Monday, September 13, 2010

Lessons from the Terry Jones Fiasco


Now that the hype, hoopla and insanity surrounding Podunk Pastor Terry Jones has more or less settled down, what lessons can be learned? How can we avoid (ever again) elevating a two-bit pastor with a 50-member rented church to world class prominence because he’s capable of making terrorist rhetoric that amounts to extortion of the whole world?

By the evening of the 9/11 anniversary this screwball had received formal calls from the President of the United States, The Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the Secretary of State, the Vatican and Pope, among others – all pleading with him to stand down and back away from his terrorist act. And never mind here that most of the people of Gainesville were opposed to this moron, and even printed their own t-shirt saying ‘Love- NOT Dove!’ to show the world they were not religious crazies ready to take the whole country down. The ancillary lesson here may be, when citizens behold assorted fruitcakes ("pastors" or others) in their burgs making freakish noises to gain negative publicity - they get out in front of it, and push them off the stage!

But it never should have come to this! No way that any “Podunk pastor” (the words used by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts) that no one ever heard of before, should ever have received world wide media attention. As Pitts puts it (‘Media Magnify Podunk Preacher’):

It bears repeating: Terry Jones is a Podunk preacher no one ever heard of before. Then, from that humble repose, he was able to move the world. The implications are staggering

Indeed, and one of the biggest is that we now have a perverse template for any other Nobody preacher or pastor, from Miramar to Maine and over to Malibu – suddenly threatening to perform a hideous, bigoted act and attaining world media acclaim for it. They may try to replicate Jones’ stupidity or even try something different (here in Colorado several instances have been reported of nut balls nailing Qur’ans to telephone polls)

This should never be! Insane, psychotic fruitcakes (hyper-religious or not) should never be awarded such prominence no matter what they do, say or threaten – whether it’s the usual hellfire bullshit (which can easily be skewered since it’s based on recycled fairy tales- going back to ancient pagan lore) to Qur’an burnings or anything else.

Most importantly, to quote Leonard Pitts, “history should never spin on the whims of whoever is crazy enough to do something insane”.

Pitts acknowledges the internet and our electronic world of modern communications as having “occasionally validated” its worth, as when images were filtered onto Youtube of the young Iranian woman Neda, who was made a martyr by the Iranian state. But in general, as he observes, “mass media magnify the bizarre and deservedly obscure, giving it access to the world and its leaders”.

However, I suspect that even with just the internet and Youtube it’s far more likely Terry Jones would have been laughed off the stage as merely a zany moron, in need of ECT – as opposed to a voice of any remote authority, “biblical” or any other. The key point is that Jones would've remained in the realm of the obscure and creepy had the mainstream (print and TV) media not bestowed prominence by either publishing his every stupid word, or giving interviews!

The overriding error, I believe, occurred when the local affiliates of major networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) in Florida (mainly Gainesville) caught word of what Jones was planning – maybe even via his own press release- and opted to put him on the air. Once the local affiliates made that fateful commitment, the usual international sources like CNN picked it up, ceding an instant global platform to a freak moron, who was then turned into a mover and shaker – threatening to destroy hundreds of copies of a sacred religious text on 9/11 when the text itself (or its major religion) had nothing to do with those who actually perpetrated 9/11.

As the story was aired in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia – fueling Muslim rage and riots- it got the attention of the military and political elites around the world. It was then realized that Jones’ proposed burning wasn’t merely a publicity stunt but posed a real risk to American lives. To use the words of Donnie Deutsch appearing on last Friday’s “Morning Joe”: He became a rhetorical terrorist.

He advanced onto the world’s consciousness by instilling fear, by threatening a terrorist and treacherous act. An act that could have had violent repercussions far beyond the burning of a couple hundred books.

In many ways, there are parallels to this in the magnification of the Tea Party phenomenon. As pointed out in The Columbia Journalism Review (September-October, ‘Tea Party Poopers’, p. 14), it was largely the mainstream media that gave them “wings” based on focusing on their antics at assorted rallies – despite the fact they represented a few malcontents who were able to parrot “complaints” from Faux News and Sarah Palin.

Suddenly, the loose assortment of malcontents metastasized into a “movement” that with each primary or other election drew even more media banter and attention. Now, as November approaches, even the most sober wonks and pundits are actually discussing what “effects” the Tea Party will have on the elections.

In a way, the Tea Party gained its notoriety in the same way as Jones did, by a careless and slapdash bunch of gatekeepers to the mainstream stage- who never should have opened the doors!

Here’s a heads up for any media hotshots: In the future when you see or get a report of some screwball pastor about to perform some outrageous deed - say eating a Qur’an with Tabasco on it- DO NOT show up for any interviews or to confer any attention on the tube. Instead, let him wallow in his fame on You tube, joining the pet cats that play the piano, the howler monkeys that howl as they beat themselves off, and the frogs that dance with scorpions.

In the end, that arena is the best for such flakes, as opposed to affording them any degree of prominence!

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