blue-collard workers, the men and women who do work hard, save their money, and live happy, wonderful lives. It isn't glamorous or perfect by any means, but to say that, in essence, we suck and need help is a vast overstatement!

The report is true that there is a gap between blacks and whites in terms of earning and quality of life. I won't dismiss raw data and fact; Philadelphia is becoming more and more a city of the haves and have-not's. Nearly 40 percent of the residents here are poor or on welfare, and those that are tend to be predominately black or hispanic.

At the same time, to automatically assume asinine concepts such as forced integration will help, or giving (and I stress GIVING) blacks more jobs instead of having them earn them doesn't help as well.

The problem lies in education more than anything. For now, let's focus on education for now. Fact is, the Philadelphia Public School system is in terrible shape and needs a lot of work. We have a massive drop-out rate and if you live in a poor area, your more likely not to try and succeed. That isn't always the case, obviously, but it tends to be the trend. On the other side of the spectrum, more white families can afford to send their kids to private schools. So while Dick and Jane are going to private school and getting a decent education, Nasir and Laquita are stuck in public school with 35 other kids in their class not really learning anything.

The solution is very simple; Improve the public school system! We have it for a reason, and that reason is to have a well-informed and intelligent public. We want people who will be productive members of society, and our current education system makes it very, very hard.

I Finally Congratulated Nutter

Not exactly headline making news, but it was worth mentioning. I'm a pretty good sport, so on the night of the election I called Nutter to congratulate him on his win. I'm not sure he ever got the message, though, and I'm sure I didn't leave a call-back number for him, either.

At any rate, on Tuesday I was downtown to complain directly to Czar, I'm sorry, Councilman Darrell Clarke about his insane new bills. I went down dressed as myself, so I was more comfortable than usual. After I left, I ran into Rikard Larma. He is the awesome guy who did the photo shoot of me when I was on the cover of the Philadelphia Metro. He's since taken photos of me at the big Anti-War Rally that took place at City Hall in March.

When I ran into him on Tuesday, he wanted to get some more photos and ask me about how the election went, as well as my feelings. I told him I was OK with the results and was OK with Nutter as long as he never declares a Crime Emergency. He tried to call Brian X. McCrone, the guy who did that awesome story about me, but his hands were tied. After speaking a bit, an old friend popped up! We talked a bit when Rikard interrupted. "Hey! Nutter is here!"

I pardoned myself to walk over and shake his hand and say Hi and congrats. Nutter was surrounded by 5 guys (You know, I can't tell you how many times I wished I had either bodyguards or a "posse"!) and some photographers. He was in a rush, so I congratulated him, he said thanks, and walked off.

Rikard got a good photo out of it, and the Philadelphia Metro blog did a little article about it. Good time was had by all!

PS: BRIAN! If you read this, I still owe your lunch! Send me an e-mail when you can!