Gibson v. Haq
Jeff Jacoby notes an interesting comparison:
In the first six days after his arrest, the media database Nexis logged 888 stories mentioning ``Mel Gibson" and ``Jews." And that didn't include the countless websites, talk shows, and smaller publications that also took it up.
...
According to police and eyewitness reports, the killer forced his way into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by holding a gun to the head of a 13-year-old girl. Once inside, Naveed Haq announced, ``I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel," and opened fire with two semiautomatic pistols. Pam Waechter died on the spot; five other women were shot in the abdomen, knee, or arm. When one of the women managed to call 911, Haq took the phone and told the dispatcher: ``These are Jews and I'm tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."
At a time when jihadist murder is a global threat and some of the most malevolent figures in the Islamic world -- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah, to name just two -- openly incite violence against Americans and Jews, the attack in Seattle should have been a huge story everywhere. Yet after six days, a Nexis search turned up only 236 stories mentioning Haq -- one-fourth the number dealing with Gibson's drunken outburst. Why the disparity?
Hmmm, I'll note that here at Cozy Corner, we've mentioned Mel Gibson in 4 posts, and the Seattle attack in 4 posts (although never mentioning Haq by name). So now we are 5 and 5.
But I think that, in addition to Gibson's fame, there is a deeper, underlying reason. Fundamentally, Gibson's story is a good Christian parable. Devout man gets drunk, says shameful things, apologizes for them, time for healing and forgiveness (and the cover of the Weekly World News, People, and your local rag). People don't have to feel bad about themselves, although if they harbor any of Mel's deep-seated anxieties, now they can empathize with him. Haq's story? Haq's breaks the multicultural, moral relativism worldview of mainstream America media, because Sudden Jihad Syndrome has no place in a world in which Evil dare not exist.
In short: Mel is a bad man, and we understand that. Haq is an evil man, and we don't/
