Analysis: Are Cartoons Now Predicting The Future?

The 20-series cartoon “Legends of Chamberlain Heights” premiered on Comedy Central on September 14, 2016, and lasted for two seasons, according to news sources.

Artwork from Comedy Central’s Legends of Chamberlain Heights

Episode 8, titled “End of Days,” written by Grant DeKernion and directed by L. Todd Myers, appears to eerily foreshadow Kobe Bryant’s death with a scene ripped straight from today’s headlines.

In the 2016 episode, Kobe appeals to three main characters – Grover, Jamal, and Milk – for help while still clutching two NBA trophies after his helicopter crashes. In crass Comedy Central fashion, Jamal – voiced by Quinn Hawking, one of the show’s creators – says to Kobe: “Just pass me the trophies, and we’ll pull you out.”

Appalled by Jamal’s response, Kobe disappointingly says, “Pass?” to the characters, upon which his helicopter blows up, and he’s engulfed in a ball of fire that ejects five championship rings that roll over to their feet.

Screenshot from 2016 Comedy Central cartoon “End of Days”

According to a media report, Comedy Central and Legends of Chamberlain Heights have removed most references to this event from their social media plaforms. You can view multiple clips here on other websites.

Predictive Programming

Alternative media researcher Alan Watt who runs the Coincidence Theorist blog defines “predictive programming” as a “theorized method of mass mind control,” whereby people are being conditioned “through works of fiction, to accept planned future scenarios.”

Watt’s blog highlights many examples of “predictive programming” where celebrities and tragic events were referenced in art and pop culture before the actual events occurred in real life.

For example, Seth McFarland’s award-winning comedy Family Guy referenced the death of actor Robin Williams in an episode that featured a suicide plot line that aired on May 20, 2012.

Williams, years later, reportedly took his own life on August 11, 2014, by suicide, according to media reports.

People are being conditioned “through works of fiction, to accept planned future scenarios.”

In yet another episode of Family Guy, which aired during Season 4 in 2005, baby Stewie is running through a shopping mall naked. Apparently terrified, he yells at the top of his lungs: “Help! I’ve just escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement. Help me!”

In 2017, the actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused Spacey of sexual advances when he was 14 years old. Subsequently, numerous other alleged victims of Kevin Spacey decided to come forward with their stories of sexual abuse.

Spacey has denied all the allegations through his publicist and on his Twitter account and has not been prosecuted to date for any of the alleged abuses.

Watts refers to these unique circumstances as “the power of suggestion” whereby “using the media of fiction to create a desired outcome.” That desire he submits is to have a population conditioned to accept this reality and not to ask too many questions about the pre-planned outcomes.

Predictive programming is therefore thought to be a means of propaganda or mass psychological conditioning that operates on a subliminal or implicit level, according to alternative media personalities like David Icke and the controversial Alex Jones. They both have been accused of peddling and profiting off of conspiracy theories.

Nonetheless, as information spreads about these seemingly odd coincidences that dominate our news feeds and social media platforms, the questions and curiosity will only increase as people seek the truth and want answers.

Answers that don’t fit comfortably within the MSM’s narrative and oftentimes fall outside their scope of reporting.

Analysis: Do ProPublica and ProPublica Illinois Have a Black Face Problem?

On Jan. 1, 2019, I published an op-ed calling out ProPublica and ProPublica Illinois for what I believe to be their blatant hypocrisy. The opinion piece highlighted and called into question their advertising and hiring of Black reporters.

In summary, in 2017, Pro Publica Inc. – their legal name, according to the Delaware Secretary of State website – which is operating as ProPublica newsroom out of Manhattan, New York, decided to expand and open a Midwest regional newsroom. First stop: Chicago.

Louise Kiernan, an associate professor from Northwestern University, was tapped to head the news outlet. ProPublica advertised requirements that appeared to be welcoming and liberal, particularly to people of color. Click here for the details.

Photo of newly hired reporters posted on ProPublica Illinois Editor-in-Chief Louise Kiernan’s Twitter account

Soon thereafter, Ms. Kiernan posted a photo of the new hires in Chicago on her Twitter account. And guess what? There wasn’t one Black reporter to be found.

I took issue with the photo, especially after meeting Ms. Kiernan in person at the Lookingglass Theater in 2017. Please read about my revealing encounter with her here.

Within weeks of publishing my opinion, on Jan. 24, 2019, ProPublica published a report titled: “What ProPublica is Doing About Diversity in 2019.“

Three things stood out about their efforts:

1. The report states that their “Diversity Committee” was just formally started – despite them taking on these issues as far back as 2015. Shouldn’t the diversity committee have been formed officially in 2015?
2. According to the report, black employees make up 7 percent of their employees. They couched their achievements in percentages and not whole numbers. Why not share real numbers with your readers and followers instead of percentages? And tell a more compelling narrative as you often do with your other data-driven reporting? Unless you’re trying to hide something?
3. The diversity committee is headed and co-chaired by Lena Groeger and Liz Sharp, two nonBlack staffers.

Who’s Going to Take the Responsibility?

When ProPublica hired its first Black male reporter – Christopher Sanders – in 2015, it appeared to be aiming toward genuine reform and inclusiveness in its NYC newsroom.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. They haven’t hired another Black male reporter since, and they have 42 nonBlack male reporters in their Manhattan bureau and not a single Black male reporter on the ground in Chicago.

That’s a 42:1 ratio for nonBlack to Black male reporters in NYC.

But it would take ProPublica almost two more years before it hired another Black reporter, this time a female – Talia Buford, in 2017. A remarkable feat, bringing their Black female reporters to two. Thus increasing their Black female reporters by 100 percent in a single stroke.

Ginger Thompson – senior reporter – is the first Black female hired in 2014.

ProPublica has 43 nonBlack female reporters. That’s a 43:2 ratio for nonBlack to Black female reporters in NYC.

In Chicago, there are no Black part- or full-time staff reporters whatsoever.

The 7 percent of Blacks mentioned in their diversity report includes all the Blacks ProPublica employs, including on the business side, Black fellows, and maybe a custodian person or two.

Hone in on the reporters only, and Blacks involved in writing and reporting the news drops to a paltry 3 out of nearly 90 reporters, or 3 percent.

Obfuscating the truth and misleading their followers, content partners, and maybe even their board members appears to be their preferred method of running their newsrooms.

“Board members.”

Yes, the nonprofit has a 15-member board of directors, and two happen to be Black: Danielle S. Allen and Henry Louis Gates Jr., according to their website.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. made national news when a white female neighbor called 911 and reported him as a burglar attempting to break into his own home – in Cambridge, Massachusetts – after returning from China in July 2009.

Harvard professor and ProPublica board member Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The prominent professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University was arrested for disorderly conduct by Sgt. James Crowley and the incident sparked international outrage opening the door to the ongoing, contentious debate about race, racial profiling, and white privilege.

Charges were eventually dropped, and both men were invited to the White House for a “Beer Summit” with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Gates was the only Black board member since their founding in 2007 until recently. See the entire board membership here.

Also, ProPublica appears to have only one Black on its 15-member Journalism Advisory Board, Cynthia A. Tucker, which also includes current members such as:

Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, and L Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Topping off their governance boards, there doesn’t appear to be any Black faces among its 18-member Business Advisors, which include current members:

Ann Blinkhorn, founder of Blinkhorn LLC, a reported leader in digital media, and Maria Gotsch, president and CEO of Investment Fund, which funds rising entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors across various sectors.

Click here and scroll towards the bottom to view the entire membership of journalism and business advisors.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

This is what ProPublica said in its very first diversity report in 2015.

“The best way to judge us on hiring, in the end, is to look at our numbers.”

Black female reporters in New York – 2
Black male reporters in New York – 1
Black female reporters in Chicago – 0
Black male reporters in Chicago – 0

And the count for executive managers, board members, and advisors:

Black Board of Directors – 2
Black Journalism Advisory Board – 1
Black Business Advisors – 0
Black executive managers – 0

Let that sink in for a moment before we get to the heart of the matter.

After 5 years of committees, meetings, and vainglorious rhetoric: Why do ProPublica and now ProPublica Illinois have a problem hiring reporters with Black faces?

On Feb. 1, 2019, attorney Jill M. Willis filed a federal lawsuit alleging race, age, and color discrimination.

Stay tuned for more on this developing story . . .

#ProPublicaWhereAreTheBlackReporters?

This story has been updated as of July 18, 2019.

Disclaimer:

This is a personal blog for the above named writer. The views, information and/or opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily represent the views of any entity, organization or company that I may have been affiliated with in the past, present or future.

This blog is for education, information and entertainment purposes. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of any entity other than the author(s) and due to critical thinking these views are subject to change and revision.