Anthony Adams vs. Duggan and the Media
During the Detroit municipal election cycle for 2021, there was a virtual media blackout on the fact that most of the seats of our government were up for reelection. It was as if the local media didn't want us to know that we could vote these people out, or that there were in fact viable, qualified challengers to vote for. This blackout afforded Duggan the comfort level to just simply refuse to participate in a mayoral debate with his challenger, Anthony Adams—a black man. When they did cover Duggan's electoral challenger, local media chose to focus on the fact that Adams worked under the evil Kilpatrick administration in an attempt to associate him with corruption. Nevermind that Adams also worked under other mayors besides Kwame.
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| I made some original content for once! |
Is refusing to debate going to be the new fad among politicians in the Post-Trump Era? Refusing to debate is one step closer to refusing to have an election. I mean what's the point of all that hassle anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to just go back to monarchy again? LOL
I watched Adams' live feed of the Manoogian...I'm not sure how he managed to guilt WDIV into finally rolling out a camera crew to cover him doing something on the campaign trail, but you could tell they were verrrry sleepy about it. They didnt even bother to carry the camera and follow him to the door; they just set up the tripod and left it on the sidewalk...almost as if they expected a hail of bullets to issue from the Manoogian and mow down anyone who stepped on the lawn.
Of course the incumbent has all the cards in his hand, and will naturally choose not to debate if no one makes him (such as, ahem, an impartial press). But *why* is Duggan so favored, and Adams the underdog? Because the media has refused to ever call Duggan out on the issues like they do when there's a black mayor...it's like after Kwame went to jail they all retracted their claws and took a nice long kitty nap in the warm sunbeam of Duggan's angelic halo.
If the local media had the same will to dig-in on Duggan's administration the way they dug in on Kwame's, there's NO WAY Duggan would be enjoying a 70% polling lead over Adams. My critique here is not so much about Duggan as it is about the media being biased, and arguably racist. Duggan is only politically able to refuse to debate during a troubled time in the city, because the media ALLOWS it. Duggan is able to enjoy a good public image because the media refuses to cover the serious problems in this city in any real depth, and they refuse to connect the dots on Duggan's ties to the corruption, and his failure to address issues that affect people other than Dan Gilbert. Duggan also has an incredible advantage in terms of visibility because he is backed by at least a BILLION dollars of Super PAC money, whereas Adams is checking coin slots on vending machines for a lost nickel. How can we expect to have a democratic system where a challenger can reasonably expect to have a chance against an incumbent, if all the media and funding and everything are stacked in favor of the incumbent? There is also the issue of the City Clerk intentionally failing to publicize elections, or increase voter turnout / accessibility so that people are even AWARE there is a mayoral challenge.
Fox2 finally gave Anthony Adams a forum on Let It Rip, but why is it only two weeks before the election that we're finally seeing real mainstream coverage? That's an important question because by that point it's already past the deadline for absentee ballots to be mailed in, and during the pandemic that was how 2/3 of us were voting. I don't think this was a coincidence, I think it was the intentional media blackout of a democratic election in a free country.
Intentional media blackout is why only 14% of voters came out for the August 2021 primary, and naturally, low election turnout heavily favors incumbent candidates. But the Charlie Lanktons of the world still want to be like "Oh, Duggan got 72% of the primary votes, why should we even pay attention to you?" The tallies of the primary are completely irrelevant to the general election...that's why we have both.
More from the horse's mouth, as well as fact-based analysis of what's wrong with Duggan's way of doing the job:
Anthony Adams was later given a spot on WDIV's Flashpoint, similar to the one on Fox2 a couple days earlier. And once again the hand of the media pushes the "You must first defend your involvement with Kwame" hurdle into his way, as if the current administration is not currently embroiled in identical scandal and investigation.
Why do our local press so persistently grill Adams about corruption that happened over a decade ago, while there is ongoing corruption in city hall right now that could be better focused on? The real story is the fact that corruption never left city hall after Kwame went to jail...the current indictments of Leland, Spivey, etc. are all part of the FBI "Operation Northern Hook," which is the very same investigation they started under the Kilpatrick administration...it never stopped. The local media shouldn't be asking Adams whether he was involved with Kwame's corruption, they should be asking Duggan why there is still the SAME corruption existing under HIS administration, after EIGHT YEARS? What has DUGGAN DONE about corruption?
The fact that the Detroit media talk about this as if it is two separate eras with no connection between them is either a deliberate rewrite of history, or a dereliction of their duty to record current events in a consistent and objective light. The end result of this is that viewers are shown a curated reality in which Adams is associated with questions about corruption and a burden of proof, while Duggan gets a pass and does not have to answer to anything negative at all. This is how the corporate media steers elections while under the disguise of "impartiality;" and it's partly how corporate candidates like Duggan get 70% of the vote while challengers like Adams get 10%.
On top of everything else...
An acquaintance finally caught the Grinch Patrol in action...aint this a MF'r... For those who weren't aware, Duggan has had city workers going around swiping yard signs of his opponents, and planting new VOTE DUGGAN signs randomly on peoples' lawns, like some fuckin North Korean shit or something. The pettiness level of this man is off the charts. They did the same thing against "Yes on P" and "No on N" signs back in 2020. I mean this is some kind of colonial shit where the government is controlled from afar by an imperial overlord who is never seen in the community, but if you don't salute when they say "All hail the Emperor," you're gonna get beheaded. Worse yet they got us paying THREE people to do a two-man job.
If you are still curious about Anthony Adams' qualifications for mayor, or his background, he goes into it here in great detail:
He gets to the beginning of his political background around 7:00min, and his history with the Kilpatrick administration at around 20:00min...and he ain't pulling no punches.
