This is a link to cnn coverage of the quran burning.
The picture is a link to a cnn story of 2 muslims traveling across america.
The picture is a link to a cnn story of 2 muslims traveling across america.
I am in a feel good mood today. After Dr. Von's posing of the question is it ethical to cover the Quran burning, I felt like there were no clear answers. I knew in my heart it would be better that no one cover the event. But I also knew that that would never happen in america. In addition, the wise philosophers, that we researched, pretty much all agreed that there should be coverage. I didn't understand this. But today it ll came to me!
I was searching for a topic for my blog and decided I was interested enough to check out how they covered the burning. To my surprise and happiness, they burning never took place! This was an outcome that I never would have predicted. It was too good to be true!
Turns out the world wide pressure brought on by the media persuaded him to cancel the burning. As the news story became more popular, it demanded attention.From the vatican to the obama administration, everybody was ranting and passing the blame. Then there was the warning of violence towards the troops. According to the first news story posted, the pastor received calls from prominent figures world wide urging him not to follow through with his plans. It worked! The pastor publicly canceled his plans.
I decided to look back at what had happened and how our wise philosophers could have called such a bet. First, with my philosopher Kant, he says treat people as the ends not the means. When the pastor was faced with the realities of what his protest had at stake, he logically decided it was unwise to continue. By respecting him as a human we allowed him to make the right choice.
Next look at JOhn Stuart Mill. He believes in utilitarianism, basically the end justifies the means. Thus, if there was no political pressure, then the pastor would have no reason to cancel his plans.
Finally, many of our philosophers were kind of in the middle, saying that we should cover the event but give depth and cover the whole story. Our media enterprises also came through on this running stories about morning for the victims and acceptance/tolerance. One example is CNN running the story of two muslims traveling across america experiencing not only tolerance, but being welcomed into their communities.
I really was confused leaving class on wed night. But now I am a little more confident in the media and its philosophical law makers!
1 comment:
You still appear unsure. Have you concluded what you would have done in this case?
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