Quebec Atrocities and Media Jumps to Conclusions

Last night the media was busy discussing the shooting at a mosque in Canada. The media immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was an anti-Muslim attack possibly caused by the United States travel ban. The problem is that at least one of the shooters appears to have been an Arab.

Pimpernel is a pacifist and rejects these types of heinous actions, I have written about this more than once. Our thoughts and prayers should go out to all of the victims.

Some small points and then the real issue. Firstly, the shock and anger over this shooting is surprising considering the fact that the west kills hundreds of Muslims on a daily basis in the countries that the travel ban has been placed on and nobody in the west seems to care. The media doesn't even bother reporting on all of the drone strikes done in the last months of Obama's presidency.

Now lets get to the media coverage. Within minutes of the shooting being announced the media was drawing conclusions. That is always dangerous and rarely accurate. When a Muslim couple in San Bernardino killed a number of people at a business the media jumped to the conclusions that it was Muslim terrorists and began speculating that the couple were part of a sleeper cell or connected to Al Qaida, I immediately wrote that we should wait for the facts to come out and not assume a reason. Turns out over a year later, NO connection to any terrorist organization has yet to be found. In fact, it looks like workplace violence.

We don't know the motivation behind these new shootings and the police have not claimed to know as of yet, so why did the media spin the story so quickly? The corporate media is trying to compete with the internet independent media; unfortunately in the worst way. When anything happens the internet immediately begins speculating without checking the facts, now the mainstream corporate media does the same thing so that they can seem relevant. This is especially true of shootings.

When there is a shooting the pro and anti gun proponents roll out their standard answers and if Arabs are involved the Pro and Anti Muslims sides come out with their standard answers. Neither side waits to find out the truth because both sides fear it will work against their stories. Before my readers make a conclusion I would ask that they wait a couple of weeks and let the facts come out as they will. Don't jump to conclusions, wait for more facts. We don't have to be as reactionary and biased as them mainstream media.