Blame Game

His imbecility and extreme philosophy are no less fanatical than the terrorism he claims he's fighting against.

Twelve people were killed Friday(1/4/2011) in an attack on a U.N. compound in northern Afghanistan that followed a demonstration against the reported burning last month of a Quran in Florida, authorities said.

The fatalities comprised seven U.N. workers and five demonstrators, officials said. Another 24 people were wounded, said Abdul Rauof Taj, security director of Balkh province.

Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the police in Mazar-e-Sharif, told reporters that a number of suspects "who might be the main organizers" had been arrested.--CNN.com

Image: cnn.com

Martin Robbins puts the blame on the media, accusing them of giving too much publicity to the infamous Pastor Jones and his gang of religious fanatics. Fine. He also suggests that "We should be free to mock religious beliefs and symbols as we see fit."

Completely and utterly wrong.

As Alom Shah said, fanatical atheism can be as ugly as religious fanaticism.

Some of his arguments are okay, and I will give due credit to him for saying that some journalists "swept along with Andrew Wakefield's dodgy claims helped to create an environment in which public confidence in the vaccine fell dangerously, and the lives of children were put at risk. The decision not to vaccinate a child is ultimately the responsibility of the parent, but that doesn't absolve journalists of culpability for the impact their shoddy coverage may have had (or indeed Wakefield for his original 'research')."

Agreed. But in the case of Pastor Jones burning Koran, that's just ridiculous.

Image: sheikyermami.com

The media is supposed to report whatever that is happening, be it harmful or otherwise, to the public, given the authenticity of the report is assured. This is what we call the transparency of media. If a news is deemed harmful to a faction of people, but could be beneficial to the others, why not?

Controlled journalism might not work at all, and it is not worthy to be called proper journalism. The best example would be the case happening right now in the rainforest state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The media is prohibited from writing anything against the government. By controlling the media, the corrupted politician has been sucking away the people's money comfortably for the past 30 years.

Image: editorsweblog.org

The same is happening in China. The news is filtered, double-filtered, and re-filtered to ensure there is nothing to spark a negative perception of the government. Pyongyang is also doing the same. The people are oblivious of the negativity that's occurring within their vicinity, and that gives governing body a lot of freedom to do whatever they want.

Let's get back to Pastor Jones. His deed of burning the Koran, according to Robbins, is okay. I do not agree at all. Pastor Jones backed down after pressured from various members of the society, but carried on with his plan last month. The news reached the realm of the Middle East and eventually, Afghanistan. But can the media be blamed for the death of innocent lives in the UN building?

The short answer would be "No". Reporting news is the job of a journalists, and to be transparent is an added value. Reports much be backed-up by evidence, and always report the truth. So the question now must go back to Pastor Jones and his gang: why reignite the flame?

Image: nodeju.com

Personally, I don't think any sort burning could prove yourself right against your opponent. I believe in diplomacy. And as an atheist, I prefer to stand aside and watch this religious dogfight between Christians and Muslims. However, I can no longer stand aside and watch as this supposed pious man of God send several copies of Koran to the flame. This is a blunt act of provocation, a sound challenge for the resurrection of medieval crusade.

Image: cplash.com

His act of bigotry has not only provoked the rage of Muslims worldwide, but also caused the lives of seven innocent UN workers that might not agree with his move. They were sacrificed to help rocket his reputation as a modern day crusader. How can he possibly justify his act based on his skewed belief? His imbecility and extreme philosophy are no less fanatical than the terrorism he claims he's fighting against.

His hunger for publicity and exposure has led to the death of seven UN staffs, and should be held accountable for his act.

Oh by the way this is the first time I'm speaking on behalf of the media-I've always hated them.



Malcolm
info:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/apr/03/1
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-01/world/afghanistan.un.attack_1_dove-world-outreach-center-security-guards-quran?_s=PM:WORLD