M Artin l uther K ing J r .
Page 28
2019 special edition
O PINION
January 16, 2019
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Not One Network Should Have Aired Speech
It was a platform
to misinform
and spread hate
p eter C erto
Way back in
2014 — a cen-
tury ago, it feels
like — President
Barack Obama
requested time
on major net-
works for an Oval Office address
on immigration reform.
Fearing the subject was too
“political,” the broadcast net-
works declined, plying viewers
instead with The Big Bang Theory
and Bones. Few Americans saw
the speech. Immigration reform
withered on the vines, which were
then burned to the ground in the
next election.
Flash forward to Jan. 8, 2019.
At 8:31 a.m., President Trump
tweeted — again — that the “Fake
News Media” was “truly the Ene-
my of the People.” Hours later, at
1:44 p.m., he announced that he
was going to give a speech on the
“National Security crisis on our
by
Southern Border.”
By 9 p.m. the next night, all
major networks, derided only the
day before as “the real Opposition
Party,” were carrying the speech.
How Obama’s address was “too
political” for Big Bang Theory
night but this one — in the mid-
dle of a government shutdown of
the president’s own creation —
wasn’t is beyond me.
Much worse than the inconsis-
tency, however, is that networks
aired the obviously political
the need for a border wall, The
Post noted, “came in the first
sentence,” and the lies continued
“over the course of his nine-min-
ute speech.”
The president complained
about “a security crisis at the
southern border,” even though
undocumented crossings are at a
20-year low.
He warned darkly that immi-
grants were shedding “American
blood,” even though immigrants
commit crimes at far lower rates
The only crisis at the border is
a humanitarian one of the admin-
istration’s making.
Fully 57 percent of people ap-
prehended at the border are fam-
ilies and children, most fleeing
violence and poverty and trying to
(legally!) seek asylum. Trump has
greeted them with tear gas, vio-
lence, and cages, and blamed des-
perate parents when their children
die in his custody.
But facts are beside the point.
The point is systematic disin-
The president complained about “a security crisis at
the southern border,” even though undocumented crossings
are at a 20-year low. He warned darkly that immigrants
were shedding “American blood,” even though immigrants
commit crimes at far lower rates than native-born
Americans.
speech knowing perfectly well it
would be chock full of lies. As of
last October, The Washington Post
counted, Trump was telling 30 lies
a day, especially about immigrants.
And so it was. The first lie in
Trump’s Oval Office address on
than native-born Americans.
He seemed unaware that most
drugs come through legal ports of
entry, or that most unauthorized
arrivals overstay their visas, rather
than sneaking across the border. A
wall would help… how, exactly?
formation, to the point that facts
mean nothing. And besides state
violence, The Nation’s George
Zornick notes, this kind of climate
encourages all manner of private
violence.
The man who killed 11 Jews
in Pittsburgh cited the congrega-
tion’s work settling refugees as
a motive. Around the same time,
three men in Kansas were arrested
for plotting to murder Somali im-
migrants before the election.
Hate crimes have increased for
three years straight, the FBI notes
— continuously since the Trump
campaign.
Mainstream media outlets can
fact check false claims all they
want — that’s their job. But if
they’re giving a free platform
to those lies in the first place —
across every network! — then
Trump may have a point that
they’re not acting in the best inter-
est of the people.
The president is going to de-
monize the media no matter what
they do. So what do they have to
lose by doing the right thing? That
means not airing one second of lies
calculated to misinform, spread
hate, and justify violence against
desperate families. For once, air-
ing Big Bang Theory reruns would
have been a public service.
Peter Certo is the editorial
manager of the Institute for Policy
Studies and the editor of Other-
Words.org.
Changing Your Behavior Comes From Inside Out
Set goals you
can see through
to the end
J oseph e lliCK
J r .
Every New Year,
people tend to reeval-
uate their past year
and come to the con-
clusion to reinvent
themselves completely and that
makes it difficult to not only set
realistic resolutions and goals but
makes it even harder to keep them.
Don’t set yourself up for failure
this year by vowing to make huge
changes that will be hard to keep.
Instead, follow these steps for
successfully making a new year’s
resolution and goals you can see
through until the end.
An abundant amount of people
try to change their entire lifestyle
or life at once. It will never work.
Instead ask yourself, what is the
one habit or goal that is most im-
portant to you? After you identify
your top resolution, continue to
list in order of importance then at-
tack them one at a time.
Make each goal something
by
concrete so you know exactly
what change you’re planning to
make. If you’re successful with
the first change, you can go ahead
and make another change,
as time permits itself. By
making small changes one
at a time, you still have the
chance to be a whole new
you at the end of the year
and it’s a much more realis-
tic way of doing it.
Generalizing or being
you aim to accomplish each of
them.
Want to save money? Deter-
mine the amount you will put
aside each month and identify ex-
plicit changes in behavior you’ll
make to get there, whether that
means skipping your afternoon
latte or carpooling to work to save
on fuel costs. Want to be more or-
ganized? Single out what area you
would like to be more organized,
whether its home, job, or extracur-
goal, no matter what setbacks may
occur. There is a saying that states
“When the going gets tough, get
tougher,” and that is exactly what
you have to do.
Don’t rely on willpower alone
to help you change, because even
the strongest person you know
have their days. Instead, build in
a healthy behavior that’s incom-
patible with the one you want to
change. So if eating your usu-
al midafternoon treat runs con-
Want to save money? Determine the amount you will put
aside each month and identify explicit changes in behavior you’ll
make to get there, whether that means skipping your afternoon
latte or carpooling to work to save on fuel costs. Want to be
more organized? Single out what area you would like to be more
organized, whether its home, job, or extracurricular hobbies.
vague about what you want to
do leaves room for procrastina-
tion and confusion at times. You
have to be precise in your action
to properly plan and map out
your strategy. If you want to lose
weight, target a precise number of
pounds to shed, then set concrete
mini-goals and the dates on which
ricular hobbies.
Be mentally tough. Not every
day is going to be easy, the sec-
ond you wake up the battle begins
against your old habits. Knowing
this ahead of time will prepare you
for when you are tempted to break
your resolution. Have the pow-
er to keep moving towards your
trary to your goal of dropping a
few pounds, put together a small
like-minded group and commit to
taking a quick, brisk walk at your
normal snack time. Or if you want
to dedicate more time to write that
book you’ve been wanting to start
for years during the normal time
you watch television, take out
your notebook and jot down ideas.
Eventually you will turn the T.V.
off completely and have that nov-
el half way done. Each time you
put the brakes on “bad” behavior,
you’ll increase your confidence in
your ability to make the change.
No one but you can make your
resolution come true or last in
your favor. Choose not to let mis-
takes derail you, take a day off ev-
ery once in a while, power through
the tough times, and drive toward
your end result. Already having a
winning mindset goes a long way.
When you make the decision to
succeed, you leave no room to fail.
Keeping track of a resolution
all year long can be difficult, but
only if you let it. Over the years
you may have already made dras-
tic changes in life that could help
cultivate your goals for 2019. The
important thing is to remember
that successfully changing your
behavior comes from the inside
out. Accept that it will take small
steps in the right direction to reach
a positive outcome.
Joseph Ellick Jr. is a newsroom
editor and national news corre-
spondent for the media firm Black
PR Wire. He is a graduate of Flor-
ida Memorial University.