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Roger Farinha

Founder, New American Spring

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What is the scope of subtle racism in America today?

I just came back from seeing the film "Lincoln" in the movie theater today. In the movie previews before the feature, I saw a trailer on the hunt for and killing of Osama Bin Laden-- for the movie "Zero Dark Thirty." I noticed how there was no feature of President Obama whatsoever in the film trailer, much less a prominent feature, as he is entitled to have, given his pivotal role in the feat. I intuitively realize this is a form of subtle racism, as some "military people" don't like the idea of an African American commander in chief.

Is my intuition right? What are the forms of subtle racism in America today?

Topics: Democrats Obama Racism america osama republicans
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  • greg dahlen 30+

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    Nov 24 2012: I'd like to think your intuition is wrong, Roger, although I admit I'm not sure. Hollywood moviemakers are pretty liberal, so they might be quite inclined to praise the African-American president. Therefore, if he doesn't appear, there might be some other reason. Possibly they might be trying to "tease" you, for example, if you were really interested in Obama's role in catching Bin Laden, and you didn't see any mention of it in the trailer, you might be drawn to see the whole movie, and plunk down your ten or fifteen bucks. Or maybe they wanted to make an exciting trailer, and they think scenes of the military operatives are more interesting, "exciting," dynamic, than scenes of a man in a shirt and tie in an office.

    I slightly doubt that too many military people have strong negative feelings about Obama being black. Many black people serve in the military, don't they? It's more conceivable to me that military people might not like Obama's politics, but I don't know whether that's true. In any case, the filmmakers ultimately control the trailer's content, not the military. I would guess Obama has a substantial role in the actual film.

    Perhaps there is a celebration here of the military. After all, Obama may have taken some political risks in ordering this mission, but the military operatives actually risk their lives, risk being shot and killed.
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      Roger Farinha

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      Nov 24 2012: What celebration of the military wouldn't prominently feature their commander in chief? They did prominently feature that "Jen" woman who made the intelligence call about Bin Laden though...

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