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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

The Virginian Pilot response to the murder of army men in Arkansas

I have asked the publisher of the Virginian Pilot to give the Pilot's response to the murder of the Army recruits in Arkansas. I'm asking because they devoted a full front page story to the killing of the abortion doctor. Is it a question of narrative or another question?

I'll publish the response.

UPDATE: The response from the publisher (in full) via e-mail:

We condemn the violence in both cases.

My reply: "No you don't." To this moment, there has been not one word of condemnation in the Virginian Pilot over the murder of Private Long.

It should be noted that Fox's "Special Report with Bret Baier" had a segment last night that focused on the disparity of media coverage between the two killings.

Call it a tale of two murders: one involving an abortion doctor that captured days of media attention and another involving an Army recruiter that has barely registered a blip on most news radar screens.

The killing of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was fatally shot in his Kansas church Sunday morning, drew a flood of denunciations from President Obama along with liberal and conservative lawmakers and abortion rights groups and abortion foes. The murder occupied front pages and led news broadcasts for nearly three days.

Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the U.S. Marshals' service to "increase security for a number of individuals and facilities" although officials provided no specifics.

By contrast, the murder of Army Pvt. William Long and the wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula outside a recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., has drawn relatively scant coverage despite the background of the suspected shooter: he was a convert to Islam who police say probably had "political and religious motives for the attack."

Holder has not called for a security increase at Army recruiting centers around the country even though they along with military facilities have been targeted for attack numerous times over the last five years.

As of Wednesday, no statements have been released from Obama, Holder, White House officials, Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Obama introduced his nominee to be Army secretary Tuesday without mentioning the attack on army soldiers inside the U.S. No condemnation. No condolences to the family of Long.

Conservative media analyst Brent Bozell said the difference in responses comes down to politics.

"Politics dictated that they be outspoken on the murder of Dr. 'Killer' Tiller, but be silent on the murder" of Long, he said, explaining that a long-held double standard by the media renders the latter unremarkable.

Bozell said the double standard rears its head when an abortion foe is involved in a deplorable act, leading to censure of the anti-abortion movement.

"But when you have things such as the Unabomber killing people for environmental reasons, no one in the press ever went to anyone in the environmental community asking them if they needed to apologize or reflect on their words and their actions."


The killing of late-term abortion doctor Tiller got the front page headline in the Virginian Pilot, underscoring the importance that the editors of that paper attributed to a murder in Kansas. President Obama issued an immediate statement condemning the murder. Newspapers across the country condemned the murder and linked the killing to anti-abortion activists.

The Virginian Pilot devoted the bottom sixth of page A3 to the murder of Private William Long and the wounding of Private Quinton Ezeagwula by a convert to Islam. President Obama has yet to issue a condemnation to the murder of one of HIS troops. The Marine Corps Times notes that

A Muslim convert who pleaded not guilty to killing a soldier outside a recruiting center had the firepower to take out many more while on a mission to “kill as many people in the Army as he could,” police said.

In documents released Tuesday, authorities said they recovered Molotov cocktails, three guns and ammunition from Abdulhakim Muhammad’s truck after the attack Monday in a suburban Little Rock shopping center.

Muhammad targeted soldiers “because of what they had done to Muslims in the past,” authorities said.


Meanwhile the Virginian Pilot has not published another word on the Long murder ... but in the spirit of "condemning the violence in both cases" has another column denouncing the Tiller murder.


What is it? Have anti-abortion activists gone on a Jihad across the world killing abortion providers? The last murder of an abortionist was 1998. Yet to read and hear the MSM, you would believe that murder of abortionists was the leading cause of death among doctors.


The killing of our soldiers and civilians by Muslims on Jihad has led to the deaths of thousands just in the last 8 years, yet there is virtually no notice taken. Where is the outrage from our "fearless" press about this? Are they afraid, or do they really not care?


UPDATE 2: Amy Ridenour has an excellent summary of the difference in coverage and condemnation of the two killings so close together. Referring to Michelle Malkin:
Michelle scolds the media, too: "Is it too much to ask the media cartographers in charge of mapping the 'climate of hate' to do their jobs with both eyes open?"

Yes, apparently it is.



Mapping the “climate of hate”

When a right-wing Christian vigilante kills, millions of fingers pull the trigger. When a left-wing Muslim vigilante kills, he kills alone. These are the instantly ossifying narratives in the Sunday shooting death of Kansas late-term abortionist George Tiller versus the Monday shootings of two Arkansas military recruiters.



Eh, Maurice?

UPDATE 3: A commenter at FreeRepublic

The mere fact you have to ask them to respond to the shooting of two U.S. soldiers on American soil by a muslim speaks volumes all by itself.



UPDATE 4: Still another editorial about the Tiller killing. You know, the one in which Tiller is killed rather than his killing of babies about to be delivered. Little Donny Luzzatto is in absolute dispair about the fact that people have still not gotten over the killing of babies.

He is troubled, immensely, immensely troubled by abortion. Read him for yourself:

I am immensely troubled by abortion in all but a vanishingly few circumstances and think using it as a form of birth control is abhorrent.



But if abortion is legal why are you troubled? If abortion is morally neutral why are you troubled? If abortion is a choice of the person with the uterus, why are you troubled? If abortion is the law of the land why should it be rare? Why pay homage to the anti-abortion movement with this "some of my best friends are...." disclaimer? Tell us Donny, why you feel compelled to distance yourself from the acts that Tiller committed about 60,000 times.


Oh, and still no editorial condemnation of the murder of Private Long by a convert to the Religion of Peace. Just a whisper in my ear by the publisher.

UPDATE 5: It helps to talk to the boss.

The Virginian Pilot editorial staff has decided it had to condemn the killing of Private Long. Somewhat overdue, it’s still welcome. Terrorism comes to Little Rock

The killing of abortion doctor Tiller was immediately followed by denunciations of violence by pro-life groups, even those who had protested Dr. Tiller. The letters to the editor following that editorial included quite a number of people who denounced what Dr. Tiller had been doing. It will be interesting and instructive to see the reaction in what President Obama has termed this Islamic country.

UPDATE 6: The Empire Strikes Back.

Today the editors of the Virginian Pilot put their thumbs on the scale again ... or I should say "as usual." Out of 8 "Letters to the Editor" five heaped praise on the late-term abortionist Dr. Tiller, killed a few days ago. A number of letters injected religion into their opinions, accusing people who condemned Tiller (of murdering babies by performing over 60,000 late term abortions) of being bad Christians. This is a frequent tactic of people for whom religion, if it has any meaning in their lives at all, is a club to use on the opposition. But it does bring up an interesting question: what is the Christian response to seeing people murdered? Before you answer the question, keep in mind that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. The answer - for the vast majority of people - is to avert their eyes and move on.

None were published on the murder of Private Long by a convert to Islam.

It is common in the MSM to use the letters column to support the paper's editorial position, to heap praise on the paper, and to denigrate the opposition. The Virginian Pilot continues to be an outstanding example of its genre.

1 comment:

thisishabitforming said...

There is another difference between the killing of the soldier and the killing of George Tiller. The taking of Tillers life was in response to Tiller by his own estimation being personally responsible for the killing of 60,000 pre born children, with his specialty being late term abortion when the baby is viable. This man was a monster as opposed to the young man in the military whose purpose was to defend his country and way of life.