Why Cecil the Lion Matters and Other Lives Don’t

[pullquote] We didn’t grow up being afraid of lion welfare cheats, lion terrorists, lion gangs, and lion drug dealers. Whether liberal or conservative, the corporate media presents minorities this way and they know exactly what they are doing.[/pullquote]What resonates with Cecil the Lion is that we are forced to ask, on a global level,  why would anyone hunt a defenseless lion for the mere pleasure of watching its life leave its eyes? And people are also asking now, with damn good reason, when racist cops kill for pleasure (see below) or hang black women in custody for traffic violations, why doesn’t that matter? The main reason is behavioral conditioning. When we hear about an animal tortured for 40 hours just so an American trophy hunting dentist could decapitate it, mount its head, and skin the animal we still have a child-like innocence and can still see this majestic creature unsullied by years of negative media conditioning.

It would be different if the child was exposed to lion “terror alerts” every day, like the corporate media does with Muslims or any other target to feed the war machine, or more to the point the calculated, dehumanizing coverage and targeting  of African-Americans that feed the prison industrial complex.

In African-American Arrests, Marijuana Related Suicides Unquestioned by Corporate Media

You often hear bigot pundits talk about blacks being more likely to have a criminal record, and that they disproportionately fill the prisons, but it is seldom mentioned this should be totally expected when it is pretty much a crime to drive while black, especially where the local economy is prison-based.

Ask Sandra Bland. She was arrested for a tail light violation, taken to jail, and was found hanging (from an officer’s hands presumably),  three days later in an alleged suicide. She died in a state rife with prison-based economies and it is no secret that Texas cities have become prosperous by engorging themselves with prisoners that are no longer human, but a source of income for private prisons. In particular, that is the CCA, or Corrections Corporation of America. It alone operates 65 prisons across America and has been involved in actually assisting with drug sweeps in high schools. They have been actively involved in procuring young prisoners, high schoolers, that they will only profit from indefinitely when incarcerated. Because the CCA gives heavily to the Democrats and Republicans, their spin doctors have to make African-Americans threatening, and it is why black victims of brutality and murder are portrayed as criminals first. So be it the Huntington Post or Fox News, liberal or conservative, you will find little objective reporting that isn’t agenda-driven and designed to keep the human trade flowing.

For example, when CNN, The Huffington Post, FNC, all report that the DA asserts it was a suicide induced after ingesting marijuana and find no reason to question the staggering idiocy and implausibility of the claim, you can rest assured that is the message they want sent: not only was there no foul play, but if you get high on pot, you will go and hang yourself, too. One CNN reporter gravely noted that she had numerous old cuts on her arm, implying she had a history of suicide attempts and lending weight to the suicide story, but was completely oblivious to the fact that cutting is something a lot of young women do as an emotional release because it releases endorphins. Regardless, let us assume she had attempted suicide before. Does that mean because she had attempted suicide before, then she must have done it this time because that now makes her incapable of being murdered?

Seriously. That is the state of the liberal and conservative media in America today, and to make it easier to swallow they have black reporters solemnly parrot cover stories, which this one clearly is. Real reporters would have seen that press release for what it was: a mocking “we did it and what the fuck are you going to do about it?” taunt that the DA must have snickered at before emailing.

[pullquote]What we can say with absolute certainty is that the  deadliest part of a child’s dehumanization programming is coming from the mainstream media, and we can stop it. [/pullquote]Because it comes down to making the arrest and convictions of blacks profitable, you have a curious consensus of opinion when it comes to the way the “left” and “right” wing of the corporate media covers the fact that 6 black women were found dead in jail this month (July 2015). You will notice that they will consistently promulgate the stereotype  that blacks are aggressive, inclined to criminality and “deserve what they get.” See below. You will notice a startling tendency to brush aside all mention of brutality to highlight meaningless and irrelevant arrest records. Some of it is intentional media manipulation and some is not. If not intentional, you can probably attribute it to simple race bias and substandard writers.

The Psychological Operating System of the Child Today

From the womb until around seven years of age the child, biologically speaking, is in a programming mode and it is basically just downloading information without critical thought. Most children are not taught to hate animals and their natural tendency to be kind to them is encouraged. However, children at that age are also programmed to fear people different than them, or even hate them. Many children of bigot parents are even rewarded by the amount of zeal they can show in their displays of racial and religious enmity.

A child parented by bigots and exposed to the corporate media today, a child who listens to Donald Trump will easily believe, in adult years, that all Mexicans are criminals and rapists. He will easily believe that all Muslims are terrorists. He will easily believe that Black lives don’t matter because blacks are consistently portrayed as street thugs and criminals.

Don’t expect much help from Hillary Clinton, though. Major contributors to her campaign are private prison contractors and bundlers from the CCA that literally make more money the longer a person stays in prison, so they lobby for longer mandatory sentencing and were a key part of making driving while black the nightmarish reality that it is. The Republicans, just assume that is a lost cause, and as a given for every one of them. They are infested with bigots, and their own leaders admit it, some with sadness and others pride.

As an adult the belief that people different than you arbitrarily deserve to die will come subconsciously, and the adult will act accordingly because it became part of his psychological operating system in the critically formative childhood years. That is why, unless you are unusually blessed with insight and empathy, we can easily forget that humans are actually animals too.

It is for this reason that it is far easier for most people to focus on cruelty against an animal as opposed to cruelty against people of other religions, colors, etc.

It is for this reason people that would never harm a fly, or hunt a lion for the mere pleasure of watching its life leave its eyes, wouldn’t bat an eye if they saw a black person, or Arab, or Jew, beheaded or set on fire, even if a child. They would not think twice about genocide.

PETA has power because they know people will sooner shed a tear over an animal than a human being. We have literally been programmed this way and it is irrational to be surprised that the killing of a lion would bring more outrage then the brutal and unchecked killing of countless blacks. Unlike the case with the latter and Muslims, we didn’t grow up being afraid of lion welfare cheats, lion attacks, lion terrorists, lion gangs, and lion drug dealers. Whether liberal or conservative, the corporate media presents minorities this way and they know exactly what they are doing.

There is no easy answer to how humanity can undo hard wiring like our childhood conditioning, but the answer is still there.

We have to approach our irrational prejudices as adults and ask ourselves who gains by dehumanizing and judging people you have never met, people whom have never personally harmed you?

• When it comes to blacks, we know for a fact it benefits the prison industrial complex entrenched in politics now.
• When it comes to Muslims, we know it benefits the defense contractors hungry for an endless war.

Everyone benefits but you, because no one gains when manipulated through fear.

What we can say with absolute certainty is that the  deadliest part of that dehumanization programming is coming from the mainstream media, and that it can actually be addressed so that future generations of children are encouraged to treat all life with respect. We can nurture a child’s natural inclination to love animals as well as other children it only longs to play with. We can stop the oligarchs and media titans that take away this innocence. We can do it and we always could.

Don’t let your children be exposed to political fear porn because it is actually the most dangerous porn of all. Never forget you are programming their operating system and they are trusting you with their lives and future. The biggest threat to any of us right now is fear.