Why no news scan is complete without Wikipedia

So there's a minor flap (that might break bigger) about a parody song, "Barack the Magic Negro," that was written in 2007 but gained popularity after being aired on Rush Limbaugh's show, and how it was later used by a candidate for RNC chairmanship.

OK, now here's why I love reading the news with Wikipedia open in one window.

None of the mainstream media coverage I've seen (so far) has mentioned the concept of the literary stock character of "the magic negro." I was an English Lit major; I noticed this right away. Others must have too.

Anyway, others did. Wikipedia links to the relevant article in the second sentence of coverage.

Examples of magical negroes as published by social commentators include:

• Uncle Remus (James Baskett) in the film Song of the South (1946) ^[10]
• Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) in the film The Defiant Ones (1958)^[2]
• The magical negro is a recurring archetype Stephen King's novels as well as some adaptations of his work:
  
  
  
  • Dick Hallorann in The Shining (1977), and in both the 1980 film adaptation (Scatman Crothers) and the 1997 TV miniseries (Melvin Van Peebles)^[2]
  • Mother Abagail in The Stand (1978), and the 1994 TV adaptation (Ruby Dee)^[2]
  • John Coffey in The Green Mile (1996), and the 1999 film adaptation (Michael Clarke Duncan)^[2][5]
• Moses the Clock Man (Bill Cobbs) in the film The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) ^[11]
• Cash (Don Cheadle) in the film The Family Man (2000)^[3][5]
• Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)^{[2][3][5][12]}
• Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) in the film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)^[13]
• God (Morgan Freeman) in the film Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty.^[14]
• Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman) in Million Dollar Baby^[15]
• Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in The Matrix.^[5]
• Oracle (Gloria Foster) in The Matrix.^[5]
• Lamont (Guy Torry) in the film American History X.^[16]

And then, in a list of examples of real-world people who commentators have referred to as "magic negros",

• Barack Obama-- Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party and winner of the 2008 general election.^[17] Usage of the title,"Obama the Magic Negro" for a Los Angeles Times piece later inspired the satirical song "Barack the Magic Negro", written by parodist Paul Shanklin and popularized through Rush Limbaugh's radio show.^[18]

I'm telling you, Wikipedia is a great place to follow breaking news stories.

Not for the facts of the matter, but for the connections and analysis of the hive mind.

(We're back from holiday travels. Happy [&Winter Holiday. where Winter Holiday="Eid al-Adha"; "Hanukkah"; "Christmas"; "Kwanzaa"; "Solstice"; "Festivus" and season as appropriate]... and a happy and prosperous 2009 to all.)