Media and the Justification of Genocides

Amen to the idea that groups of people can take their religion to far and use it to justify mass genocides, wars, and such. Throughout our education we have learned about groups of people (radicals if you will or sometimes those in political power) that have taken their their religious and/or political views and used them as a means to justify their violent actions towards others. The Crusades and our own nation's Manifest Destiny are just quick examples.

It is rather fitting that we are talking about this when 9/11 is this Thursday. The people that bombed the Trade Center were terrorists that used their extreme views of religion to rationalize their actions. It is unfortunate that such an even happened, to be sure, but as the anniversary comes upon us, we must remind ourselves that not everyone is an extremist.

In times of extreme crisis, such as what we faced in the following hours and days, it serves the media, the vengeful citizens, as well as the war hungry politicians to portray a whole group of people as blood thirsty terrorists. These images degrade the people that practice the religion as a whole instead of those that take their religious views and push them to their ultimate extreme. The media, the images, and the interpretations we make as humans do a great disservice. That is not to put down the pain and suffering of those families or citizens of our nation and others. Instead, I merely suggest that instead of pointing fingers at a group without thinking, we should instead view media with suspicion as to whom the images serve and what it means to those whom are portrayed.

As in the clip we saw of the masses watching the video screen in 1984, our own media tries to stir up mass feelings of resentment or sympathy by their modified and often limited portrayal of certain events. In some cases, once again, to site 9/11, the repeat image of the second plane being flown into the tower trigger feelings of sadness and anger.

One such time we can look back on as well, is Katrina. Please take a look at this picture and give the captions a close inspection.