BOORSTINISM OF THE WEEK: Malcom X & Pseudo-People

Let's begin with some words from Malcolm X taken from his speech, "The Black Revolution" (delivered June 1963):

I read in a poll taken by Newsweek magazine this week, saying that Negroes are satisfied...But this is dangerous. This is where the [media] does himself the most harm. He invents statistics to create an image, thinking that that image is going to hold things in check. You know why they always say Negroes are lazy? 'Cause they want Negroes to be lazy. They always say Negroes can't unite because they don't want Negroes to unite. And once they put this thing in the mind, they feel that the Negro gets that into him and he tries to fulfill their image. If you say you can't unite him, and then you come to him to unite him, he won't unite because it's been said that he's not supposed to unite. It's a psycho that they work, and it's the same way with these statistics.

Beware of those armed with "knowledge" and statistics, even the preimenent genius of modern times, Albert Einstein, said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Our friend Daniel Boorstin (see previous posts) spoke of pseudo-events, his same theory can be applied to constructed images of people and/or groups, i.e. African-Americans. Is the African-American/Black Man/Negro/Nigger/Nigga a pseudo-person? The same characteristics that define pseudo-events when applied to people reads as follows:

1. Pseudo-people are dramatic. Sambo? 50 Cent?
   
2. Pseudo-people, being planned for dissemination, are easy to disseminate and to make vivid. Slavery? Reconstruction? Historically Black Colleges & Universities? BET?
   
3. Pseudo-people can be repeated at will. Look around ... BET?
   
4. Pseudo-people cost money to create. The "Hip-Hop" market
   
5. Pseudo-people are planned for intelligibility. Niggas? Did I mention Slavery? How about diversity initiatives?
   
6. Pseudo-people are sociable, conversable, and convenient to witness. I won't use Hip-Hop, Slavery, or BET again. But I will add pro/consumer sports to this batch along with the police dispatch call logs.
   
7. Knowledge of Pseudo-people become a test of being "informed."  [See #6] The debate over the "N Word"
   
8. Pseudo-people spawn other pseudo-people. Pseudo-Blackness has given birth to pseudo-whiteness.

Who's watching CNN'S BLACK IN AMERICA for a reason other than Soledad O'Brien? Please tell my why...not that I'm against the special, I just need to be prepared with some forethought before viewing it.