be the press to blame fer hate crimes and the passions they stir?

**MeadHallPirate** · 03-27-2012

ahoy me fellow USPO mateys!

another tragedy which again be projected out fer the nation to see via the mighty New York Times;

Shaima Alawadi’s family says they found the first note taped to the front door of their house on a quiet suburban street here. It said: “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” according to her 15-year-old son, Mohammed.

Ms. Alawadi’s husband, Kassim Alhimidi, says he wanted to call the police. But his wife said no, insisting the note was only a child’s prank. Like many others in the neighborhood, the couple were immigrants from Iraq. In 17 years in the United States, they had been called terrorists before, he said.

But last Wednesday, Ms. Alawadi was found in the family’s dining room by her 17-year-daughter, lying unconscious in a puddle of blood with a severe head wound. Nearby lay another threatening note, similar to the one the family found a week earlier.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us...shaken.html?hp

accordin' to a quick perusal 'o the internets, thar be around 40 - 50 murders per day in our great country. that means thar be thousands 'o murders per year in our great and christian land, yet only a teeny, tiny amount 'o them be reported by the mightiest media in our country (places like CNN and the NYT).

these stories stir passions, incite violence and in this case, might be used aboard by our enemies to make our nation look like it hath some kinda axe to grind with middle eastern folk.

whether it be the story i linked or the case 'o Treyvon Martin, be the New York Times responsible fer the racial strife that follows the publication 'o thar hand-picked stories that they choose to raise to national prominence?

what imma askin' be this; is it the media's fault fer bolsterin' the perception 'o racial strife with these hand picked newstories?

should the New York Times stop doin' this?

shouldn't the New York Times instead, in the interest 'o fairness, report on all murders instead 'o cherry pickin' fer these volatile ones?

- MeadHallPirate

**AjaxPress** · 03-27-2012

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy me fellow USPO mateys!

another tragedy which again be projected out fer the nation to see via the mighty New York Times;

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us...shaken.html?hp

accordin' to a quick perusal 'o the internets, thar be around 40 - 50 murders per day in our great country. that means thar be thousands 'o murders per year in our great and christian land, yet only a teeny, tiny amount 'o them be reported by the mightiest media in our country (places like CNN and the NYT).

these stories stir passions, incite violence and in this case, might be used aboard by our enemies to make our nation look like it hath some kinda axe to grind with middle eastern folk.

whether it be the story i linked or the case 'o Treyvon Martin, be the New York Times responsible fer the racial strife that follows the publication 'o thar hand-picked stories that they choose to raise to national prominence?

what imma askin' be this; is it the media's fault fer bolsterin' the perception 'o racial strife with these hand picked newstories?

should the New York Times stop doin' this?

shouldn't the New York Times instead, in the interest 'o fairness, report on all murders instead 'o cherry pickin' fer these volatile ones?

- MeadHallPirate

This is an intriguing question but ultimately I'm going to have to say "no" to your questions. The media isn't responsible for the passions they stir, even if the media is selective in the stories that are reported.

Mrs. Alawadi wasn't shot during a bank robbery or a routine mugging or because of a hit&run accident. Typical run-of-the-mill crimes that involve minorities or women don't get reported because they're just that: run of the mill. You may get the occasional story of a child being killed. Those stories pull at our heartstrings regardless of race.

For example if you will rarely read about someone being killed via gang violence, whether the victim or perpetrator was Native American, Asian, or Black.

However let's compare those more mundane crimes where people are killed to this one. Mrs. Alawadi wasn't killed via routine violence. She was killed in a hate crime. If not for the Trayvon murder, I'm sure they'd be a bigger fuss about this. Of course there are some stories that should get national attention but don't seem to. Here in Reno there was the woman who burned down an apartment complex and killed a lot of people. For some reason that didn't catch nationwide media attention.

**Jason Marcel** · 03-27-2012

I think stories with national implications get elevated and that's appropriate.

Most crime is the same, but the stuff that makes it to the big leagues tends to have more going on.

What I want to know though is what the lady's character was like.

Maybe there were aspects of her character, like Trayvon, that warranted at least in part, the brutality that came down on her.

**JDJarvis** · 03-28-2012

The media can stir the pot but this is more a disservice to tye public at large than it is direct responsibility. There was a murder near me last month , it got a couple seconds of mention on regional news and a couple short mentions in the paper; a woman hadmurdered a man who had a restraining order against her, it would have been catapulted to center stage years back when domestic violence and restraining orders were the flavor of the day but the media generally ignores such stories now as it isn't part of the limited editorial range most outlets are willing to discuss.