DISTURBING

It is fairly common knowledge among the right of center people that the MSM heavily favors their own leftist agenda and even proactively hides or mischaracterizes anything that opposes or contradicts its validity.

We've seen it vividly with the Tea Party protests, and then in other ways that happen daily, such as the hypocritical demonizing of infractions of someone on the right and then giving a pass to someone on the left for the same infraction - small or big.

Today, however, another instance came up that I find hard to rationalize, even for the MSM. It has to do with a protest at Ground Zero yesterday that was asking that the Mega Mosque not be built so close by. Around 8000 people showed up. I first saw it at Atlas Shrugs via Instapundit.

I was expecting to see it on the Today Show this morning, but there wasn't a peep. Their building is in New York. This story should have hit a close nerve and be an obvious big time story.

I googled "Ground Zero Protest" and found it reported at a number of independent blog type of sites. The only MSM I saw was at CNN and the NY Daily News.

It makes me so sad. I read the CNN and New York Daily News articles b/c they will be seen by a bigger population than the bloggers would. As you can imagine, the bloggers are sympathetic. Ever an optimist, I expected the bigger news outlets to treat this protest with more compassion.

Mimicking the same under estimating of crowds, CNN said,

Geller said the NYPD and security at the rally told her about 5,000 demonstrators were there. But NYPD spokesman Sgt. Kevin Hayes said the police department's policy is to not provide crowd estimates and that he could not confirm Geller's number.
CNN iReporter Julio Ortiz-Teissonniere, who attended the rally and sent photos to CNN, said the number was closer to 200-300 while he was there for the first 45 minutes of the event. All three said the protest was peaceful.

The builders claim that they're trying to boost Islam relations with the community,

The Cordoba Initiative aims to improve relations between Muslims and the West.

I believe that even the speculating of doing this will only aggravate any hostility that is already there. I think that people have been very disciplined about not placing the hate on the non-radical Muslim. But, I don't think this will have a positive effect on relations - it is more likely to cause a riot or actual hate among anyone who utilizes the building. And, they couldn't resist implicating the Tea Partiers, in a racist light,

Local political leaders turned out in support of the community last month after Mark Williams of the conservative Tea Party Express reportedly said the mosque was for "the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god."

This should not be a political issue. It is an emotional one. 9/11 brought our country together in a way we haven't seen a very very long time. It was a time of unprecedented unity (in my generation, anyways). This should be a no-brainer. If 5000-8000 people showed up, that is 1-3 people per victim on 9/11. The MSM is either ignoring or mischaracterizing the event. Knowing how much this offends me, 3000 miles away and not personally knowing any of the victims, I can only imagine the outcry of the negative coverage. Just add a zero or two to those numbers.

If the supporters of the building of this Mega Mosque truly desire better relations between the Muslim community and others, they should voluntarily cease the planned construction, and apologize to the victims, acknowledging that providing this community center is not fostering the good will that they intended. No harm intended. The continued demonization of the "good guy" is disheartening.

"To make room for peace there can be no room for hatred, bigotry or prejudice," City Councilman Robert Jackson said at the May 20 demonstration.

Admittedly, this blog entry has been one-sided in showing the reporting. That is because the tone and/or lack of coverage offended me. And, I know I'm not alone in that. I am not trying to be a news outlet. I express my opinions. If you want to read the whole article to get the full context, follow the links above.