Dear Members and Friends,
Practicing a career in media prior to pastoral ministry, I find myself highly attuned to the way life is portrayed on radio and television. I am also finding myself increasingly sensitized to those who seem to use national tragedy, not to sharpen our sense of vision, but to fashion the landscape of their own personal agenda.
Thankfully, the saga of innocent people being viciously killed by a team of serial cowards has finally come to an end. Police Chief Moose and his compatriots are to be applauded for their persistence under enormous pressure, not only from those committing these terrible acts of violence, but also to a certain extent those charged with the responsibility of broadcasting them. Time after time I watched with incredulity as expert talking heads would observe that the killers were obviously learning and adapting from what was put out over the airwaves. Yet, they would continue to share more insight into potential strategies and technology that might be used to end this nightmare!
Because events like these are treated as commercial commodities, where snipers are essentially used to sell soap, where terrorism is packaged and then televised with titles and music, we are now a society influenced by a system of reporting that often injects itself into the story and alters the direction that story is destined to take. For example, when it was widely disseminated that a white panel van was involved in these crimes, this kind of vehicle became primarily suspect, to the apparent and unfortunate exclusion of all other forms of conveyance, including the vastly different 1980 blue Chevy Caprice used by those now in custody.
In addition, it is entirely possible that the surveillance apparatus being brought on line to apprehend these wanton killers might have been more effective if the presence and potential of this equipment wasn't being instantly circulated by newscasters caring more about being first than being responsible. The reality that the airplane on loan from the Pentagon would be most effective at night was not something I needed to know, but it is insight an intelligent shooter could certainly use to commit malevolent murder more successfully.
Certainly, it is a great thing when specific facts based on hard data can "deputize" and empower millions of eyes and ears across our country. Yet it is just as clear that knowing the truth is not the same as being crammed with information. Indeed, too much information, while it promises freedom, can actually be a confusing, impenetrable forest. Unfortunately, terrorists who would wish us great harm have taken the time to learn the "language" of our culture. When it comes to the care and use of our civil liberties, it is about time we as a nation got up to speed and showed ourselves to be just as fluent and proficient as those who would steal these privileges away. In a land where everyone has open access to an ever growing sea of detail, free speech might best be preserved where a spirit of prudent restraint prevails over the pursuit of higher ratings.
From Reverend William J. Keane,
Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Branford
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