I could not agree more with Parenti on the subject of mass media in America. It is sickening to me that there are only about four corporations that control every bit of news and reporting that we receive. I can only wonder about how many deaths of women and children in Afghanistan during our so called "Operation Enduring Freedom". it is not like you would ever hear about on the news in America. I think that when you listen to news you have to listen with a critical ear.
I firmly agree with Parenti in that the mass media portrays poor and less fortunate as a product of their own doing. It could not possibly be society. My mother was once a teacher in the St. Barts projects in New Orleans, which could be classified as one of the worst housing projects in the country. From the moment she arrived she had a mission to reach each one of the children in her class personally. But she soon found out that all the other teachers there had already given up hope on the children, so they did not even bother to teach the kids. Instead the teachers would sit at there desk and paint there toenails or read magazines. To make matters even worse the school district had not allotted any money for books or supplies for these kids, because they were considered hopeless and there was no need to waste money on them. My mother spent thousands of dollars buying books and pens and paper for the kids, all out of her pocket. She had to quit nine months later because she witnessed a student murdered right outside her classroom and could not take it any longer. Children born into these social classes are automatically disadvantaged from the time of birth, just because of where they were born. This does not seem fair to me that you are set into a specific life at birth. On the other hand wealthy children are born into privilege at birth. but the difference is that they can decide whether to accept it or not later in life.

I also find it disturbing that the media did not decide to report about school shooting until it occurred at a middle class high school in suburbia. Violence in schools has been happening in urban schools for decades. It has become the norm. I will use my mother as an example again. Almost every day there would be a student who brought a gun or knife to school, and this was in the 60's. A teacher that my mother worked with was stabbed to death in the cafeteria. It just amazes me that you do not hear about these things every day simply because of where they occur.