Welcome to America’s Hunger Games

There are many reasons why I don’t watch much television. Take away the fact that cable is insanely expensive. Subtract the fact that all my sports teams have no respect for my life. Just minus the fact that great shows rarely exist and focus on the fact that television has become a tool.

What’s considered good TV? Anything that Shonda puts out? The WWE? The Walking Dead? How about reality shows? Let’s think about reality shows and how “real” they are. I can’t tell if some of these shows are fake but most of these reality stars get paid with the goal of advancing their careers. Perhaps we lost the sense of creativity some where when watching rich people slapping each other around is more popular than sitcoms. But that’s really not the “good TV” we’ve been privy too lately, has it?

The drama we’ve been watching unfold in Ferguson is reality TV. It’s important to note that anyone who has seen this show before knew what was going to happen. There were no such thing as spoilers because we all knew there would be no indictment but things kept dragging on. I knew that there were going to wait until the week of Thanksgiving to make this announcement. Why? Because it made sense in a sick way.

They were gonna wait until the last minute so that people couldn’t make travel plans to Ferguson. I’m sure they thought that the holiday season would make it hard for people to protest…unless there was a desire to have the opposite effect. Think about it, the Governor calls for a state of emergency prompting the national guard to come just days before this announcement. Clearly they expected some thing to go down. Monday rolls around and they tell the media outlets that a verdict will be announced, but no time was given. So that gives the various news channels time to gather. Then they say it will happen at 6pm CST. Then they postpone it until 8pm CST but still have a pre-press conference. This is like the meeting before the meeting.

So the time finally arrives and they makes us wait about 20 minutes before the ever boring District Attorney Robert McCulloch begins to monologue about how everyone else but Darren Wilson is to blame for this mess. The speech was so long that it just seemed like it was all done for ratings. Then, as expected, the no indictment charge is announced and people lose their minds.

Now, one of the most important things here is the timing of all of this. As McCulloch is taking questions there is pop up on the screen saying that Obama is about to speak. Now, if you know anything about presidential speeches, you never know when they will actually start. But just as the clock hit 9:59, McCulloch wraps up and when the 10pm hour hits the President speech starts. Like fucking clockwork. Of course the President goes on TV talking about how people need to remain calm meanwhile on the split screen you see rioters breaking windows of a police car. He mentions “Good TV” in his speech. I’m not entirely convinced that was an accident. I made up my mind right then and there that this was all a coordinated effort to show that people of color are animals.

Also take note that the National Guard was no where to found when buildings started to burn. So what were they guarding? (I know the answer, do you?)

They could have made this announcement in the morning but they knew that if they timed it right, the power of television will distract people, like an Ebola outbreak, from the real issue. We have a problem in this country and not everyone sees it and that’s part of the problem. I’ve made it clear several times over the last few years that everything is about race but many people don’t see it that way, so I guess we’re all just making it up.

Most people believe what’s being presented to them with no question and it is those people that are stuck on the 24 hour news channels as they spill garbage. They are all guilty in some way: Fox News, CNN, & MSNBC for trying to grab that all mighty dollar for ratings. But it is the folks at ABC that get the prize for landing the interview of the year. Darren Wilson gets to tell his story about slaying the demon and the majority eat it up faster than Thanksgiving turkey. Welcome to America’s Hunger Games.