Who Cares About ‘Burn a Koran’ Day? This is all the media’s fault
Who Cares About ‘Burn a Koran’ Day? This is all the media’s fault
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Friday, 10 September 2010 06:31
Terry Jones is an aging nobody, a redneck gun-toting pastor in Gainesville, Florida who leads a congregation of just fifty at his Dove World Outreach Center. Yet his decision to burn copies of the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, to celebrate the anniversary of the September 11th attacks has literally sparked international outrage. Really, though, who cares?
Blame the Media
Leave it to the media to give whack-jobs and fringe lunatics an international voice. If not for the likes of CNN, then Terry Jones would be more irrelevant than Westborough Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps, because no one would have ever known his name, and much less be aware of his church’s planned barbeque where they’ll use the Qur’an as kindling.
Because of the media attention that this insignificant event has received, now everyone cares. General David Petraus, the top US commander in Afghanistan felt “a moral obligation” to speak out fearing that Jones’ event would put his troops in danger in the Middle East.
At this point the US State Department, the FBI, and Interpol have issued warnings of possible terror attacks related to the Florida book burning. Even the President of the United States felt compelled to publicly urge Jones to cancel his event.
CNN’s own Rick Sanchez took time on his September 9th broadcast to highlight the importance of the Qur’an burning, saying it’s so important even Obama commented on it.
Well, of course he did. The world is whipped up into a frenzy over Jones’ event. Hundreds of pundits have hit the cable shows and radio airwaves to chime in on it in dozens of countries around the world. But guess what, Sanchez; it’s the media’s fault that anyone knew about it in the first place. You are to blame.
Terry Jones Is Now a Star
As a result of the horde of media reporting on the event, Terry Jones’ status has been elevated from complete insignificance to international superstar. Following a supposed conversation with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is now in the center of the manufactured “ground zero mosque” controversy, Jones used his newfound media savvy and influence to announce that Rauf agreed to move the Islamic Community Center further than two blocks away from the World Trade Center site, and in exchange, he, Jones, would cancel his planned book burning.
The only problem is that Rauf said that the two never even spoke. In response Jones announced that the bonfire might be back on track. He hasn’t decided.
It’s a brilliant media campaign. Now news organizations get to speculate and guess what he’s going to do next for another 24 hour cycle. Won’t that be entertaining? Not that it’s news, but it sure can’t hurt their ratings.
Let’s recap. Terry Jones announces “Burn a Koran Day” and the media turns it into a sensation. High ranking civilian and military officials around the world weigh in, as a result, and the story gets elevated even further. Jones decides to cancel the event; it’s reported as breaking news with graphics, a logo, and live coverage. He goes on to say he’s made a deal to get the Islamic Community Center in New York City to be moved, and hundreds of media outlets report it without first checking their facts. Now Jones waffles, and the nonstop continuing coverage carries on.
It Shouldn’t Have Been News In the First Place
There is absolutely no reason why Terry Jones and his flock of fifty followers should’ve been elevated to the headlines in the first place, whether they planned to burn Qur’ans, Bibles, or American flags, all of which anyone in America has the constitutional right to do as guaranteed by the first amendment.
Fred Phelps and his Westborough Baptist Church cult members protest the funerals of fallen soldiers with slogans like “God Hates Fags,” “Thank God for September 11th,” “God Loves Dead Soldiers,” and my very favorite of all, “You Eat Your Kids.” Yet they don’t drum up a fraction of the media coverage that the Dove World Outreach Center has received as of late.
And they shouldn’t, because not only are these rights protected (for the most part), but they’re also crazy people. They represent the far flung fringes of US society, not mainstream America. Now, if the Mayor of Chicago decided to have a big Qur’an burning, that would be another thing entirely, and worthy of the feigned outrage from the people who fain their support or opposition for Terry Jones’ made up holiday.
But don’t worry, even if Jones decides to leave his event cancelled, then Fred Phelps is going to pick up the torch, so to speak, and have his own Qur’an burning party anyway. The celebrity given to Jones has spread the seed of his conception to other mentally unbalanced religious leaders.
What It Comes Down To
The bottom line is really this. When a foolish person stands on the corner and declares that God will burn capitalists with a purifying fire and then lights an American flag, it doesn’t get picked up by the national media. It’s his right to express himself, and he’s obviously off the deep end.
So, when a fool of equal stature proclaims that they are going to burn Qur’ans it’s not worthy of national media coverage either. It doesn’t cause international outrage, it doesn’t defame the American people, and it doesn’t put US troops in danger as long as the nonstory isn’t blasted into the radios and television sets of half the people living on the planet Earth.
Media, you have a responsibility. You blew it when it came to Operation Iraqi Freedom, you blow it every time we have to endure some new celebrity scandal, and you’re blowing it now. Elevating people like Jones makes his position seem uniform in American society casual outside observers. It makes us all look bad. So, please stop prostituting yourselves for ratings, get your act together, check your facts, and serve in the role that you’re meant to serve. Until then, shame on you.
I encourage every reader to call, email, or write into their favorite media outlets and tell them the same thing.