Prejudice Sells..!
“….O Lord, help me not despise or oppose what I do not understand….”
~William Penn
“No news, no scoop, expose or piece of gossip I can use on the front page,” grumbled the editor of one of the biggest newspapers in India to his deputy.
His deputy grinned, “When there’s no news we make news sir!”
“And how d’ you intend doing that today my young man?”
“This Haywood chap fleeing the country would make good front page!”
“Everybody knows he’s innocent!” yawned the editor, “nobody’s interested in him anymore, including the police!”
“We’ll rake up interest sir!”
“How?”
“Link him with terror! Say he was in touch with jehadis!”
“Even the police will laugh at you!”
“But the people won’t. We’ll do a Hitler on the public: Pull out the minority card and make them feel insecure.”
“Haywood is not a Muslim.”
“He attends a church in Sanpada. Attack the church; call it a fanatic sect!”
“Fanatic?”
“Yes fanatic.”
“Fanaticism and fundamentalism sell well.” mused the editor his face breaking into a grin.
“Say he belongs to a fanatic sect that has close links with a fundamentalist religious group.”
“Brilliant!” said the editor.
“And sir.”
“Yes?”
“Get our cartoonist on the job.”
“You want a cartoon of Haywood?”
“Looking like Osama Bin Laden!”
“This is getting better and better.” smiled the editor rubbing his hands, “Can you imagine our paper tomorrow? While other newspapers carry boring stories on…”
“Sushil Kumar’s bronze!”
“Vijender Singh’s medal!”
“We will sell more copies with what we’ve created in this office..!”
Prejudice sold well yesterday, didn’t it?
I’m not here to defend Haywood; our police I’m sure know better. I believe it is the duty of us scribes to mend and heal areas of discord and pray readers have wisdom to recognize and ignore those writers who light, kindle and fan the fires of communal disharmony.
Many years ago a traveler was coming at twilight to a camping place, when he looked into the distance and saw a strange object. Through the gathering dusk it seemed to take the shape of a terrible monster.
He pulled out his knife in fear and waited to see what it was. It drew nearer and he saw it was a man. Much of his fear vanished, thereupon, he looked closer and found that not only was the object a man like himself, but that it was his own brother..!
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