The American nation has always purported to treat all people equally not discriminating them by color, religion or class. These ideas and words run contrary to the real life experiences and day to day life of the general public. From the struggles of the civil rights movement to the riots in Washington DC in 1968 and the recent election of our nation’s first black president we have seen how race and class are still prevalent issues in our society. Old stereotypes and assumptions about intellect and competence still haunt Hispanic, black, and poor populations of our national commonwealth. Even those organizations and groups who profess to be on the side of the down trodden and marginalized can be found to slip into these crooked and misguided ways of viewing certain populations of our society. The populations they claim to represent.
A recent study was released by The Harmony Institute, a group that specializes in the science of influence, on behalf of Free Press a non-profit that advocates media reform. The study which is entitled “Net Neutrality For The Win: How Entertainment and the Science of Influence Can Save Your Internet” is a throwback to the days of racial segregation and bigoted thought. The piece commissioned by and presented by two groups that present themselves as enlightened and forward thinking is a clear tactic taken straight from the Republican playbook of manipulation to confuse the minority community. How in this day and age educated people can still believe that the idea that minorities are somehow easier to confuse and cannot understand logical well thought out arguments is absurd. Believing that they must resort to scare tactics or celebrity endorsements to motivate is beyond insulting. They probably assumed that minority groups would not understand the study itself either. They were wrong! Wrong about everything!