05 September 2008

I Don't Care For Roland Martin

The television industry has a lot of fat in it, a lot of people and practices that could be shown the door. Evidence: Roland Martin. As far as I can see, CNN keeps the guy employed in order to include the non-D.C. "black voice" around. Not a bad idea, if they had only managed to find a guy who had a perspective slightly larger than the South Side of Chicago and the urban black community.

This is a guy who felt the problem with Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "God Damn America" sermon wasn't that it was the delusional conspiratorial ramblings of a militant apologist for dictators, rather it lacked context. Possibly because he is a long-term friend of Rev. Wright? It's safe to say that anytime CNN airs a significant story on any issue relating to the black community, Roland Martin will be close behind, explaining the "context" of the "black perspective." Again, not a bad idea in theory, but the execution is condescending and insulting. I don't need him to come on TV and warn the GOP that "community organizers" are important, dammit, and Palin and Rudy are meanie-heads for making fun of them. I don't need to have Roland Martin explain away some idiotic remarks from a few people who happen to be black. I don't need him to relentlessly hype positive stories about the black community. Black Americans aren't a foreign race in need of a translator.

Furthermore, Martin likes to position himself as the ultimate truth-seeker, a man uninhibited by biases or relationships. Several times on TV and in print he has railed against the "hijacking" of Christianity by right-wingers and demanded a solution, something that (surprise) meshes exactly with his own views. He also has managed to exploit the MSM double-standard on religion for his own promotion. It's been long observed that the media is only comfortable with religion when discussed by minorities. A Democrat stumps in a black church? He/she's reaching out to a community in need of representation. Republican talks in a church? Here comes theocracy! For the past year or so, I have yet to see a discussion of Christianity that didn't include Roland Martin in a significant role.

I don't want to call for Martin's dismissal. He has every right to make his positions known (much like I'm doing now). This is America after all. But one look at his personal website shows Martin is simply another self-promoting media "star" that is, as Texans say, "all hat and no cattle." That doesn't make him any better or any worse than Geraldo Rivera, Bill O'Reilly, or Lou Dobbs (okay, he's better than Lou Dobbs, but that's not exactly a high hurdle), but I'm irritated that I'm supposed to treat him any differently than those guys. They're all asses.

No comments: