motherwell (motherwell) wrote,
2010-09-09 17:37:00
  • Mood: Bloody Furious

Forget the Loony Pastor -- The Media are Endangering Our Troops

Every country on Earth has its share of mentally ill losers who have nothing better to do -- no better way to express their feelings -- than staging pointless (and sometimes dangerous) stunts just to get people's attention and feel relevant. The overwhelming majority of such people are ignored by the public, first because they are unconnected to any significant events or institutions; second, because consistent coverage of their stunts would simply wear thin and distract our attention from truly significant events like elections, the economy, crime, natural disasters, etc.; and third, because it is generally understood that rewarding irrational (and possibly dangerous) behavior with lots of public attention tends to encourage more such behavior, and reinforce the underlying mental illness, while doing no service to the public. An important part of treating mental or emotional illness, is getting the patient to understand that his/her dysfunctional behaviors will not make him/her more empowered or in any way better off, and will not be rewarded by others.

Giving widespread attention to mentally disturbed people whenever they act out is bad for the mentally disturbed because it gives them the wrong signals about how they should behave; and bad for the public because it serves to inflict their insanity on people who are trying to lead sane, responsible lives. This is why most major news media have tended to exercise sound judgement and refused to give air-time, column-inches, or any other form of attention to people who are clearly not of sound mind.

Until today, that is. ( Why is THIS loony 'news?'Collapse )

This is not about a discredited right-wing preacher burning the Koran. This is about our national "news" media creating dangerous events out of nothing, without regard for the consequences. This is about our national media's depraved indifference to the interests of the public and the nation they claim to serve.
Tags: media, politics

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