Are You A Good White Person?
October 28th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under
By nemski
Fox “News” commissioned Zogby run a poll for them regarding free speech reports FAIR Blog. Here’s one of the questions:
Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions. Do you agree or disagree that this presents a threat to free speech?
Um . . . um . . .
h/t MediaMatters
Comment by Unstable Isotope on 28 October 2009 at 9:08 am:
I doubt the teabaggers would consider me a good white person.
You didn’t mention this – this is a completely imaginary policy of the Obama administration. Yeah, I know you’re shocked that Fox lies.
Comment by Steve Newton on 28 October 2009 at 9:09 am:
So is he saying that gay Caucasian males are not “good white people”?
Comment by Unstable Isotope on 28 October 2009 at 9:10 am:
Yes, I think that’s exactly what the poll is saying.
Comment by nemski on 28 October 2009 at 9:11 am:
Steve, that is correct.
UI, I do not have the time to track down the lies of Fox “News”. I just go with my first assumption which is Fox “News” always lies.
Comment by nemski on 28 October 2009 at 9:12 am:
If you are gay and black — Fox “News” hates you.
Comment by Progressive Mom on 28 October 2009 at 9:19 am:
It’s only a threat to free speech if they are GOOD white people; bad white people can be replaced with gays and African-Americans.
I wanna be on the death panel that decides who’s good and who’s not: just like Santa!
Comment by pandora on 28 October 2009 at 9:26 am:
Good white people = Real Americans.
Sarah Palin told me so last year.
Comment by Unstable Isotope on 28 October 2009 at 9:27 am:
Are there good gays and African-Americans in their mind? What if a “good” white person is replaced by Clarence Thomas? Is that then o.k.?
Comment by RSmitty on 28 October 2009 at 9:42 am:
How do you think they consider Shep Smith, given his occassional outbursts against the bag-o-nuts© theories, policies, etc.?
Comment by Suzanne on 28 October 2009 at 9:52 am:
Glad I never aimed at being labeled a good white person…
Comment by cassandra_m on 28 October 2009 at 9:53 am:
Me too!
Comment by MJ on 28 October 2009 at 11:24 am:
who you calling white?
Comment by D.C. on 28 October 2009 at 1:41 pm:
“Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions.”
He did say that good white people in power should step down etc. etc.
“this is a completely imaginary policy of the Obama administration. Yeah, I know you’re shocked that Fox lies.”
He did say this. But, I guess that doesn’t matter, right?
Comment by Brooke on 28 October 2009 at 1:57 pm:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/zogby-good-white-people-poll-question-causes-uproar/
This is what we’re talking about, right? This is the closest to an original source I’ve found yet.
Comment by Brooke on 28 October 2009 at 2:04 pm:
I was mid edit when my browser quit. :p However, 538 says it’s a quote without context from something in 2005. Is that what you’re referencing, DC? Do you have the original material?
Comment by lizard on 28 October 2009 at 2:30 pm:
The term “good white people” is a quote from Mark Lloyd, Obama’s Diversity Czar at the FCC
Conference on Media Reform: Racial Justice
May 2005
Mark Lloyd:
During the Clinton Administration, largely because of Congress who was then very concerned about affirmative action and believed that – although affirmative action largely benefited white women – that affirmative action was largely viewed as something that was benefiting blacks. Not necessarily any of the other racial groups (his laughter) but blacks. And that blacks had gotten enough and it was time to do something about this. These affirmative action programs needed to be stopped. We have not made much improvement since we’ve begun to pull back (sic) from those things in the mid 1990s.
The conversation about how we communicate with each other despite being aware of the clear impressions that I know that I make in rooms that I walk into, when people hear my voice, is a challenge. How much do I express the… I think really pretty obvious complaints of black Americans in rooms full of whites.
This… there’s nothing more difficult than this. Because we have really, truly good white people in important positions. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem. We’re in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.
……
This hit the right blogs in mid september… I’ll try and find a audio link for you
Comment by nemski on 28 October 2009 at 2:32 pm:
The fact of the matter lizard and dc is that the poll question is extremely skewed and way out of context. The poll question is bullshit and you know it though I’m sure you will continue to argue anyway.
Comment by lizard on 28 October 2009 at 2:35 pm:
http://www.nakedemperornews.com/MARK%20LLOYD.jpg
audio of Mark Lloyd may 2005
Comment by cassandra_m on 28 October 2009 at 2:36 pm:
And apparently we are not to notice that no matter what Mark Lloyd may have said 4 or 5 years ago, Mark Lloyd certainly did not write or ask that poll question.
No wonder RICO here can’t get past his fry station.
Comment by Scott P on 28 October 2009 at 2:38 pm:
My reading of that is that he was saying that there is a limited number of high positions in the industry, and that they are predominantly held by whites. They are also held by people who are good at their jobs. (Hence, “good, white people”, not “good white people”. The “good” and the “white” are separate, not linked, traits.)
And I would have to hear how he said it, but I am confident that the last line should be, “But we’re in a position where you have to say, ‘Who is going to step down so someone else can have power?’” In other words, he’s saying that it’s not practical to just kick out the current, compitent people just because they’re white. He’s not suggesting that that’s what we should do. So not only is the poll question worded very leadingly, it’s based on an incorrect interpretation of what was said.
Comment by lizard on 28 October 2009 at 2:40 pm:
what context would you add?
given the coments above, I thought context might be helpfull.
Why did Zogby poll the question? because someone paid them to. Why did someone pay, to get Mark Lloyd back in the news.
Comment by Progressive Mom on 28 October 2009 at 2:41 pm:
Maybe it’s just me, but I think there’s a large contextual difference between the “good white people” in these two quotes.
The phrase “force…to step down” appears only in one. The phrase “really, truly good white people” appears only in one and demonstrates some passion on the part of the speaker. One apparently was said in remarks at a conference on media reform, and was a personal opinion. The other offers that opinion as if it is administrative policy.
Words matter. Context matters.
A quote from 5 years ago hit the “right blogs” last month. I smell a dash of desperation along with the usual deception.
Comment by cassandra_m on 28 October 2009 at 2:43 pm:
Quite — meaning that what Mark Lloyd had to say a few years back doesn’t mean anything in terms of this poll. Just that someone else wants to talk about good white people.
So why isn’t RICO posting this somewhere where someone actually is interested in the 4 year old quote?
Comment by lizard on 28 October 2009 at 2:51 pm:
I am not suprised that you have trouble understanding the relevance of Mr Lloyds statements on race and the media… it’s not like he is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Chief Diversity Officer… oh wait, he is.
Comment by cassandra_m on 28 October 2009 at 3:05 pm:
And this has what to do with the poll question written and asked by Zogby? Because that is the topic — the poll sent out recently. Not what Lloyd said 4 or 5 years ago.
But I’m not surprised that you can’t keep your eye on the ball here — too busy serving up those fries today, yes?
Comment by Progressive Mom on 28 October 2009 at 4:45 pm:
If the poll asked “what do you think of this statement made 4 years ago?”, it would be reasonable. It would have no value, but it would be reasonable.
To take a noun and two adjectives from the statement and put it into a push question (“If you get fired because a gay, Black person needs a job….”) is not reasonable.
But it has great value to a party organ (!) like Fox.
Comment by Rhymes With Right on 28 October 2009 at 7:26 pm:
If a Republican made such a racially charged statement, would you folks put a statute of limitations on considering it in determining that individual’s fitness for public office? Would you put an expiration date on it after which it could no longer be fairly quoted?
Somehow I doubt it.
But when it comes down to it, what you are really suggesting is that it is unacceptable for Fox News to accurately quote an administration official and probe the implications of the policies they suggested while they are out of office — if that official is part of a liberal Democrat administration. If that official were a part of a Republican administration, you would be calling for his/her head.