LOS ANGELES, CA – Yesterday, Google alerts informed me of an article that mentioned me from NHK Japan. I remember them coming to my Larry Elder rally last month and was surprised this article was just released. Mistake number one: why did it take almost two months to release an article about a rally that happened on September 4th, way after the September 14th election? One of the key components in media is timeliness.
I actually really liked this article because while I take to task the media a lot, now I have something tangible to dissect. So let’s get to the heart of the article.
Credibility To Weigh In On Foreign Elections?
The article itself simply needs to position itself and its assumptions better. I am always wary about foreign news outfits. For example, as a journalist myself, it would be very weird for me to start weighing in on Japanese politics. Even if they got an American journalist to cover this, did they vet their writer carefully? In the end, this came off like a partisan hit piece instead of a good opinion editorial that encouraged thought and nuance. Andrew, I get that my opinions on issues are triggering to you, but your lack of journalistic integrity also makes me uncomfortable.
The False Left-Right Paradigm
But let’s get to the points. The biggest issue I have with those who don’t understand American politics or the voters in general is the constant fallacy by our media to paint things from a left-right political spectrum perspective. It’s been talked about so much that it has become conventional wisdom. I don’t necessarily blame Andrew for this. He doesn’t know any better.
Yet my experience as a community organizer tells quite a different story. I speak to so many “average” people in the community who have quite a mix of political opinions and don’t fit neatly into “Democrat” or “Republican”. There are also varying degrees of passion: one person may really be focused on education issues and another is purely on business regulations and yet another is purely focused on immigration. There are a lot of one issue voters out there and that’s why their voting habits swing, depending on which party they perceive is treating their issue the best. Speaking solely from a left-right paradigm is lazy and disenfranchises most Americans.
Statements Out Of Context & Passing Accusations As Fact
Most importantly there was a huge logical fallacy in the twisting of Donald Trump’s statement on Mexican illegals and other out-of-context statements as “far right”. If one were to go beyond the headlines, there was much more to what Donald said in context and in substance. But the media just loves to run with that smear because it’s easy and convenient. Even worse is transferring that to his supporters. This is a classic case of lumping people in a category and silencing them without exploring the nuance of statements. Using sound bytes as a gotcha tactic is also very common and what Andrew couldn’t help himself from doing. Shameless for NHK to do this and to report Larry Elder brandishing a gun in front of an ex-girlfriend who had political motivations to expose this lie as tabloid fodder, as supposed fact. Once again, sloppy, considering the LA courts refused to even hear this case.
Fair Pay In Workplaces An Extreme Far Right View? Lol
So when they call me someone who “espouses far right views” on an issue, it is laughable. They took the most controversial of issues which was actually Larry Elder reading a quote (it was not a direct quote from Larry) about women deserving less pay.
Now, my background in corporate has taught me that the issue in itself is spoken about in a very shallow way. In the years I worked a salary job, I have had to absorb a co-worker’s work, who went on maternity leave twice. But I didn’t get paid extra. Perks of salary for you.
During those many months, is it fair that I get paid less when it comes to productivity per hour? I think all the extra hours I took on, should be compensated? Or should I just take one for the team? I don’t think it’s very “equal” to be paying someone less who is actually working versus someone who is out on leave. The bottom line impact is problematic for the employer. Thankfully, I sucked it up. Many others didn’t and fairness, equity, equality, etc were common conversations around the water cooler.
I think people want to oversimplify issues and they forget the direct impact to others, especially closest to the workers. Consistently, I believe a single woman who is working extra hours deserves higher pay than the one on maternity leave, and both deserve a man who takes paternity leave. This is where common sense comes into play.
Employers Have Feelings Too
We also need to think about the employer like I mentioned. Not everyone is moneybags. Not everyone can be a deep pocketed corporation so we really need to take a pause before we hurt small businesses and entrepreneurs. And even then, can we just be fair across the board or use productivity as a measure and metric for deciding employee compensation?
Men and Women Have Different Gifts & Propensities
Specialities are important too. Men are naturally talented on aggregate in certain functions, such as say, a factory assembly line. Women have better relational skills and relationship management. Therefore if you have a woman producing less on an assembly line she should get paid less if we are being honest about productivity. And a man should get paid less if we quantify them based on relationship management. There is no sin in that.
Food Fight vs Nuance on the Issues? Innuendos and Smears Rule The Day In Media
NHK Japan, like many sloppy journalists of modern day, are more concerned about the food fight than honest reporting. They will take a quote out of context and paint you the way they want: like a misogynist in this case.
The worst part of this article was trying to tie me into the January 6th events in DC. Not my circus. I did not attend and had zero desire. Yet the way they wrote the article was intentionally misleading. It also paints anyone on the right with a broad stroke and throws people unnecessarily into an “extreme” category. Very passive aggressive.
The rally I threw was not a far right rally. It supported Larry Elder and had incredible diversity. Diversity of thought too. “Moderates” including Democrats attended and engaged on the actual solutions versus party labels or far left / far right false paradigms.
I hope NHK can assess its own journalistic standards and label this piece an Op-Ed versus a news piece because this was far from professional journalism.
or a specific category with our 
Comments are closed.