Joe Scarborough unloaded on Sean Hannity this morning for using racism to justify George Zimmerman’s actions, and to gin up his ratinga.
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Transcript:
Scarborough: we’re talking about how black men are doing in society this past week. It seems to me that the op-eds that you read over and over again, whether it’s in your paper or the “Wall Street Journal” or other papers say black men aren’t doing well. Crime levels are high. Then there’s this unexplained leap to justify George Zimmerman’s actions of walking through a suburban neighborhood armed chasing down a young black man, being told by a dispatcher to get away, and him continuing to chase down a young black men. I find it so ironic that we were enraged in the ’60s and ’70s when politicians would try to generalize. It’s society’s fault so society needs to give African-Americans who are committing crimes a free pass. Now it’s the opposite. It seems, and what’s depressing is, this isn’t confined to the far right talk show radio hosts. Sean Hannity has been ginning this up so badly that Michael Savage, Michael Savage has been saying that he’s been irresponsible and that he’s using race to gin up his ratings in a way that’s bad for America. That’s how extreme Sean Hannity’s position has been. That’s where we find ourselves today in 2013 that now young African-American males are presumed guilty because of larger societal trends. We have turned this on its ear. now we’re being told, we’re reading in “The Washington Post” and “Wall Street Journal” that black men are presumed guilty if they are wearing the wrong things.
Hannity has been beating the race baiting drum harder than anyone else in conservative media. He has even managed to out race bait Rush Limbaugh. The Fox News host is doing exactly what Scarborough said. He is exploiting racism and racial divides in order to justify what George Zimmerman did. He is also trying to jack up his eroding ratings. However, this isn’t ratings based desperation on Hannity’s part. It’s just what he does. Michael Savage is banned in the UK because of his constant use of hate speech on his radio show, and he thinks Hannity has gone too far. The truth is that we need more people on the left and right calling out the Sean Hannitys and Rush Limbaughs of right wing media.
Sean Hannity is cashing in on our nation’s ugly history of racism, and he won’t be stopped unless more people stand up and call him out.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
