Yesterday, the Florida pastor Terry Jones, under intense pressure, reversed his plan to burn hundreds of Korans on his self-proclaimed ‘Burn a Koran Day’, which was set to take place on the anniversary of 9/11. He claims to have bartered a deal in which he will decide to not brutally defame Islam’s holy book if the famed ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ is moved farther away from Ground Zero. Claims of a deal being reached have been denied by the imam who plans to build the community center.
Has the media been giving this man – clearly a radical dependent on media exposure to spread his message – too much attention? Is it this exposure that has empowered him to manipulate a completely unrelated, but important, topic of extreme religious sensitivity? And finally, does this exposure, and the anger it fuels, put American lives at risk and show that extremism earns results? Post your comments!
