title:  It’s Trump’s World – The KKK Is Getting A Mainstream TV Show
text: On Monday, the election of Donald Trump became official. Last week, though, A&E, home of the  Duck Dynasty  clan, announced that they are giving a voice to the real Klan. The Ku Klux Klan is getting their own show.Beginning in January, A&E will be broadcasting a show called  Generation KKK.  This show isn t exactly like  Duck Dynasty.  Instead of a long-running reality show, this is being billed as an eight-part documentary. A&E denied that they will be giving a platform to the Klan, but it s doubtful the Klan would have agreed to do the documentary if it didn t humanize them.That meant finding a delicate balance between winning the trust of the Klan members and ensuring the show didn t propagate views the network s executives abhor.  We certainly didn t want the show to be seen as a platform for the views of the KKK,  said Rob Sharenow, general manager of A&E.  The only political agenda is that we really do stand against hate. The struggles we were most drawn to were the struggles with the internal families,  said Mr. James, an executive producer of the series, whose previous credits include TLC s  I Am Jazz,  about the transgender teenager Jazz Jennings.  We had a stance, and we were clear with folks that we were hoping for them to see the light and to come out of this world. It s an incredibly destructive environment for anybody to be in, let alone children. Source: New York TimesOn one level, this might make sense. Perhaps some KKK members will become more sympathetic to people of color or LGBT people just by getting to know them, but there is a far greater risk, and that is normalization of the Klan.No one is saying this show is the result of Trump s election. In fact, it s been in the works since about the time Trump began his run, but there is a media trend of normalizing the deplorable (yes, that is the correct word). Even so-called liberal NPR has begun normalizing the  alt-right    hell, even the term alt-right normalizes racism, xenophobia, nationalism, misogyny and homophobia. Just a week after the election, NPR ran a story on Steve Bannon, who has long been giving a voice to neo-nazis and other deplorables through his blog, Breitbart.com. NPR called Bannon a  national hero. Let s hear a defense of Steve Bannon,  NPR host Steve Inskeep began, offering a view of exactly what direction this interview would take. Pollak started by launching into a gushing assessment of Bannon, calling him  a national hero,  and talking about how it s so great we ll have someone  so calm under pressure in the White House.  (Maybe this is true, though it contradicts accusations against Bannon of domestic abuse, sexual harassment and being a  verbally abus[ive]   bully   who is prone to a lot of tirades  by former staffers.) When Inskeep interjected to ask about Bannon s tireless work to turn Breitbart into the alt-right outlet of choice, Pollak attempted to distance the site from the movement it has nurtured on a steady diet of xenophobia, racism, sexism and anti-Semitism.Source: AlternetPerhaps if Clinton had won the electoral vote, Generation KKK would be slightly less offensive, but Trump, with his hiring of deplorables in his cabinet, is normalizing the KKK and racism in general. Trump ran a campaign of hate. He s putting together a coalition of hate. Is it any wonder that suddenly, hate is cool? We don t need to hear the views of the KKK. We know the views of the KKK. Generation KKK won t be educational, it will be obscene.Featured image via Martin/Flickr