by Al Hidell - Paranoia magazine |
In early March 2006, a string of church fires in Alabama came to an end
with the arrest of three suspects: Benjamin Moseley and Russell DeBusk
Jr., both 19-year-old students at Birmingham Southern College, and
Matthew Cloyd, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham. According to a March 9, 2006 Birmingham News report,
“Friends said suspects Russell DeBusk and Ben Moseley were Satanists,
which DeBusk told friends was ‘not about worshipping the devil, but
about the pursuit of knowledge.’”Prior to the arrests, official reaction was typified by Michael Jackson of the Bibb County sheriff’s office. He told reporters, “The perpetrators of these cowardly acts will be brought to justice.” When the arsonists turned out to be three wealthy Jewish students, things changed. Alabama Governor Bob Riley said the church arsons did not appear to be “any type of conspiracy against organized religion” or the Baptist faith. Likewise, Mark Potok, a director of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), assured the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t see any evidence that these fires were hate crimes.” Potok, whose SPLC professes to fight hate crimes, added that anti-Christian crimes are rare in the south. As MSNBC online news reports set the tone for the post-arrest coverage, noting in its lead that two of the suspects were considered campus “pranksters.” Likewise, a Birmingham News story of March 26, 2006 was headlined, “Suspects in Fire Were Jokesters.” Federal officials appeared to accept the alleged firestarters’ explanation that the arsons were a “joke that got out of hand.” An unnamed government source told MSNBC the apparent motive was that the men “just liked to set and watch fires.” Victor Thorn of WING TV (wingtv.net) has asked what the political and media reaction would be if the men had been Christians who destroyed nine Jewish synagogues. It’s fairly certain that they wouldn’t be called “pranksters” whose “joke got out of hand.” Nor would the Governor have stated the fires did not appear to be “any type of conspiracy against organized religion” or the Jewish faith. And the SPLC would be issuing dozens of press releases condemning the hate crimes. No, there was not a “Jewish conspiracy” to slant the media coverage and official reactions. There didn’t have to be. Certain groups (and classes) are simply treated differently in America. More to the point, crimes against certain classes or religious groups are given elevated status. Meanwhile, crimes committed by these groups tend to be downplayed or even ignored. Rarely has this double standard been as stark in its application. |
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