My Top 5 for 2010, listed in no particular order:
One: Terry Jones, the Florida pastor, who gained fleeting world-wide fame in the wake of his plan to torch thousands of Qurans on the anniversary of 911. The overpublicized and undereducated Jones is the author of “Islam Is Of The Devil.” Not surprisingly, he later admitted to never having read the Islamic Holy Book.
Two: Mainstream media’s propensity for ignoring African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans. According to Pew’s Research Center, when the U.S. media does cover these groups, their focus is on individuals, isolated incidents or controversies, rather than more socially significant trends and processes. While this study focused on early 2009 through early 2010, this trend continues up to the present time.
Three: DiversityInc’s column entitled, “Ask the White Guy.” Readers send questions to Luke Viscionti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, who then responds. As someone who is recognized as a “diversity expert,” it is hard for me to understand why he would have such a column except for publicity purposes. Can you imagine a column “Ask the Black Guy,” or “Ask the Muslim Guy.” What this column illustrates more than anything else is that white guys have the privilege of doing such a thing.
Four: The amount of cruelty and bullying that takes place on the Internet. Gossip and hatred, once confined to face-to-face interactions, now has found a new home online. Often, the false sense of anonymity provided by the Internet provides a ready-made conduit for this sort of thing. During the last year, the dangers of online harassment have become all too evident and disturbing.
Five: Recent news that American scientists purposely infected patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis decades ago. This NIH-funded experiment, led by the same researcher who was involved in the infamous Tuskegee experiment, points to a total lack of leadership and ethical misconduct that implicated many high-ranking individuals. Except for an apology by President Obama, very little has been made known about this “experiment.” Is it surprising that people who lack power, knowledge, and resources are often distrustful of health-care workers and our government in general?
Next blog: Diversity Consciousness Top 5