NBC and Affirmative Action

MSNBC has decided to take a step from the Fox News playbook. While Fox News tends to have a conservative spin on its coverage of news and politics, MSNBC has decided to capture the other end of the viewership by taking a decidedly liberal/progressive turn.

One point of disagreement between liberals and conservatives is affirmative action. Conservatives would state that affirmative action is government-imposed racism – forcing companies and educational institutions to make decisions based on skin color. Liberals would argue that prejudice is so ingrained in our society that race-base quotas and goals are needed to overcome institutionalized bias.

So what does this have to do with MSNBC/Fox News?

Tim Russert’s son Luke recently graduated from college and he was immediately hired by NBC to be a reporter covering the young voter angle on politics. Now, I saw a few of Luke’s reports, and let’s just say that he’s not ready to be a field reporter for the local news in my tiny market local station. And herein lies the question: how exactly does a kid right out of college get a high profile, highly coveted job right out of college with NO EXPERIENCE? It’s obvious of course. It’s his connection through his deceased father. Realistically, it’s not all that different than how a significant portion of decent jobs are obtained in the U.S. It’s the reason why the CEO’s nephew with the thin resume gets the promotion over the applicants with stellar track records. The guy with the union job in the factory makes sure that his son gets the job on the production line with the over the top benefits. This happens. All. The. Time.

So to me, affirmative action is less about skin color, and more about connections (or lack thereof). Affirmative action would not be needed if companies committed to hiring people based on qualifications and talent, and not on their family tree. So I find it more than ironic that the liberal-leaning NBC/MSNBC news people executed this high profile nepotism. They could choose to do the right thing … instead they choose to encourage the government to force them to do the right thing.

Where’s Keith Olbermann’s special commentary on this?

Change We Can Believe In?

I'm a bit disappointed to read about this. I don't believe that this fits in with his change message. This is 'politics as usual' as far as I'm concerned:


Anti-pork watchdogs, for example, point to the $1.8 million in five earmarks for Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, which ran $8 million in the black last year and has embarked on a four-year, $100 million fundraising campaign. With that kind of money, why should taxpayers fund a $400,000 program earmarked by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to help the aquarium conduct a program aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency, watchdog groups ask.


http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/NEWS02/806080443&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Paterno Versus the Yell Leader

The Alamo Bowl had no real significance to anyone beyond Penn State and Texas A&M fans this year. That all changed a bit when this clip of a Aggie yell leader started making the rounds during the slow news holiday period:




Many people were upset about the blatant disrespect to Joe Paterno, with the comments about how he needs a casket, etc. JoePa shrugged it off, and once again I agree with Joe. While it wasn't the smartest thing to insult Paterno at a joint pep rally, college kids have done dumber things. No ... my strong reaction was to two other aspects of the clip. (1) WTF is "yell leader", what's with all of the goofy motions and movements, etc. (2) Why was the story that he was telling so stupid? There was nothing funny or interesting about it. In theory, this guy performs regularly in front of a big crowd, right? Does this type of rambling pass for entertainment in Texas?

After a little research, I found my answer to issue (1). Here's any entry in wikipedia about the yell leaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yell_Leader

With regard to issue (2), apparently you have to go to Texas A&M to understand. It seems that they have a LOT of traditions there, with no concern for how ridiculous they are. There's a short story by Shirley Jackson called "The Lottery". Maybe they should cover this work in a course at Texas A&M.

Just because it is tradition doesn't make it right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery