Media Uproars

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It may be obvious to many but a lot of the issues that appear in our media are at best minor events that are stirred up to get an audience. Famously, going back to the late 1890s, the Hearst paper may have created the public outcry that led to the Spanish American War over an incident involving an explosion on a ship that many think was an accident versus an act of terrorism.

What I find interesting is when those who use the freedom of speech protections in our constitution decry others, such as the Koran burning minister (he never burned one) in Florida for exercising his freedom of speech. Had the national media ignored him he could have had a jolly old bonfire and outside of a few local supporters, no one would have known. However the coverage that ended up getting the President to take a position (one that seems to be anti-free speech) led to protests and probably a number of deaths.

Now, I don't see much purpose in burning Korans, but isn't it likely that at least some Koran's that don't sell eventually get destroyed? How many simply end up in the trash considered useless clutter by purchasers who bought them at some point for who knows what reason. Quite a few years ago I bought one to see what it said during a period of religious exploration I was going through and since I no longer have it I guess I threw it out. Of course I didn't think of it as anything special and certainly didn't dispose of it in any special way. Maybe I should expect protestors to show up soon.

Now of course my disposing of the Koran wasn't announced, in fact I don't remember what I did with it and it may simply be at the bottom of some box in the attic, but let's get real, it's a book with a binding and some pages that a man created. Even if the words represent a holy message, the object I was able to purchase wasn't anything special. This is true of bibles, flags, Talmud's and anything else created by man. The fact that some other people want to attach some ridiculous concept to the object is really of no concern to me, unless of course they actually do something to me.

You can't cry fire, unless of course there is a fire, in a movie theatre since doing so creates an immediate hazard to the people that you deceive. You can announce that the movie sucks, and you can be ejected but not imprisoned, because you are entitled to that opinion. Now, if you burn a Koran, or using a 1960s analogy, an American Flag, are you creating an immediate danger? Certainly not since the symbolism does not deceive anyone. In the 60s flag burning created counter protests and now Koran burning cause's Muslim outrage. These responses are not a reason to restrict the right to freedom of speech. I don't have to agree with either to support the right they have to express their opinion.

However, the media can use the uproar largely created by the media to sell more media I guess.