Racism

"A recent poll conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN found that whites, and blacks disagree on how serious a problem racial bias is in the United States" - cnn.com

Is America that oblivious to racism that a poll has to be conducted to determine this? Or maybe it takes Michael Richards to go on a racist rant that would make Klan's men blush to bring this issue to the fore front? It is never as simple as it seems.

The media has great control over what the majority of Americans are thinking about. The various media outlets try their best to inform the masses of what they deem worthy news, all the while attempting to entertain and, some believe, influence their audience. Without this readily available, easily accessible information, Americans would not have known of such blatant socials ills of this nation such that were illuminated by the Hurricane Katrina disaster. It is this aspect - readily available, easily accessible - that makes the media one of the most beneficial and damaging component of a Democracy. This is because it forces the media to report on sensational and entertaining news, rather content that is important. Half of the time, news that is important is sensational, but the other half of the time, it is merely a distraction to what is really going on in this country. This is the reason that Americans are so oblivious to the racist tendencies that are in most of them, and why this opinion differs between whites, and blacks.