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A Plea For Equality In Media Coverage Of DC Sniper John Muhammed
ABC Radio News on hour | MB26

Posted on 11/24/2003 10:32:25 AM PST by MindBender26

A brief plea for reality in coverage of the trial of DC sniper John Muhammad.

Today, a jury did the right thing and recommended the death penalty for the man who brought death to so many others. Perhaps if we considered the terror he struck into the civic soul of those living near our nation’s capitol, there might have been an even worse sentence imposed.

The problem of Mr. Muhammad’s repeated rampages is over, but the basic unfairness of the news coverage surrounding his killing spree continues.

In virtually every report about Mr. Muhammad, the newscaster mentions that he is a former soldier. Somehow, the news writers feel the need to portray soldiers as sociopath trained killers.

They don’t mention that he is a Muslim. They don’t mention that he had a very strange relationship with young Mr. Malvo; a relationship that many experts say certainly flirts with homosexuality. They don’t mention Muhammad’s history as a wife beater, or even his history as a poor soldier.

It’s just “former soldier John Muhammad.”

In case the focus of Mr. Muhammad’s “soldierhood” is interesting to you; please note that Mr. Muhammad was not an infantryman, a artilleryman, a tanker. He was not airborne qualified. He was not Special Forces or Ranger qualified. What was he? He was basically a truck driver.

But of course, “truck driver” does not carry the negative connotation (to a network newswriter) of him being one of those dreaded “soldiers,.” so guess what description they keep mentioning?

And of course that do not mention that he is Black. Perhaps they should, not out of racism, but only to ensure viewers/listeners know that Mr. Muhammad is not the “angry white man” all the network “experts” assured us he was.

Next time they feel the need to remind us that he was one of those dreaded soldiers, perhaps that might look back into their own family history. They probably don’t have to go back too many generations to find that one of their forefathers was at Keh Shan, Pork Chop Hill, Iwo Jima, Normandy or Belleau Woods.

Was your father/grandfather/uncle a trained killer who held the Washington ransom for $10,000,000.00?

Note to newswriters: Next time you feel the need to warn viewer/listeners that Mr. Muhammad was once a soldier, ask yourself the question; do you need to warn others about hose dreaded soldiers in your family?


TOPICS: Extended News; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: antiamericanism; blameamericafirst; ccrm; crime; criminal; dcsniper; deathpenalty; dnctalkingpoints; domesticterrorism; doublestandard; fairpress; hateamericafirst; hypocrisy; ignoretheobvious; islam; islamofascist; johnallenmuhammad; loathethemilitary; lyingliars; mediabias; murder; murderer; muslim; pc; politicallycorrect; post911attacks; religion; religionofpeace; religionofpeacetm; serialkiller; sniper; terrorism; terrorist; washingtondc

1 posted on 11/24/2003 10:32:26 AM PST by MindBender26
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To: MindBender26
In virtually every report about Mr. Muhammad, the newscaster mentions that he is a former soldier. Somehow, the news writers feel the need to portray soldiers as sociopath trained killers>

Great Post. John Muhammad's salient characteristic is most certainly the fact that he is Muslim. The military indeed teaches young men to be killers, such is the nature of the need to defend ourselves, but only the Muslim religion could instruct him, implore him to MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE.

The media's need to portray his soldier background as more important than his MUSLIMNESS is an insult to everyone who ever war the uniform.

2 posted on 11/24/2003 10:42:23 AM PST by wayoverontheright
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To: MindBender26
Great minds think alike - I just had a letter to the editor published in my local fishwrap yesterday to this effect. The title of the article referred to him as "Army vet". It was also mentioned again in the body of the article.

My letter pointed out the facts of his army record, as well as the fact of his having been born John Allen Williams, having converted to Islam, and having served as a security guard at Calypso Louie's Million Man March.

3 posted on 11/24/2003 10:43:14 AM PST by Inspectorette
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To: MindBender26
That's all? My wife had to turn off the radio to stop me from screaming at it. All last week, on several radio news casts, they isisted on referring to this non-white, Muslim murderer as the "alleged sniper!" HE WAS CONVICTED!!!! HE AIN'T ALLEGED ANYMORE!!

The media has never gotten over the fact that this guy wasn't a white, Christian veteran who drank beer, listened to Rush, dropped out of the 4th grade to marry his cousin, and drove a white van with a rifle rack. So long as the killer matched the ultra-left wing, necommmunist media's stereotype of such a killer, they were interested. A non-white, Muslim murderer, especially if he is a faggot, is not of interest no matter how many innocents he killed.

4 posted on 11/24/2003 10:46:39 AM PST by Tacis
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To: wayoverontheright
It's also a part of the media's campaign to lull us into a sense of false security that the administration is paranoid and harming people's personal liberties.

After all, we "haven't been attacked" since 9.11.2001.

The DC sniper killings, the anthrax mailings, the Tampa teen kamikaze, the LAX counter shooting, et al were just "lone nut" occurances. It's not like they were Islamofascists doing their duty.

People need to wake up that we have been attacked on US soil since 9.11. Who knows what wasn't reported in the press (even the snipers killed before going to the DC area).

The media likes to deny the obvious.

5 posted on 11/24/2003 10:59:14 AM PST by weegee
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To: weegee
I was on a Baltimore to Orlando flight when the then-new TSA was conducting "randonly chosen" special "final searches" before you were allowed to board the aricraft.

All coach Boeing 737: 137 pax, of all races, colors, ages, sexes, etc. (you get a rather eclectic crowd going to Disney.....)

137 passengers. 17 passengers searched. 17 middle aged Caucasion males.

Our gmvt at work.
6 posted on 11/24/2003 11:13:03 AM PST by MindBender26 (For more news as it happens, stay tuned to your local FReeper Network station)
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To: MindBender26
Great post! I hear the AP is also doing a follow-up on the former painter Hitler...
7 posted on 11/24/2003 11:14:13 AM PST by talleyman (Caviar emptor (a warning from the sturgeon general))
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To: MindBender26
I've been hassled on domestic flights as have my family.

This could always change. After all we were asked about our luggage for over a decade (Did you pack it yourself?) before they finally decided that this didn't make it safer to fly in America.

Driver's Licenses have been used too for a long time and are easily acquired with false names.

I could also add some mysterious exploding plane accidents (and the Shoe Bomber who was caught just prior to his attack) to that list of post911 terrorist attacks (or suspected attacks). And we won't ever hear about all of the near miss attacks.

8 posted on 11/24/2003 11:35:50 AM PST by weegee
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To: MindBender26
Calling him a "soldier" is equivalent to the media mentioning that a car in an accident, etc, is an SUV. Totally irrelevant - just somebody's agenda.
9 posted on 11/24/2003 12:04:04 PM PST by bruin66 (Guns don't kill people. Bullets do. Guns just make them go really fast.)
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