Cheap News

Submitted by Executive Direc... on April 30, 2008 - 4:26pm.

At one point, Jeremiah Wright, thrust onto the national stage by the viral spread of video clips, offered all Americans an opportunity to engage in a serious national conversation about racism. A few took the opportunity to engage in such conversations, including his former parishioner.

But that opportunity's been squandered by both the preacher and the press.

Looking at the preacher, I see a man relishing his sudden capture of the spotlights and headlines. He's so good at what he does. But what he does is not good. It's clever and cynical and self-serving.

Looking at the press, well, once again, I just see laziness: It's deadline time and thank God we don't have to worry about what the voters might be thinking. We don't have to make notes about the complexities of high gasoline prices, gas taxes, mortgage foreclosures or any other aspect of the economic realities that face American voters. War? what war? It's much easier to quote Jeremiah Wright and run a few more video clips. Cheap news.

Even the saint of all journalists, Bill Moyers, who attempted to dig to the back story on Rev. Wright, seemed not to be immune from the kind of celebrity journalism he's deplored. His interview offered some insight, but also a good deal of awe before the oracle.

I've been an advocate of Jeremiah Wright and his strong preaching, his powerful witness in the pulpit. But now that he's taken to the spotlight to grab new headlines, I do not hear a powerful witness to the liberating love of God. I do not hear "differentness" honored, but rather mocked. And I wonder if we can ever talk about American's Original Sin of slavery and racism, or if we are all still in bondage to it.

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