Crucify! Says the Public Media CNN MSNBC FOX Report on the Scandal of the Day

Crucify! Says the Public Media                 

Opinion Editorial by Mary Katherine May

The Roman Coliseum in America as a Means of Justice

Who are the latest to be taken down by the public media venues? Television cable stations, internet sites, print publications and radio seem to delight in publicly dissecting and ruining the Celebrity of the Day, leaving no pebble unturned in their quest.

Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, the cable news programs I surf through, claim to give you the heart of current events in a fair and balanced manner when we know the truth is that what we hear has far more opinion than fact. 

Do viewers get a false sense of reality of what people are about because of what they hear, as Mr. Obama claims? In my opinion the answer is no. Viewers watch the news stations that best suit what they believe to be true, or appear to hold their same values, wanting to hear about current events from the perspective they already hold.

Across the board of all venues, however, there is a multi-partisan attitude to include the public crucifixion, maybe thinking it in the genre social interest, in the daily line up of reported current events. It is never ending. Once one scandalous person has finally been laid to rest, the next victim’s sins begin to be aired and hung out to have their skin beaten off like an old dirty rug.

There is little talk of compassion or interest in rehabilitation and certainly no interest in justice even though indignation is claimed. The amount of time given to the victim’s sin tells the viewers that it must be far worse than any other, as though all who enter the ring of terror to add their timely wisdom were sinless.

I am reminded of a piranha feeding frenzy, of Job in the Old Testament being criticized by his three friends, of Jesus Christ being mocked on the cross, of Christians being thrown into the center of the Roman Coliseum and torn apart by lions while people yelled and cheered over the bloody body parts.

And after the party is over, then what? Where do the victims go? How do they rebuild their lives, learn from their mistakes, get help and move on? Where is the future for them and their families?   

I wonder who the greatest sinners are in this mutilation of human life: the victims or the self-proclaimed judge and jury of the people, fueled by continuous flaming of the fire by the reports perpetrated by those who decide what is newsworthy?