The other day I was watching a morning news show on which Dr.Mehmet Oz was interviewed. The famous TV doc was asked how to recognize fake news, and then what to do once you’ve read it. Said the all-knowing Oz, “Be aware before you share.” I’m not a big fan of Dr. Oz, but I was struck by the profundity of his simple catch phrase. Clearly he was warning us about the dangers of fake news, and how fabricated stories can cause harm when re-tweeted or regurgitated. But his warning could also apply to inflammatory news.
Inflammatory news is news that may be technically true, but is not totally accurate because it either inadvertently or deliberately omits proper context. Even worse, it can incite the public unnecessarily, create panic, and cause collateral damage in its wake. Last week Jordan Green, a reporter for Triad City Beat, was guilty of writing an inflammatory news story.
He showed up uninvited at the banquet room of a Kernersville restaurant, where a private dinner of the Forsyth Constitutional Patriots was taking place. The group, which holds regular meetings at the popular restaurant, is comprised of some 20 senior citizens whose charitable work includes adopting homeless vets. They also invite guest speakers to their meetings, like Hamody Jasmin, an Iraqi patriot who aided our troops in the Gulf. Last Thursday the guest speaker was Tom Jones, whose presentation was about the “Islamification of America.” Group organizer Beverly Lung recognized Mr. Green and asked Mr. Jones if he had any objections to having a reporter present. Jones told Beverly, “Not at all. I’m not going to say anything that’s not true.” Neither Jones nor Lung, however, knew that Green was recording the meeting.
In the course of the evening, Islamic terrorism was discussed, and references were made to public executions. One of the attendees, Frank Del Valle, a 74 year old exile from communist Cuba, reacted to what he thought was a hypothetical scenario in which an Islamic terrorist threatened him with death. Frank said the only way to stop them, “is to start killing them.” Moments later he added, “I’m ready to start taking people out.”
Unlike Jordan Green who slipped in the back door, then slipped back out again without questioning people about their statements or motives, I actually interviewed several principal participants, including Ms. Lung and Mr. Del Valle. Frank made it clear to me that he was referring to what he would do if his life was threatened. “The people in our group knew what I meant,” he told me. Unfortunately Mr. Green didn’t want to take the time to know. Two days later the headline above his article read, “Local conservative activists prepare for violent confrontation with Islam.”
The result was public outrage at Ms. Lung’s group, at Mr. Del Valle, and even at the owner of the restaurant, who one blogger misidentified as the guest speaker. CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, was made aware of the article and called on the FBI to investigate Del Valle’s supposed death threats. Meanwhile, the Annoor Islamic Center in Clemmons (which Mr. Jones had said was “operating a Madrassa”) put its children’s Sunday school classes on virtual lock-down. The Winston-Salem Journal even devoted a front page story to the lock-down, and to the fears and safety precautions being taken at the Center. That was followed the next day by Susan Ladd’s inflammatory column in the Greensboro News and Record in which she likened Ms. Lung’s group to Nazis and the KKK. She ended her column by warning us not to discount the actions and words of dangerous groups like the Forsyth Constitutional Patriots, writing, “We ignore it at our peril.” Thanks to inflammatory news coverage, the FBI did not ignore it.
Last Sunday, two FBI agents showed up at Mr. Del Valle’s home, accompanied by two Winston-Salem police officers. But the agents also visited Ms. Lung and the restaurant manager, neither of who had anything to do with what Frank said at Thursday’s meeting. Beverly told the agents that Frank was not a threat to anyone, and said what Jordan Green had done was pathetic. I asked Frank what the agents asked him, and he said “They wanted to know if I thought all Muslims were the same. I said, ‘No, and that I don’t generalize about people.’ ” Del Valle then told the agents he thought they were wasting their time coming to investigate him on a Sunday morning. “One of the agents agreed, saying, ‘Yeah, I was getting ready to go to church.’ ”
Was it appropriate for the FBI to act on a complaint by CAIR, and interview Mr. Del Valle? Absolutely. And even though Frank didn’t commit a crime, perhaps the FBI visit will cause him to be more circumspect the next time he’s trying to articulate a hypothetical statement. Should Ms. Lung and the restaurant manager have had to endure FBI questioning? Absolutely not. But they were collateral damage, thanks to Mr. Green and Ms. Ladd. And by the way, if Jordan Green really believed anyone was in danger, he would have called the police or FBI himself, and waited to file his story following an investigation. Instead he chose to frighten and inflame the Muslim community without regard to the consequences.
Beverly’s group of senior citizens is pretty right wing. They’re paranoid about things that may never happen, and they are certainly not politically correct. But if they posed a threat to Muslims or any other peace-loving people, they’d all be behind bars now. So what’s the lesson to be learned from this fiasco? Old guys like Frank Del Valle need to choose their words more carefully, and so do journalists and columnists like Jordan Green and Susan Ladd. In today’s volatile world, context is very important. Ignore it at your own peril.
A Case of Inflammatory News
The other day I was watching a morning news show on which Dr.Mehmet Oz was interviewed. The famous TV doc was asked how to recognize fake news, and then what to do once you’ve read it. Said the all-knowing Oz, “Be aware before you share.” I’m not a big fan of Dr. Oz, but I was struck by the profundity of his simple catch phrase. Clearly he was warning us about the dangers of fake news, and how fabricated stories can cause harm when re-tweeted or regurgitated. But his warning could also apply to inflammatory news.
Inflammatory news is news that may be technically true, but is not totally accurate because it either inadvertently or deliberately omits proper context. Even worse, it can incite the public unnecessarily, create panic, and cause collateral damage in its wake. Last week Jordan Green, a reporter for Triad City Beat, was guilty of writing an inflammatory news story.
He showed up uninvited at the banquet room of a Kernersville restaurant, where a private dinner of the Forsyth Constitutional Patriots was taking place. The group, which holds regular meetings at the popular restaurant, is comprised of some 20 senior citizens whose charitable work includes adopting homeless vets. They also invite guest speakers to their meetings, like Hamody Jasmin, an Iraqi patriot who aided our troops in the Gulf. Last Thursday the guest speaker was Tom Jones, whose presentation was about the “Islamification of America.” Group organizer Beverly Lung recognized Mr. Green and asked Mr. Jones if he had any objections to having a reporter present. Jones told Beverly, “Not at all. I’m not going to say anything that’s not true.” Neither Jones nor Lung, however, knew that Green was recording the meeting.
In the course of the evening, Islamic terrorism was discussed, and references were made to public executions. One of the attendees, Frank Del Valle, a 74 year old exile from communist Cuba, reacted to what he thought was a hypothetical scenario in which an Islamic terrorist threatened him with death. Frank said the only way to stop them, “is to start killing them.” Moments later he added, “I’m ready to start taking people out.”
Unlike Jordan Green who slipped in the back door, then slipped back out again without questioning people about their statements or motives, I actually interviewed several principal participants, including Ms. Lung and Mr. Del Valle. Frank made it clear to me that he was referring to what he would do if his life was threatened. “The people in our group knew what I meant,” he told me. Unfortunately Mr. Green didn’t want to take the time to know. Two days later the headline above his article read, “Local conservative activists prepare for violent confrontation with Islam.”
The result was public outrage at Ms. Lung’s group, at Mr. Del Valle, and even at the owner of the restaurant, who one blogger misidentified as the guest speaker. CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, was made aware of the article and called on the FBI to investigate Del Valle’s supposed death threats. Meanwhile, the Annoor Islamic Center in Clemmons (which Mr. Jones had said was “operating a Madrassa”) put its children’s Sunday school classes on virtual lock-down. The Winston-Salem Journal even devoted a front page story to the lock-down, and to the fears and safety precautions being taken at the Center. That was followed the next day by Susan Ladd’s inflammatory column in the Greensboro News and Record in which she likened Ms. Lung’s group to Nazis and the KKK. She ended her column by warning us not to discount the actions and words of dangerous groups like the Forsyth Constitutional Patriots, writing, “We ignore it at our peril.” Thanks to inflammatory news coverage, the FBI did not ignore it.
Last Sunday, two FBI agents showed up at Mr. Del Valle’s home, accompanied by two Winston-Salem police officers. But the agents also visited Ms. Lung and the restaurant manager, neither of who had anything to do with what Frank said at Thursday’s meeting. Beverly told the agents that Frank was not a threat to anyone, and said what Jordan Green had done was pathetic. I asked Frank what the agents asked him, and he said “They wanted to know if I thought all Muslims were the same. I said, ‘No, and that I don’t generalize about people.’ ” Del Valle then told the agents he thought they were wasting their time coming to investigate him on a Sunday morning. “One of the agents agreed, saying, ‘Yeah, I was getting ready to go to church.’ ”
Was it appropriate for the FBI to act on a complaint by CAIR, and interview Mr. Del Valle? Absolutely. And even though Frank didn’t commit a crime, perhaps the FBI visit will cause him to be more circumspect the next time he’s trying to articulate a hypothetical statement. Should Ms. Lung and the restaurant manager have had to endure FBI questioning? Absolutely not. But they were collateral damage, thanks to Mr. Green and Ms. Ladd. And by the way, if Jordan Green really believed anyone was in danger, he would have called the police or FBI himself, and waited to file his story following an investigation. Instead he chose to frighten and inflame the Muslim community without regard to the consequences.
Beverly’s group of senior citizens is pretty right wing. They’re paranoid about things that may never happen, and they are certainly not politically correct. But if they posed a threat to Muslims or any other peace-loving people, they’d all be behind bars now. So what’s the lesson to be learned from this fiasco? Old guys like Frank Del Valle need to choose their words more carefully, and so do journalists and columnists like Jordan Green and Susan Ladd. In today’s volatile world, context is very important. Ignore it at your own peril.