people aren't as crazy as the media would have us believe

[rivendellrose]

From windrose and cyranocyranoThe mayor of Gainesville, Florida, would like the rest of the world to know that most of the people in his city are not bigoted asshats. In fact, the church that's been planning to burn the Koran only has 50 members... in a city of 130,000.

"Mr Lowe [the mayor] has declared 11 September as Interfaith Solidarity Day, and will join a rally organised as a counterpoint to the Dove demonstration." Further: "Gainesville churches are planning a variety of interfaith activities of their own, including common readings of the Koran, Christian and Hebrew scriptures."

The kind of media attention given to groups that do things like this just to make another group angry feeds exactly the sort of hatred we should be combating.

And Mr Lowe has a good idea there, with "Interfaith Solidarity Day." Certainly more useful than tacking "Patriot's Day" onto calendars either as an empty remembrance or simply to stir up bad feelings.

Comments

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty proud of my country right now for similar reasons.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

On one level it feels silly to be proud that we're not all bigoted idiots, but... I'll take whatever I can get. :P

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

I have two friends who go to school in Gainesville, and according to them the people who live there are absolutely pissed about the stupid burning getting global attention. Also the fact that they're being stupid.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can imagine. It's always embarrassing when people in your state do something stupid - whenever Seattle is in the news I'm crossing my fingers it'll be something good... or just something about Microsoft or whatever. ;)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

The kind of media attention given to groups that do things like this just to make another group angry feeds exactly the sort of hatred we should be combating.

And Mr Lowe has a good idea there, with "Interfaith Solidarity Day." Certainly more useful than tacking "Patriot's Day" onto calendars either as an empty remembrance or simply to stir up bad feelings.

WORD.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, I happened to catch just the right moment of BBC World News America tonight, when Matt Frei was talking to the correspondent in Gainesville, who said he was practically overrun by people begging him to tell the world that not everyone there is like this moron. Frei actually raised the issue of how much time the media should spend on it, and the risk of blowing it out of proportion, but also mentioned the possibility that if the news media at large hadn't covered it, it could have landed on YouTube and gone viral with little or no chance for people to speak out against it, and thus become the next Danish cartoon controversy and been much worse. I don't know if he's right or not, but I thought he raised an interesting point. Of course, the sad thing is that he's probably the only journalist on American television who has...

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I really really really do feel for people who are from there and embarrassed by this nonsense, I have to say - after all, it's how I felt for most of the Bush administration, not to mention the various times people in or around Seattle have done something horribly stupid. Can't blame them at all. All the blame goes solidly on the shoulders of that single asshat pastor.

Frei is right that it should not have been allowed to go uncommented, it just worries me that the constant attention on this guy is exactly what he wants. I wish there was a way we could just hold him up for two seconds, say "look at this asshat, look what a horrible thing he's doing," and then NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN. Not because we're ashamed or hiding it, but precisely because it's what he wants, the hate-monger.

Of course, the sad thing is that he's probably the only journalist on American television who has...

On mainstream TV? Yeah, probably.

I don't have cable. I don't generally watch TV - when we watch things, we get them via Netflix or DVDs or whatever. So my tolerance for network bullshit and commercials and all that crap is seriously low. But we've been going to the gym pretty regularly lately, and there are TVs there, and... dear gods but most of the stuff on all the channels kind of makes me want to spork my eyeballs out. Even if I like the program, the commercials drive me absolutely batty!

[alto2.livejournal.com]

You're right about the constant attention, to be sure. The BBCA correspondent made a very strong, firm point about how all this fuss is over a church with 50 members, where often only 10 or 12 of them even show up. I think the question isn't so much if Frei is right but how you comment without letting it turn into a media circus. These days, it's like everything either gets masses of coverage or none. There's no such thing as middle ground anymore.

I have cable but rarely watch it, and when I do watch news, which is rare, it's either the NewsHour or BBCA. I don't have the stomach for any of the rest of it. News is entertainment now. Murrow would be horrified and probably spins in his grave on a regular basis. (And don't even get me started on the ads...)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

And, see, that's why I like the BBC. They actually think about things, and try to make sensible statements about them. They're surely far from perfect, but anything's better than Faux News and their ilk.

As far as American news media goes, I'm a huge fan of NPR. Again, they're not perfect, but they're worlds better at news and information than anything on TV. And they feed in the BBC World Service, too, and share correspondents with the BBC in other countries... which is nice since otherwise I swear American media would never have the slightest idea what's going on in any countries outside our borders.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I can't do radio news, especially in the morning (which seems to be when all my friends listen to NPR--I need tunes to get me moving), but I really think the NewsHour, as the televisual public broadcasting news service, is all the things you just said about NPR.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I enjoy listening to NPR at work when I want to listen to something other than music and/or want to feel like my brain is still, you know, doing something useful. It's handy, because it takes just enough attention that I'm doing something, but not too much that I'm distracted. :)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can only listen to stuff like that (audiobooks, etc) when I'm driving, on a train...somewhere where I'm not visually occupied. Otherwise, I lose focus and realize I've just missed the last five minutes completely.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hehehehehe. I totally understand. It depends on how complicated the subject is, for me, and how complicated what I'm doing is. Sometimes I have to stop the recording while I'm doing a tricky bit of work or trying to understand a confusing request, and I do have to keep the reading to relatively simple things - I admit I was only able to follow along with "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" as an audio because I'd already read the book, so it didn't matter if I spaced occasionally. My job is often pretty dull, though, so it really helps to have something else going on in my head.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

My job has been so dull of late that an audiobook or Big Finish drama would be fabulous, only I'd sit there laughing or whatever, and I suspect they'd notice the volume and thereby twig that I wasn't really doing anything...not that that's my fault if they haven't given me anything!

[websandwhiskers.livejournal.com]

This guy - the one planning the Quran-burning - pisses me off so much because, seriously, put up or shut up, dude. Go to Pakistan or Afghanistan and preach that. Put your own neck out there for what you believe, if you believe your message is so vital that it doesn't matter who you piss off or how much shit you stir up, at least make sure one of the lives you risk is your own. Thumbing your nose from the safety of your own back yard? I'm not impressed, and I highly doubt his god is either. What he's doing is like throwing a rock at a hornet's nest over someone else's head, and speaking as someone who's lost someone as a direct result of this war (though not actually in combat), I'm just seriously, seriously unimpressed. People who actually had the nerve to put themselves out there and do something rather than run their mouths, are going to come home in body bags because of this - and no, that's not justified either, and the people who actual commit the violence because they're offended over the burning of a book are, themselves, responsible, and I doubt their god is impressed with that, either. But in an ideal world, we should all be trying to help each other be better, not trying to bring out the worst in each other.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Well said and so true.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Agreed, although I'd much prefer if people just wouldn't do this stuff at all. I don't know why people seem to think it's clever to do things just to upset other people. Especially as far as book-burning is concerned - even when I haven't the slightest interest in the book itself, I always find the destruction of books uncomfortable. Moreso by quite a bit if it's something I know people care deeply about. :P