So we, the public, clearly don't have much information thus far on the Faisal Shazhad, the man arrested for the attempted Times Square bombing the other day.
Without presupposing anything, but given that Shazhad travelled to the FATA region of Pakistan recently and that the Pakistani intelligence agencies announced arrests of people suspected of having a connection to the bomb plot, doesn't MSNBC's headline seem to have a bit of a bizarre focus? It reads:
BOMB SUSPECT LOST HOME TO FORECLOSURE.
I don't think I'm reading too much into the article in feeling like they're suggesting that his losing his home was the reason for him trying to blow up people in Times Square. Could it be true that the foreclosure caused him to snap and go crazy? Yes, I suppose so. But given all the other information out there, it doesn't seem to me that that would be the most pertinant information to highlight as essential for readers to know about this guy. (For one, a terrorist might "buy" a house to help him blend in. He would, however, have little to no incentive to actually make mortgage payments, particularly once he's on the course to commit a terrorist act.)
If I was cynical, I'd wonder if MSNBC's headline has something to do with the seeming need of some folks to never suspect that a guy's motivations have anything to do with a perversion of a religion. That or it's a reflection of ideological view about the meaning of the housing crisis.
Whether either those is true, all in all the focus on mortgage default it's just a weird editorial decision to me.
Sunday assorted links
3 hours ago
By the time I accessed the link, the headline had been changed to a much more reasonable "Documents offers clues to suspect's life." I think this is how things are done in the online media these days; as soon as you get a piece of information, you put it up and then, later, update, add, you know, context.
ReplyDeleteAs it reads now, it's a typical, "MEET THE SUSPECT" article, and the foreclosure is mentioned as an indicator of what was going on with this guy's life of late. Keep reading the updates, I suppose.
It's a good point about the nature of online media. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that's how it functions. There's something to be said about the permanency (and therefore accountability) of the printed word.
ReplyDeleteMostly my curiousity about the foreclosure angle was because there was already lots of other, presumably more pertinent, information already available.