Deafening Silence on McCain, Hagee and Parsley

After the mainstream media's weeks of obsession with Rev. Wright, some of which continued even after Senator Obama denounced him in no unequivocal terms, many bloggers and activists seem to have succeeded in getting the media to again do what it is supposed to do: cover the issues that matter most to people.

If we were to judge the media based on an idealistic set of standards, we're likely to conclude that the Rev. Wright story maybe should never have gotten as much attention as it did because what one's pastor says is neither representative of one's beliefs nor grounds for one to leave a church community he's been a member of. Based on that standard, the media certainly failed miserably.

But the media has also failed based on its own standards. If news programs and Blitzers of the American media find it relevant to obsess about some of the past comments of a presidential candidate's former pastor, should they not apply that standard to all the candidates?

There has been little talk in the mainstream media about Rev. Hagee's remarks that New Orleans got what it deserved through Hurricane Katrina because of gays or "its level of sins" in general. John McCain actively sought the endorsement of Rev. Hagee.

But Brave New Films has now made available the video of Pastor Rod Parsley, another pastor admired by John McCain whose firebrand and incendiary comments insult Islam. One may wonder what makes John McCain's association with Rev. Parsley, and calling him, among other things, one of the "truly great leaders in America," "moral compass" and "spiritual guide" relevant. Pastor Parsley has called Islam "an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world," declared that "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion [Islam] destroyed" and expressed the view that "I believe our nation can't truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historic conflict with Islam."

In light of these incendiary and extreme comments, it is both incredible and tragic to see the media apply such a double standard to the controversial comments of two different pastors. The media is not in the position to decide insults against what group of people is justified and against what group of people controversial and bombastic.

One may be inclined to say that Rev. Wright's comments offended more people because he criticized Israel which may be likely to offend many Jews. First of all, criticizing Israel has nothing to do with ones' opinion of the Jews, despite what those who want to suppress conversation about Israel say. Israel is a democratic state and can be a legitimate subject of criticism for its policies like the United States or any other state. Secondly, when it comes to insulting a minority group, the number of people in that group should not be the sole factor in deciding how much to cover a story that insults that minority group.

But a more important fact to keep in mind is that as Haveford College Professor Harvey Glickman demonstrated in a presentation last year, there are now more Muslims in America than there are Jews. So what message is the media sending to these Muslims when we tell them that if Israel is criticized, the media will go nuts, but if Islam is insulted - even in much more derogatory and bigoted terms - the Muslims have to take it and the media's deafening silence on the insults. This is the kind of behavior that leads to the alienation of the biggest non-Christian minority group in the United States, damages our image in Muslim countries and plays into the anti-Semitic canards that Jews control the Western media.

News corporations may have a preference among religions, but that preference is not going unnoticed by millions in this country. The bloggers have to do what they can to force the media to cover the outrageous comments of Rev. Parsley, because when it comes to controversial pastors, they should not be only democrats' liability in this election.

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Comments

[tathagat]

Gustave Herve, another great anti-patriot, justly calls patriotism a superstition Hone far more injurious, brutal, and inhumane than religion. The superstition of religion originated in man's inability to explain natural phenomena. That is, when primitive man heard thunder or saw the lightning, he could not account for either, and therefore concluded that back of them must be a force greater than himself. Similarly he saw a supernatural force in the rain, and in the various other changes in nature. Patriotism, on the other hand, is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.

[tathagat]

"All I have is a voice

To undo the folded lie,

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die."

- W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939"

*** *** ***

Socrates Meets Jesus by Prometheus
http://www.jameshartforcongress.com/prometheus/socvsjes.htm

[notthistime]

The bigger thing is -- I could care less what Hagee said. I don't think it reflects the outlook of McCain. I want to understand what McCain intends to do with our current situation. Healthcare, economy, housing crisis, recession . . . This is more relevant to the American people. Hagee isn't running for president just as Wright was not running for president. Let us not get bogged down into gossip and other stuff that takes time away from discussing real issues.

Go Obama 08

[notthistime]

C'mon Sam - why are you acting so suprised? Wright was a black man and Hagee is white.
No contest. We all know Obama is supposed to be held responsible for everybody he knew whether they were close friends or associates and for the spoken and unspoken views of his Pastor. Whites are not held equally responsible for using their own words. It is a fact and my personal experience as a person of color. So let it go and move on. The outrage will not happen so be careful and don't hold your breath.

Go Obama 08

[jfor]

Get religion out of the limelight and back in the privacy of your own home and heart. Your religion is not my religion which is not their religion so please lets all just STFU about all the different Gods representing all the different people in all the different places around the world and find some answers using our own ingenuity and taking personal responsibility for our failures,

[fayted]

Bush and comp. and now McWAR are vent in waging wars against Islam nations?, what's very frightening is they are almost stating the fact that USA fulfillment in life is to destroy nations based on the notion that's our religious duty to do so?, and looking at the current situation one has to wonder how much stock the "leaders of this nation" have put in the idea of hatemonger "pastors" convictions, conquer and destroy at all cost?, based on our irrational war in Irak, wanting to start another one with Iran, the administration has been reckless putting our nation at war, I have to wonder what can we expect from now on? do these man have influence in the decision making of the neo-cons??? I'm 100% sure, religion as Bush likes it, in part motivated the war, and more than anything that Obama's pastor said, this spells trouble for American people, who are we? who gives us the right to destroy other nations? appalling, reckless and quite frankly irresponsible. I'm sorry if anyone takes offense at what I"ll say, but have we stopped to think how are we viewed in the world? many nations and people think of us as tyrants, that were no better than any others waging wars upon others, for our on selfish interest, we have to work hard to make this an issue because it really is and it seems kinda clear now why were at war

[IndependentMeans]

Great post !!!

[NoSillyName]

Let's hope McCain's affiliations do become important in the general election.

[ajax2]

"Let's hope McCain's affiliations do become important in the general election."

You make them important by repetition and tying them into the news cycle and their echo chambers. It's probably good that the dems have not push the issue at this time. Let the McCain relationships with these two loonies drift into the general election, and then ...

Ex: DNC spokesman at news conference. "We don't agree with bringing religion into the debate. Especially hate filled speech that asks for the extermination of Moslems, and the damnation of Jews. We believe John McCain doesn't either, but he has failed to explain the videos where he supports these preachers. Have you seen the videos, John, whew."

[JScott]

'News corporations may have a preference among religions'-and their religion is corporatism.

And this is the reason for the uneven coverage.

[MadFae]

It should be no surprise. After all, those guys are WHITE. America has a soft spot in its heart for fanatical, evil white preachers. Any black man who said the same things would be viewed with horror....because a frighteningly large portion of white America is actually afraid that one day, the "black man" will take over and make them all into slaves. Call it white guilt, but it's real, and it's pervasive. People like Hagee are in reality much more dangerous than Rev. Wright, but you'll never see them smeared the way he was. Too many people actually agree with what they say.

[LouisPWu]

The MSM continues to give McBombBomb a pass on his association with 'Christian' nutcases like Hagee and Parsley because they're afraid of offending the majority. It's okay to offend African Americans - they're not the majority. It's okay to offend American Muslims - they're not the majority. But it you really lay the truth out about the fundy 'Christian' nutcases, the advertisers start worrying about offending the people buying their products.

[tinarm]

Rod Parsley, Hagee, Robertson, they are all nut cases. If you have not read the bible from front to back then you don't realize how nutty they are. Most people go to church and just listen. They are to stupid or lazy to actually pick up the book and read it. What Parsley, and Hagee and the rest of them do is speak about the Old Testament, then go to Revelations. They don't want to discuss the New Testament. Hagee has stated that people should starve in the streets, Parsley has stated that American's love war it's what we were made for. They leave the enitre teachings of Jesus Christ out of their sermons. As far as I'm concerned if we are going to judge Obama for sitting in his church then everyone who has sat in the pews for Hagee, Parsley, Robertson, should all be held accountable to the same standard. There is a huge double standard in this country. We already know Republicans are judgemental, and denegrating to everyone but themselves, so we say oh well that's how they feel. They get a pass for being jerks.

[sparkandy]

Which church did McCain attend for 20 years and raise his family in? Parsley's? Hagees? Why do the Wright apologists keep comparing apples to basketballs? They're both round, but that's the only resemblance.

[aperezfl]

The reason for the media's partial selective coverage of religion has a lot to do with its members' demographics, which are strikingly different from the composition of America as a whole. For one, it contains a much higher proportion of Jews than does our society. Its members generally come from fa wealthy than the average American. Solomon and Lichter made the case years ago that the media is largely composed of liberal elites; these people cannot effectively relate to working class America, as much as they want you to believe they can.

Over the past decade or so, the media has started to lean more conservative, as we see with Fox. Now, their anchors have too often equated terrorism with Islam. See: David Horowitz's Islamo-Facism awareness week. He is not alone in peddling this racist garbage.

As a Jew myself, I strongly disagree with the large number of Jews who put the interests of Israel above all at the American ballot box. My aunt - who was born Jewish, converted to Christianity, adopted Judaism again, and then became a Sunday school teacher - told me she cannot vote for Obama, even though she's a liberal, because he lived in Indonesia and she, therefore, cannot trust him. It doesn't matter how many times Obama affirms his support of Israel; she has received the putrid emails regularly circulating throughout the Jewish community that Obama is a Muslim. Though our country recognizes freedom of religion, to practice Islam is nearly a crime.

[booksnmore4you]

Recall that Obama was not raised in U.S. black culture and was only introduced to it as a young man.

Trinity UCC was Obama's many-years-long part-time effort in participan­t-observat­ion to deeply understand the Black experience in America. This is why he was able to speak with great authority on the subject of race in America, in a speech he wrote himself no less.

How much effort has McCain put into understanding the Black experience? The silence would be deafening if he were posed the question. And you can be sure that any speech he would give on the subject would be written by someone else, and he'd simply be as one propped up to mouth the words in an attempt to look good.

This is the real significance of Obama and Trinity UCC. This is the angle that should be played but never has been - yet.