Sounds like somebody already did.
Uh, just how would one publicize this “White Channel”?
“NOW! For all you good WHITE AMERICANS who are SO UNCOMFORTABLE with the idea of contact with ALL OTHER RACES that you don’t even want to see them on your TELEVISION…”
Actually, for folks like that, there’s always Nick at Nite. Before 1965 (when Bill Cosby co-starred with Robert Culp in I SPY), white people were pretty secure in the knowledge that their evening viewing would be rather monochromatic.
Snivel…snivel…whine…whine…Po little white chile.
Needs2know
I can’t believe someone on the straightdope would say this.
(400 years of oppression) Black people were oppressed in 1600. Didn’t cecil have a column about this?
Hmm, IIRC, Africans were brought over first as servents, much like indentured servents, around 1620. Things just went to hell from there. Especially when people figured out there was a pretty good market for slave labor. Especially after indentured servents were no longer the norm.
what?
i can’t believe someone actually feels discriminated against because television is including all the ethnicities and races now. gimme a break. there are scholarships for everyone, for jews (who were prosecuted and oppressed far longer then any Africans brought to the USA, and not that it matters anyway, but so have countless other cultures and races…etc.), for vets, for immigrants, for people with low incomes, for people with high scores on tests, for people with a connection in the gene pool to some obscure no longer existent civilization, and plenty of companies will now pay for you to learn so you can work for them. as for television, Swiddles said it. every channel has it all. As to the OP, i don’t think a WET would be branded as racist except by racists. BET is not considered racist except by racists. where’s the harm? it’s not a public channel. ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, and UPN… all have enough programming that consists of everything that i don’t see where anyone can say there aren’t enough “white” people on tv. If a WET sounds good to someone, and they can make it work Pink said it, more power to 'em. as for lying about a scholarship, that’s just dishonesty, if you want a scholarship, do your research, and you’ll find there’s so many out there, almost anyone can qualify for one.
I think that we have ALL strayed a bit from the point here. The question we are debating here is how a television network overtly and expressly aimed at white people would be accepted by society. The following is a list of things we are not discussing:
- College scholarships. I’m not going to say another word about this one. If you are still passing judgement over my friend’s actions then you did not understand the context in which the anecdote was intended.
- The ethics of lying to recieve a college scholarship.
- The fairness of college scholarships open to only to those of a specific racial background.
- Whether or not white people are “persecuted” or “oppressed”.
- My supposed “subtle racism”. It both offends me and concerns me that someone who would be educated and enlightened enough to be an active participant in a message board such as this one would leap to such wild conclusions. I will not give you the pleasure of dignifying your claim with any further rebuttal, SR.
Let’s stick to the topic or open a new thread, eh?
OK here is an answer to your OP. Yes, yes, yes, the establisment of a White Entertainment Network would be considered racist. The damned question is racist.
Needs2know
As to the OP. I think I answered it before, but I’ll try again.
No, with reservations. Specialized channels abound. What would be broadcast on this channel? KKK rallies? If that’s what the channel will be about, then yes it would be viewed as racist.
If the programming revolves around not so spicy mexican recipes and tanning without burning strategies, then no it’s not racist.
What everyone else was trying to point out is that the OP makes a presumption of oppression which is pretty silly considering the social standing of white people.
Now we’re making some progress. I would like to point out, however, that the OP makes no mention of oppression. The first person to use the word “oppressive” was me, and I regret using that word. I was simply pointing out that white guys are forced to watch what they say and do or they will get themselves in trouble (just like I did here). Even someone who is not a racist can be falsely seen as one because they said something displeasing to minorities (which is apparently what I have done). IMHO, if David Duke started his own brand of WET, it would be immediately heralded as racist, even by those who have never seen it. The same can be said for minority leaders like Louis Farrakhan (sp?). But if, Ted Turner (or any other white media mogul) started a WET-type network, in exactly the same vein as BET, I believe it would also be considered racist. This is simply my personal opinion, but with the track-record the american white middle class has for discriminating against minoritites, I don’t think a WET network would be well recieved, even with good intentions. That said, I’m calling it a day for this thread.
I think one think we’re forgetting one thing.
Would a “White Entertainment Network” be successful?
What could you air? Reruns of shows popular amoung white people?
[li]We’ve got broadcast syndication, in addition to TBS, TNT, USA Network, fX, WGN (which basically is broadcast syndication).[/li][li]For older shows you got Nick-at-Nite and TV Land, Cartoon Network’s Boomerang (for cartoons obviously)[/li][li]Country Music? Well not all whites like it, and it’s better marketed on networks like TNN, CMT.[/li][li]Soft Rock? VH1[/li][li]Hard Rock? MTV[/li][li]Alternative? Probably best to go to a nightclub?[/li]
[li]Popular white movies? HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Encore, AMC, TCM, Bravo, USA, TNT, TBS, The Movie Channel.[/li]Romance? Romance Classics and Lifetime (marketed to women)
[li]New shows appealing to whites? ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, WB[/li]
Is their any unique interesting programming that can be marketed to white people that isn’t already broadcast somewhere on television?
I don’t think so!
Sure it could. If you wanted to fund a scholarship for white men of Irish descent under 5 feet tall living in Alaska, you could do it no problem. Private scholarships are not run by any government agency and you can pretty much hand pick who gets your money. But I guess this has nothing to do with WET.
You raise an interesting a valid point, and scholarships like you mention do exist. My personal favorite is the “Tall and Teriffic” scholarship for anyone over 6’4’ (it’s a real one, I swear). But what if I made a scholarship and called it “The No-Asians Fund”? Anyone could get money from it, as long as they weren’t asian. Would it fly? It might, but it would be seen as racist. Once again, I am not a racist, but I do enjoy discussing controversial topics.
Off the OP, but on topic the way this is going.
True Story:
Had a friend in high school whose mother was Jamaican, and whose father was half African-American and half white.
He got a full scholarship from the Daughters of the Confederacy, or somesuch group celebrating Confederate Army officers’ descendants, because he could prove direct lineage to some Confederate general.
We both laughed our asses off when he got it. Talk about poetic justice.
I wonder why it had to be called “Black Entertainment Television”. It gives the impression that it’s solely for the entertainment of African-Americans, and that that kind of programming is what all African-Americans like. I’m uncomfortable with that kind of stereotyping. A TV channel shouldn’t represent an ethnic group. Why not call it “Entertainment Television” or something, and leave it at that?
While we’re on the subject of TV channels, how about Oxygen? I must say I’m not too enthusiastic. As a woman, I’d rather have more good science on tv, and less heartwarming, soulsearching sisterhood stuff.
They call it Black Entertainment Television so that we know where to find shows where the star walks down the street in Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles and passes people that are NOT all white and middle-classed. Find shows that actually talk about what life as a typical black person is like. Find news that talks about what is happening in the inner city outside of riots and poverty.
That’s an interesting sentiment there. What should we do about Univision or Telemundo? They are very implicit in representing an ethnic group with all that Spanish-speaking and whatnot. While we’re at it what about this damn gender-segregation of programming. (Lifetime: Television for Women). And hell, we shouldn’t subdivide people on interest. (Sci-Fi channel). Everybody should watch the same crap that the leaders or pop-culture decides is best for us on one “Entertainment TV” and leave it as that. The more alike we are, the better the world will be!!!
I just thought about this. It seems that y’all who object to BET is objecting to the name Black Entertainment Television. I know of no one who calls it “Black Entertainment Television”. BEt is more of a brand name, especially since they have spun it aff on two new networks BET on Jazz and BET movies (I think).
Y’all can watch BET is you wish. Just because old “Night Court” reruns have been bought by *Lifetime doesn’t barr me from watching them when I get the chance, nor does having lived in Tennessee for a bit make me a slave to TNN.
It’s a marketing gimmick folks, like “fair-and-balanced” for Fox News, or “Magazine for Men” Maxim.
Or even GQ, Ebony, or Southern Living.
SterlingNorth wrote:
You know, that’s a damn good idea. In fact, let’s just get rid of TV altogether. When we get to the point where we have tv channels being the spokespeople for ethnic and gender groups, I think it’s a signal to forget the whole stupid idea. Univision is a completely different story. False analogy there. It’s a tv channel in SPANISH. I don’t see it being called TV Channel For People With Tan Skin. In fact, Univision seems to be a channel populated entirely by blonde, blue eyed Spanish speaking people, which is another issue completely.
Anyone who believes that a TV channel called “Black Entertainment Television” can provide the types of programming that all people with dark skin enjoy, is trying to oversimplify matters so they don’t have to deal with the real issues. Put everyone in their little compartments so we don’t have to deal with differences. Let the women and African-Americans have their own little tv channels so you White Males can keep your CBS, ABC and NBC pristine.
Enjoy your television, people of America.
I’ll be reading a book.
Even so, I read an article in Newsweek a while back about black entertainers who claimed that BET short changed them, paying them less than the industry standard minimum for a performance. I think the article dealt with comedians mostly. Apparently, the attitude is that they’re the only game in town, and if you don’t play ball, you can go away.
Some think that white males are not discriminated against, but if discrimination is exclusion based on race, then it is true. I thought it was hysterical when I took my SATs that the “race” question resembled the following:
a) Mexican, Cuban, Latin American or Hispanic.
b) African American, Carribean American
c) Native American, Pacific Islander, Inuit or Aluetian
d) White.
What, no Irish-American? I would have gladly filled it in. Obviously though, that question is used to calculate statistics, and nobody cares what some Irish guy got on his boards.
The unfortunate truth is that white males (not all of them. Please make this distinction.) have had it pretty good in the past, and have done some bad stuff. Perhaps the pendulum that was in our favor for so long has to release the momentum by staying in favor of minorites and others for some time before it can finally settle in the center, and we can all live in peace, harmony, and affordable tuitions.
(P.S. Why do we have to get stuck with NBC, ABC, and CBS? They sucks. Overused plotlines and overused laughtracks.)