Just want to say thanks to those who listened.
I just want to say thanks for listening as I end my brief tenure writing for the SPJ Diversity Blog. The SPJ is a tremendous organization. This is a great idea. ALlowing members to help mold the public discussion on an important topic like diversity. I enjoyed it and tried to offer something outside of the norm, a perspective that might help other journalists realize that diversity is more than the Big Four -- Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American.
Maybe some might recognize that when you exclude voices from the mainstream discourse, you are feeding extremism, nurturing it. Pushing people who otherwise would be moderates and peaceful into intellectual desperation that feeds the community futility that leads to acts of violence and terrorism and extremism. Extremism is a relative statement. It means doing something out of the ordinary. Sometimes extremism is good, when the norm is bad.
Still, a friend of mine in journalism told me matter of factly that the mainstream newsmedia will never change until it wants to change. I don't think that the media, as a journalism profession, really wants to change. The mainstream media is comfortable with the status quo. They address diversity in a comfortable way, speaking to the four groups the squeak the wheel the loudest. Hey, it helps you feel good.
It's like the guy who gives a homeless person some money. It doesn't really help the problem of homelessness, but it makes you feel as if you are doing something. Meanwhile, the real problems of homelessness never get addressed.
And neither do the real challenges of diversity. We try. Mnay are sincere. But the system isn't ready for real diversity. It means real change. But the benefits would be enormous. Imagine.
Visit my MySPace page at www.MySpace.com/rayhanania to read my ongoing blog there ont he challenges of getting people to overcome their fears of an "Arab comedian." You think being an Arab journalist is tought. :)
Thanks to the SPJ and the Diversity Committee for allowing this and I wish the best to the next person slated to write here.
Ray Hanania
www.hanania.com