Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (2330)	1/17/2003 7:48:02 AM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

One Man's Terrorist? Ramsey Clark slurs Jesus, and the media shrug. Friday, January 17, 2003 Does a slur falling in a press forest make a noise if no one reports it? When Jerry Falwell labeled the prophet Mohammed a terrorist on "60 Minutes," he set off a media feeding frenzy. But when peace activist and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark offered a similar analogy about Jesus Christ, the response was, well . . . silence. "The Christian Church overwhelmingly--there are exceptions--who choose to call Mohammed a terrorist. They could call Jesus a terrorist too," Mr. Clark told a group of reporters, somewhat awkwardly. "I mean, he was pretty tough on money lenders a time or two." Mr. Clark delivered the crack at the National Press Club last week, where he was promoting an antiwar demonstration--sponsored by International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)--slated to kick off tomorrow outside the Capitol. Though representatives from a number of major media all heard the remark, the only one to report on it was the Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com), a small, Internet-based conservative news outlet. Compare this with the furor that erupted when America's most quoted Baptist minister opined on Mohammed. Editorial pages denounced him; an Iranian cleric called for his death; Muslim rioters in India killed several people; and presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer found himself asked whether the Falwell remarks discredited George W. Bush--notwithstanding the president's consistent public warnings against Muslim-bashing. A search of Factiva, the Dow Jones/Reuters database of more than 8,000 news sources, yields 182 reports with "Falwell" and "terrorist" within the first week alone. In sharp contrast, although Mr. Clark's Christological rumination has now been picked up by various Internet blogs, Factiva yielded only one hit for "Ramsey Clark and Jesus": Fox News Channel's Brit Hume. And then the networks and news organizations profess that they are shocked--shocked!--when a Bernie Goldberg writes a book accusing them of bias. Now we could call up Mr. Clark and the folks at International A.N.S.W.E.R. in high dudgeon, demanding that they apologize or distance themselves from these remarks. But too often people who say things they oughtn't to have said find their statements amplified and twisted far beyond their original import by a media-driven culture. What bothers us is the glaring double standard that reserves this treatment for only one side of the political aisle. opinionjournal.com