There is a lot of controversy over the terrible events that happened this past Monday in Boston, both in the news and in the general talk about the bombing. News stories about the tragedy have published proven false facts and let's not forget the people who are convinced they know who's at fault. After reading this article, I was pleased that someone was set on setting the media straight.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/boston-marathon-bombing-fact-fiction
Now while I'm not trying to get into any sort of conspiracy theory discussion about the Boston Marathon, I'm highlighting this article in particular because it was the first one that I had read that went completely against the current of the rest of the media coverage. This event is a perfect example of how loose we have allowed modern journalism to be. Maybe they are trying to keep up putting information out as quickly as we take it in, or maybe no one wants to be the last one to report on a story. Either way, I think it is important to keep in mind that any full written article on an event you might read, or a coverage story you might see on the news that day is worthy of questioning.
Moving on to how this is related to the Middle East, and while we talked about it in class a bit, it's incredible to see how quickly people in the media and in the general public were to believe that a Saudi national had something to do with it. Boston PD had to make an official statement just to clarify that the man "in question" was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This idea isn't just being spread by small journalist sources trying to make a big story, this rhetoric is prevalent in all major forms of news. It's amazing to see how we've been conditioned to think of the Middle East every time we hear the phrase "terror attack." So the point of this post isn't to tell you all that all of the people thinking this man was to blame are idiots and racists, because that's just not true. It's not even to state that media is to blame for how we think, because I don't think they would have that power unless we allowed it in some passive way. No. The point of this post is for me to express how important it is for us all to keep questioning, analyzing, and striving for understanding rather than jumping on the bandwagon. That's just too easy and it's doing a disservice to ourselves to so quickly take in what is given to us. We've all learned a lot this year that we never thought we would. Middle Eastern culture has given us personified insight to the topics we hear about all the time, but have no stake in the matter. From that, we've been able to deconstruct complex issues of race, nationalism, and religion to make it into something we can understand. Let's keep that going.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/boston-marathon-bombing-fact-fiction
Now while I'm not trying to get into any sort of conspiracy theory discussion about the Boston Marathon, I'm highlighting this article in particular because it was the first one that I had read that went completely against the current of the rest of the media coverage. This event is a perfect example of how loose we have allowed modern journalism to be. Maybe they are trying to keep up putting information out as quickly as we take it in, or maybe no one wants to be the last one to report on a story. Either way, I think it is important to keep in mind that any full written article on an event you might read, or a coverage story you might see on the news that day is worthy of questioning.
Moving on to how this is related to the Middle East, and while we talked about it in class a bit, it's incredible to see how quickly people in the media and in the general public were to believe that a Saudi national had something to do with it. Boston PD had to make an official statement just to clarify that the man "in question" was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This idea isn't just being spread by small journalist sources trying to make a big story, this rhetoric is prevalent in all major forms of news. It's amazing to see how we've been conditioned to think of the Middle East every time we hear the phrase "terror attack." So the point of this post isn't to tell you all that all of the people thinking this man was to blame are idiots and racists, because that's just not true. It's not even to state that media is to blame for how we think, because I don't think they would have that power unless we allowed it in some passive way. No. The point of this post is for me to express how important it is for us all to keep questioning, analyzing, and striving for understanding rather than jumping on the bandwagon. That's just too easy and it's doing a disservice to ourselves to so quickly take in what is given to us. We've all learned a lot this year that we never thought we would. Middle Eastern culture has given us personified insight to the topics we hear about all the time, but have no stake in the matter. From that, we've been able to deconstruct complex issues of race, nationalism, and religion to make it into something we can understand. Let's keep that going.
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