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[:4622:]Curtis / SYNAPSE-SHOTS 2010-40

SYNAPSE-SHOTS 2010-40

L’AFFAIRE SHERROD –

J’ACCUSE LA PERILOUS 24/7 PRECIPICE

I will not go so far as Keith Olbermann and equate the experience of Shirley Sherrod to the Dreyfus Affair. However, if information had traveled as fast at the turn of the last century as it does now, perhaps the trumped-up charges against Captain Alfred Dreyfus might have cleared him prior to his being hustled off to Devil’s Island.

The NAACP said it had been, “Snookered.” We were all snookered – the USAD; the White House; the main/”lame” media; you and I. We were all taken in because a vindictive, mud-raking Internet blogger again had offered up scurrilously doctored documentation against yet another member of a racial minority group. His stated purpose is to tar the White House with incidents of racism against White people.

In the case of Shirley Sherrod, redemption was fast afoot:

·       The full, unedited tape was released by the NAACP.

·       It showed Mrs. Sherrod recounting an incident that took place 24 years ago – when she was with a non-governmental agency.

·       She explains how, even after the KKK had burned a cross in front of her family home and murdered her father, she was able to overcome her personal prejudice and become instrumental in preventing the loss of a White family’s farm.

·       That family publicly confirmed Mrs. Sherrod’s account and stated how they still hold her in the highest regard.

·       The USAD abjectly apologized and offered her a new position.

·       The White House was awash with apology, as well.

Of course, “What we have heah is fail-yuh to communicate” – that is, “properly to communicate.” We are experiencing a righteous revolution, wherein printed matter such as newspapers, magazines and books rapidly are disappearing or being downsized. Some have converted completely to the digital format, while others opt to play on both sides of the street. Those unwilling to play the digital game, merely close their doors and go away quietly.

Just as other advancements in information technology have shown, there is a negative aspect inherent in the learning curve between the “old” and the “new.” With the advent of the blogosphere, the former journalistic standards of “sourcing” are disappearing along with our ability to produce instantaneous “breaking” news.

The case of Shirley Sherrod shows that, in a trice, one-third of our national government can be paralyzed and drawn to react precipitously to an unexamined item of Internet publication. Obviously, the time has come to nip this dangerous oversight in the bud!