The first case is that of Mel Gibson, who, after being arrested for drunk driving, went on a drunken anti-Jew tirade. It absolutely dominated the press for the better part of a week, and Gibson was bashed and/or denounced almost constantly for his remarks.
The other case occurred in Seattle. A Muslim man entered the offices a local Jewish organization and opened fire with two automatic handguns, killing one and wounding five others. The story produced a small blip in the national news scene, but not much more than that.
As Jeff Jacoby said in the Townhall piece, "after six days, a Nexis search turned up only 236 stories mentioning Haq -- about one-fourth the number devoted to Gibson’s drunken outburst. Why the disparity?"
When The Passion of the Christ was released, Gibson was accused of being an anti-Semite for two reasons: Gibson's father is known to be a total anti-Semitic wacko, and the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem was responsible for Christ's crucifixion. Prior to Passion's release, the Christian-hating press went wild with stories speculating on whether it was truly a Christian film, or merely a product of Gibson's anti-Semitism. Of course, the press failed to realize that if Passion is anti-Semitic, then the Bible itself is anti-Semitic, which simply is not the case (especially if you take into consideration that Jesus, the 12 disciples, Paul, Silas, Mary, Joseph, and Mary Magdalene were all Jews and that the vast majority of Christians see Christianity as an extension of Judaism rather than a completely new religion).
But all of that aside, it is a dark day indeed in America when a celebrity's drunken rantings garner more attention from the press than a terrorist attack perpetrated within the United States. What's more, members of the media have gone to great lengths to avoid calling this a terrorist attack...but even if this doesn't qualify as terrorism, it is premeditated murder, not merely a "hate crime."
And what's more, this isn't the only time this has happened.
2 comments:
1. Mel Gibson got more attention because...
a. ...he's famous. All famous celebrities get tonnes more attention than they should every time they as much as burp. And...
b. ...like it or not, but the US has a good deal of murders each year. More than 10 000 from fire-arms alone.
2. A single homicide is not "terrorism". If it was, the US'd be victim to 30 000 terrorist attacks each year. And yes, it is a "hate-crime". It is a crime committed out of hate, hence it's a hate crime.
Oh, and of course it's not the first time it's happened. Just like there's tonnes of Christians and Jews killing Muslims.
If there are "tonnes" of Christians and Jews killing Muslims, why don't you give some examples? Because I don't remember hearing anything about US Christians or Jews going around killing Muslims. There has been some harassment, yes...but harassment is not the same as cold blooded murder.
Post a Comment