11.10.2007
Covering Asatru
The Fox affiliate in Chicago has done a short segment on the Asatru faith. The result ends up saying a lot about how journalists often decide what the story is going to be before they do the reporting.
"Ancient Viking Religion Finds New Worshipers - Including White Supremacists. Thousands of followers claim Asatru is a real religion. They swear it's changed their lives for the better. But it's also a faith that's been linked to violence and hate crimes. Mark Saxenmeyer shows us just who's worshipping 'the race religion."
That blurb and the accompanying video segment show the inherent bias held by the reporter and his editors. Asatru is defined as "race religion" even though that isn't a universally held view within Asatru, and white supremacy takes up fully half of the report even though such movements are only found at the extreme fringes of the faith (and, as the report concedes, are denounced by all the major Asatru organizations).
You can't have a "fair and balanced" view of a faith when you cut from an interview with a local Asatruar to newsreel footage of marching Nazis. In fact the report states that Nazis practiced a "variation" of Asatru, even though such a claim is completely anachronistic and hugely contentious. Perhaps the reporter wanted to do a sensationalist piece about new racist movements and was disappointed to discover that they were appropriating and distorting a larger faith grouping.
This may seem like a small thing, but it is news stories like this that can directly lead to growing FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) concerning Asatru and Germanic Heathenry. It can lead to innocent symbols being banned as "offensive", and can cause problems for Heathens if a hysterical co-worker or family member suddenly thinks they may be a white supremacist. There is a way to responsibly report on racist movements that appropriate modern Pagan symbols, but conflating these small and isolated groups with our mainstream is irresponsible.
ADDENDUM: For a more positive story involving Asatru, The Northern Path reports on a Asatru man who helped save the life of a woman who had crashed her car.
"Siple, who was walking his Airedale terrier Dusty when he found Scott lying next to her car on the beach, said he was praying to Njord, the god of the sea, while awaiting rescuers. "I was just praying to him, 'hold the tide back a little bit longer so we can get Diane out of here,'" Siple said Friday."
Expect to hear more from Siple, he has been approached by The Today Show and Dateline.
Comments:
I have found the FoxNews report despicable and spreading misinformation. A negative story like this can be produced for factions of major religions. The following questions should be raised:
1. what prompted Fox to produce the story?
2. who is Center for New Community - the sole "expert" presented?
3. why main focus was purely on negative?
My feeling (based on how things work in media, you have a new book, you promote it in the media (get "air time"))is that CNC promoted/planted the concept to FoxNews as part of some agenda. They give Fox their side of story, Fox finds some unsuspecting, legitimate Asatruars to give appearance of "fair and balanced" reporting, throw in some scary viking images, and there you go a story of Asatru as a violent, hateful religion. I feel sorry for the two ladies - they are now labeled as potential racists.
I looked at CNC's website (www.newcomm.org). Website is nothing special, in fact not much really there. Yet they are considered "experts" in bigotry and racism - google the name and you'll get sites which credit the organization as such.
Here's an example, I found this description of the group:
http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/staff/webpages/site.cfm?LinkID=250&eventID=34
The Center for New Community is an independent, non-profit, faith-based organization committed to revitalizing congregations and communities for genuine social, economic, and political democracy. The Center's Building Democracy Initiative seeks to equip and organize communities to respond creatively and effectively to organized racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry and anti-democratic activity.
Hmmm. Faith-based. Review the organization's list of board members and executive director(http://www.newcomm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=58), many are Christian reverends. Also, I see a tie with AJC through a board member - do little critical research on AJC (known to to push Israel's agenda.....speak about racism). Interesting, if CNC is so focussed on injustice and bigotry, why no counterbalance - someone from the Muslim community? Other words: "anti-democratic" - what's this all about. "anti-semitism" - why this term, this should fall under bigotry and racism. Frankly, something doesn't smell right with the CNC (where does money come from? their organizational ties?. Perhaps Fox should do some real reporting on this organization.
It is safe to conclude the story is a plant (by CNC) to scare public about Asatru. I am willing to bet that AJC has a substantial role in this, using CNC as a Christian face. CNC sees Asatru as a potential threat to Christian religion (public has begun to realize there are alternative religions out there). AJC is concerned about anything non-Christian. Religious groups like Asatru don't "sing" from the same book (Bible) and are independently-minded. Their concern is that Asatru can't be controlled/manipulated by them to promote their agenda.
Post a Comment
I have found the FoxNews report despicable and spreading misinformation. A negative story like this can be produced for factions of major religions. The following questions should be raised:
1. what prompted Fox to produce the story?
2. who is Center for New Community - the sole "expert" presented?
3. why main focus was purely on negative?
My feeling (based on how things work in media, you have a new book, you promote it in the media (get "air time"))is that CNC promoted/planted the concept to FoxNews as part of some agenda. They give Fox their side of story, Fox finds some unsuspecting, legitimate Asatruars to give appearance of "fair and balanced" reporting, throw in some scary viking images, and there you go a story of Asatru as a violent, hateful religion. I feel sorry for the two ladies - they are now labeled as potential racists.
I looked at CNC's website (www.newcomm.org). Website is nothing special, in fact not much really there. Yet they are considered "experts" in bigotry and racism - google the name and you'll get sites which credit the organization as such.
Here's an example, I found this description of the group:
http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/staff/webpages/site.cfm?LinkID=250&eventID=34
The Center for New Community is an independent, non-profit, faith-based organization committed to revitalizing congregations and communities for genuine social, economic, and political democracy. The Center's Building Democracy Initiative seeks to equip and organize communities to respond creatively and effectively to organized racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry and anti-democratic activity.
Hmmm. Faith-based. Review the organization's list of board members and executive director(http://www.newcomm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=58), many are Christian reverends. Also, I see a tie with AJC through a board member - do little critical research on AJC (known to to push Israel's agenda.....speak about racism). Interesting, if CNC is so focussed on injustice and bigotry, why no counterbalance - someone from the Muslim community? Other words: "anti-democratic" - what's this all about. "anti-semitism" - why this term, this should fall under bigotry and racism. Frankly, something doesn't smell right with the CNC (where does money come from? their organizational ties?. Perhaps Fox should do some real reporting on this organization.
It is safe to conclude the story is a plant (by CNC) to scare public about Asatru. I am willing to bet that AJC has a substantial role in this, using CNC as a Christian face. CNC sees Asatru as a potential threat to Christian religion (public has begun to realize there are alternative religions out there). AJC is concerned about anything non-Christian. Religious groups like Asatru don't "sing" from the same book (Bible) and are independently-minded. Their concern is that Asatru can't be controlled/manipulated by them to promote their agenda.
Links to this post:
