> Homegrown idiots turning U.S. policy into reality TV.

Burning the flag=patriotism
Burning the koran=setting us foreign policy

Welcome to libbie land
\

wrote:

Terry Jones' Quran-threatening circus shows that the enemy of American democracy isn't just foreign terrorists, but also homegrown idiots turning U.S. policy into reality TV.

How does a fringe preacher go from 50 congregants to the front page of 50 newspapers overnight?

Just say you're going to burn the Quran. It took little more for the "Reverend" Terry Jones and his ironically named Dove World Outreach Center to go from obscure even in their hometown of Gainesville, Florida, to instant international infamy. But this twisted celebrity came at a cost: violent protests in Afghanistan and beyond. Generals, Cabinet secretaries and even the president were reduced to reasoning with an essentially unreasonable and insignificant man.

Reality TV, having adjusted our notion of reality by creating D-list celebrities famous just for being famous, now threatens to unsettle the world, and define the American Dream down. Octomom and Balloon Boy are bad enough, but Jones embodies the Joe the Plumber-ization of actual public policy?below-average people christened as symbols of a pre-fab populism, suddenly coming alive as actors on a larger stage. No less lame, we're expecting that the president of the United States should know who "Snooki" is to prove that he's in touch with the American people. This gossip-magazine approach to politics?perhaps the long-predicted legacy of entertainment businesses taking over news divisions?is an evolutionary step down from the sports metaphors that always afflict election season. Because this isn't a game?it's real life, with real consequences that contribute to the making of history. And when news organizations follow the lowest common denominator rather than take the responsibility of leading, the joke's on all of us. The inmates end up running the asylum.

Just because you're crazy doesn't mean you're stupid. The crusty Rev. Jones was just following an established formula for manipulating the Pavlovian press in the Internet age perfectly. It goes like this: Take a pre-existing narrative like the mosque debate ("Are Americans Islamophobic?"), add a fresh news peg, make it more extreme?and, presto, you're guaranteed wall-to-wall coverage that the best PR agency couldn't buy. Jones gamed the system so well that his decision Thursday afternoon not to burn the Korans became breaking news?and usually not doing something is the opposite of news. Then, by evening, he was equivocating yet again, generating still more headlines.

We can try to justify the coverage by dressing up the "Burn a Quran" stunt as a constitutional debate between freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but vibrant debates require two sides and even the most intrepid cable news booker couldn't have found too many willing to endorse the Rev. Jones' position. There wasn't any high-minded explanation; it was just a base fascination that draws our attention for the same reason that people used to view public hangings or watch the Anna Nicole Smith show.

Rev. Jones knew what he was doing?he'd developed a taste of Westboro Baptist Church-style controversies (and now the Westboro folks are threatening to burn the Quran on his behalf. According to Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas, Jones previously sent some parishioners' kids off to school wearing T-shirts that read "Islam is the Devil," with predictable results. Earlier this year, he weighed in on local politics with the similar subtlety, this time offering the slogan "No Homo Mayor" (hint: it's not Spanish) against a local candidate.

Rev. Jones is not the only hatemonger masquerading as a man of God?every faith has them. And, of course, there isn't anything new about publicity stunts in politics or religion.

But in the Internet age, local cranks can quickly become national?and even international?stories, providing that they are willing to be shamelessly crazy in a way that confirms the worst stereotypes.

It's an extension of the shock-jock strategy that has leapt from talk radio to congressional candidates in recent years?there's no such thing as too extreme if it drives ratings, and screaming "fire" in a theater always draws a crowd outside. There's now a greater incentive for testing the boundaries of taste and judgment, while more thoughtful voices too often get drowned out.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- … acked-911/

Hell we need to burn Muslims just like Muslim burn Christian women and Children where is your outrage for those dead children?

wrote:

Terry Jones' Quran-threatening circus shows that the enemy of American democracy isn't just foreign terrorists, but also homegrown idiots!
\

Why do you hate American freedoms?

Why would you sacrifice American freedom for the sake of some koran, a pile of superstition and hatred?

wrote:

You completely missed the point of the article.

You expected something more from a KKKook?

wrote:

You completely missed the point of the article.

Why don't you try and paraphrase it for us Leslie?

I could use a good laugh.