A while back we here in Paris had some problems over some silly little high school girl named Shukwanda Cotton (I bet I misspelled her name. Can't have a normal name like "Sue" or "Karen" now can we?)
Anyway, she got herself into trouble. Quiet sometime later, somehow or another, she managed to get national attention. We had all kinds idiots from the New Black Panthers, NAACP, and even that big, fat dolt Al Sharpton snooping around town raising all kindsa hell and telling us how bad are town is.
I gotta tell ya, it really pisses me off when someone comes along that doesn't know me and decides they need to tell me what to do with my life. I'm more of the mind, "If I want to know what you think, I'll ask." Same difference for the town as a whole. It's not appreciated for a buncha outsiders to just show up and tell ya how bad they think your town sucks.
But heck, seeings how the world over always seems to know what's right for someone else, I figured I'd go ahead and toss in my two cents concerning the town of Jena, LA. Actually, my perspective isn't so much on the town nor it's people. I couldn't care less if they take turns pounding each other's skulls into the pavement or hanging each other from "the old oak tree." Ok, well, I would disapprove of them being so violent. But still, that'd be their problem. I've got my own.
To try and catch up on the story I read the Jena Times. (By the way, that seems to be pronounced "Jee-nuh.") You too can read the chronology of events here. Anyhow, according to the local newspaper, there really wasn't much in the way of "racial tensions" throughout town. The whole "noose incident" was was handled and everyone went back to life as usual.... sorta.
I'm not gonna repeat what you've prolly already read and heard about. I do encourage you to read the chronology. It appears to me that the true provocateur of bedlam has been none other than the media!
Yesss, yes, our good friends with the pens and the cameras always looking for a juicy story to tell. We all know that they feast on mayhem, death, destruction, and scandals. Much like Jameson from Spiderman. Ya know how he always says things like, "No one wants to read about a buncha do-gooders! People wanna read about villians....badguys! And that's what I'll given em. Spiderman... the villian!
Don't misunderstand me, people who assault other people have to face the music. Which makes me wonder why so many people are flocking to "support the Jena six." Why? Why do people want to rush to support and excuse a group of kids who have performed a heinous act of violence? What are you hoping to accomplish? Are you wanting these kids to see the world as, "I can pummel someone for no good reason and the world will excuse it?" Why are so many people flocking to scream "We want peace" while supporting violent behavior? I mean heck, everyone threw a big fit when that football player, Haynesworth wasn't it, stomped on another guys head. Why can a group of guys get together to stomp on another guy and it should be ok?
But that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to point a finger at the media.
It's the same kinda b.s. we had here in Paris and it sounds to me to be a lot like what's happening in Jena.
