# NAACP vs. TV Networks **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899 "2000-04-07T04:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899/1 "2000-04-07T04:59:00Z")
As many of you may have heard, the NAACP is threatening to launch a boycott against TV networks, and their beef is that blacks have been “underrepresented” in new TV shows. IIRC, the US population is roughly 15% black, whereas the new TV shows contain 12% black characters. (I saw these figures in an earlier thread, I don’t remember the name.) It appears to me that the NAACP has gone mad with power. First of all, TV shows are **fiction**. Since when did works of fiction have to emulate, represent, or reflect the real world in any way, shape, or form. And if the figures that I mentioned are correct, I hardly think the difference is worth launching a boycott over. Is the NAACP justified in its threat, or are they just full of s–t? * * * Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899/2 "2000-04-07T22:05:00Z")
I wasn’t aware that the NAACP had so much “power” that they could “go mad” with it. :::see my bemused look::: I suppose I just assumed that the announcement was some sort of political ploy, along the lines of Mel Brooks’ “we’ve got to protect our phony-baloney jobs.” Give an interview, stage a protest, arrange a boycott, I think it pretty much boils down to the same thing. Frankly, I don’t think the networks are terribly worried. Other special-interest groups have tried to arrange boycotts before, and you see how much the television industry has altered in order to accommodate _them_. :rolleyes: * * * “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899/3 "2000-04-07T22:26:00Z")
Why do we have two current threads covering this topic in this forum? I’m confused enough already! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899/4 "2000-04-07T22:57:00Z")
well there a lot of black shows, mostly on UPN and the WB… but the problem is, is that they just blow. i think the NAACP just wants to see a black show that gets high ratings. then they’ll shut up. ---
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naacp-vs-tv-networks/17899/5 "2000-04-08T01:26:00Z")
* * * ## I wasn’t aware that the NAACP had so much “power” that they could “go mad” with it. ## They certainly seem to think they do, except they probably wouldn’t admit to going mad. ## Why do we have two current threads covering this topic in this forum? I’m confused enough already! There’s another one? I didn’t see it. * * * Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.