Author: Nick Nam
In post-9/11 America, Islam holds a unique position in the forefront of social consciousness. Muslims have been cast as villains and religious zealots. A small but notorious faction of fundamentalist Christians exemplifies the most extreme and conservative manifestation of this social consciousness, with the Reverend Terry Jones as its spokesman.
Jones, a pastor from Florida, sparked global interest and international media attention in July by announcing plans to burn the Qu’ran, the Muslim holy book, on the ninth anniversary of 9/11. Jones preaches against the supposed threat that Islam poses to American society, and his views have only gained prominence as news sources continue to focus on him.
We have allowed him to dominate the media, thereby legitimizing his views and giving him power. The atrocious actions of this right wing extremist beg the question: How did we let this radical figure commandeer our media?
According to The Washington Post, Jones announced in the summer that Sept. 11, 2010 would be International “Burn a Qu’ran Day.” He then started a Facebook group of the same name, which gained over a thousand fans and transformed him from a local activist to an international villain in a matter of weeks.Before Jones’ sudden rise in notoriety, the author of the book “Islam Is of the Devil” was the pastor of a congregation of only 50 members in central Florida. The church, called Dove World Outreach Center (DWOC), was not Jones’ first religious endeavour.Rather, Jones and his wife Sylvia also ran the sister church to the DWOC, the Christliche Gemeinde Köln (CGK) in Cologne, Germany for over 20 years. They acquired a controversial reputation in Germany that followed them to the U.S. and to the DWOC.
According to the German Evangelical Alliance, Jones was let go from the CGK’s leadership due to “untenable theological statements and craving for recognition,” but the Gainsville Sun claims alleged scandals of fraud and cult-like insubordination.
In August 2009, a year after taking over the DWOC, Jones’ fundamentalist influence spread to two children of his parish who violated a school dress code when they wore shirts stating “Islam is of the Devil.” Actions do speak louder than words in many cases, and clearly, from what Jones has showed us through his actions, the man is out of control.
When asked in an ABC News interview about why he planned to burn the Qu’ran, he responded: “Well, basically […] we feel that a radical message is necessary […] We’ve lost our guts, the church has become weak. They no longer stand up on issues.”I do believe that freedom of speech is a powerful tool, and I strongly advocate individuals and groups using the power of speech to move and shake the world. But due to the ratings that they bring in for news networks, extremists are always the ones gaining the most attention. In the end, these radical actions are counterproductive to an individual’s or an organization’s cause and oftentimes make their views even less respected.
Reverend Jones definitely did not assuage tensions in the Middle East either. Throughout the Muslim world, including nine Afghan provinces, thousands gathered for protests in response to the pastor’s threat to burn the Qu’ran. When a mob attacked a NATO facility in Fayzabad, Afghanistan to protest the pastor, CBS News’ initial report stated that many were injured and at least one protester was killed when troops opened fire on the stone-throwing protesters.
In response to the public outrage, President Barack Obama made a warning in the Arabic news network Al Jazeera, “This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives who are sacrificing for us to keep us safe, and you don’t play games with that.”But was this reaction truly due to the pledge of a small church in Gainsville, Florida, or were the cries from both home and abroad a result of the media’s water-weighting of the story?
Media has a long history of exploiting extremists for the sake of ratings. But in this case, news sources have jeopardized much more than just the resentment of thousands of moderate Christians and outraged others.
The international hysteria erupted due to the actions of one individual. But at the end of the day, we have to question who is really to blame. Crazy fundamentalists such as Reverend Jones have always existed.In this case, the media has decided to target Reverend Terry Jones as the poster villain for a news story which has seriously jeopardized public relations in the Muslim world. Perhaps we should look to our own demand for sensationalized stories rather than to the sensations themselves.
Nick Nam is an undeclared Sophomore. He can be reached at nam@oxy.edu.
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