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Saturday, April 20, 2013

20 April 2013

Welcome back, Daily Quoters, to another edition of Sardonic Saturdays

We have a very hands-on post for you all today. In fact, you could call it a workshop!

Today's workshop is called It's True, it must be True - we Read it in the News!*
This catchy phrase was shamelessly taken from Knowthyself 2MM, a favourite radio segment of mine. However, it's appropriate.
Photo: brisbanetimes.com.au

The Sydney Morning Herald had recently reported some groundbreaking news - Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev had once 'liked' a YouTube clip from eccentric Australian Muslim cleric Sheikh Feiz Mohammed
Yep, there you have it folks. The link has been drawn back to Islam. Now it all makes sense.

Lesson 1: He is innocent until proven guilty by the media. 
'We've got him'. People are celebrating in the streets, and the headlines are promising sighs of relief. They're even declaring that 'justice has won' - without a trial or punishment?
It's tragic that so many people these days do not place enough gravity in the term 'suspect'. A suspect has not been proven guilty - they have not even been trialed  He has not even been questioned. In fact, some sources are reporting that the DOJ want to deny him the basic rights granted upon all US citizens (he is one). 
Also, the media never make mistakes. Especially multiple times in the one story. Trust them, because what they report is fact, not news.

Lesson 2: This is not news. 
A person 'likes' something on YouTube, and they are branded a terrorist by association. Even though the videos did not advocate violence. The content was literally the ravings of an overly-zealous Muslim. 
However, his mistake is justified! No one in the US voices their extremist opinions online. It's easy to be attracted by such outlandish content.

Lesson 3: Wait, how did they find out what he was liking on YouTube? 
So the YouTube account avatar was called 'Tamerlan Tsarnaev'. Chances are, there are more people around the world with that name. Chances are, I can probably find more on Facebook.
Who was trolling through the internets to discover this information?
Have they confirmed the account belonged to him?
Is this default proof that Google had passed this data onto the US Government, or the media?
Photo: BBC News
Lesson 4: In hectic times, do not read page 2, but rather page 9 for the real news.
When something huge happens - a tsunami, a celebrity dying, this - it is important to skip the hoo-hah of the main story and see what else is making news.
This is important because all of the real news is always rushed past the public amongst the noise of the main story. 
Something like, oh I don't know, this

Lesson 5: Cross-reference with other media outlets. 
This story was too tantalising for Fairfax to pass up. However, like any good historiographer, we must cross-reference. Hmmm. Yep. No other news outlet reported this news. Interesting.

The article is below. Have a read, and employ these lessons liberally. 

READ IT HERE



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