Blogline...Found in the Media

POETRYOFPOLITICS.BLOGSPOT.COM on the media coverage of a Massachusetts teenager that went on a violent rampage in a gay bar and later committed suicide.

So I thought I would check out the media outlets in America to see how that "liberal media" was spinning the world news. Then I realized, not to my surprise, that the headlines are not about the fact that the world is burning (the world is burning) but about that hate-filled youth who was shot twice in the head 1200 miles from where he committed his hate crimes. While an important thing for the public to know about, why is it that this article is gaining precedence?

There are two reasons. The first is the immediate flaming response to anything with "gay" in the subject line. This represents, from my perspective, the knee-jerk reaction of the conservative media to maintain its attention on its own hated topic of GLBT issues. This attack would barely make the news if the attack took place in a heterosexual lifestyle bar unless the assailant was himself gay. The second reason deals with the ethnocentrism of right leaning America.

There is nothing wrong in and of itself regarding the reporting of the incident, and perhaps it is my own egocentrism here which is contributing to my feelings, however, it seems to me that if a boat containing 1000+ persons goes down in the Red Sea, I should not have to search past the first page on FOX News' website to find an article. It was nearly buried on CNN's website. If the boat had been Americans you can bet the lead article would be about the boat sinking for weeks, and they would mull over the reasons endlessly. That too would be the conservative media's exercise in excess.

The point is that there are signs being held up all over the world that I see in the news everyday with slogans like today's "The West is in Dark Age" and Americans are not even being informed of these sentiments. Why would such a slogan be held? Simply put, the West's inability to care for anything beyond itself. The West is unable to see the importance of compassion.

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