And occasionally I blog.

I was going to write a lovely piece about crises coverage. It was going to be about Fort Hood and the gunmen who opened fire, killing several people and injuring even more. But thankfully, the Huffington Post and their open comment forum with each story changed my mind and I won't be writing about that. Mostly due to comments like this one:

KimberlyPennell: How did someone named Nidal Malik Hasan become an Army Major?? I feel so sorry for the families of those were killed or wounded.

The labels given to certain groups of people, and the ways media write about people is often ridiculed. Why make such a big deal about the way to describe those who are living in the country without residency, or writing about individuals who come from a diverse background?Perhaps it's the same reason we were able to spend almost an entire class lecture talking about the framing of race and ethnicity in stories, specifically dealing with Hurricane Katrina.

Is the media just being extra careful so as to not offend and isolate themselves? Very possible. Are they doing so to inundate the public and spread their personal views? Maybe. But in this situation would that be so bad?

Then we might not have women like Ms. Pennell wondering how/why a man with a "different" last name could be in the Army. You know, because that cool boy I went to high school with, who happened to be of Middle Eastern decent, doesn't deserve to serve in the Army because of his name.

Article source: huffingtonpost.com

XOXO, NB