These are my random musings. Hopefully they will be witty, insightful, and frequently updated.
AP and Washington Post conflate anything Mormon to gay rights
Published on May 18, 2009 By singrdave In US Domestic

Apparently anything Mormon Church-related has everything to do with the ongoing struggle for legalized gay marriage nationwide. Even the tragic burning-to-the-ground of an LDS chapel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday should be seen in light of how awful the Mormon Church is for opposing gay marriage in California.

The article is quite sympathetic but it is accompanied by the photo below:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A fire that began during Sunday morning services at a crowded Massachusetts church has quickly spread through the decades-old building and gutted it.

About 300 people were inside the meeting house of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Boston suburb of Cambridge. Officials say everyone was able to make it outside safely.

Fire Chief Gerald Reardon says the blaze started in the building's attic.

Caption: Gay couples who brought the landmark lawsuit that led to the first legalized gay marriages in the United States pose for a photo during a reunion in Newton Mass, Sunday, May, 17, 2009, celebrate their fifth anniversaries, five years after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. Pictured are, front row, from left, Gina Nortonsmith, Avery Nortonsmith, 12, Heidi Nortonsmith, Quinn Nortonsmith, 9, all of Northampton, Mass., Attorney Mary Banato, who heard the landmark case before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Ellen Wade, Maureen Brodoff, of Newton, Mass., Rob Compton, and David Wilson, of Boston, Ed Balmelli, and Michael Hogan of Jamaica Plain, Mass., Gary Chalmers and Richard Linnell, of Whitinsville, Mass., and Gloria Bailey-Davies and Linda Bailey Davies, of Orleans, Mass., (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

So, here's my question: when should a devastating fire in a church be conflated with that church's position on social and political issues?  Maybe they're inferring that this group of gay marriage activists started the fire?

The article in its entirety is available here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051701129.html


Comments
on May 18, 2009

So, here's my question: when should a devastating fire in a church be conflated with that church's position on social and political issues?  Maybe they're inferring that this group of gay marriage activists started the fire?

Beats me. I have no idea what the two subjects have to do with each other. (And I don't think they wanted to infer that the gay activists started the fire. I also don't think that they did.)

I think it's just media activism. They apparently couldn't add their favourite subject to any other article. Or perhaps it was a mistake made my the muppets who assign pictures to articles.

 

 

on May 18, 2009

I think it's just media activism.

I agree, because it would be too incredibly coincidental that the two subjects would be linked by layout in such a way without connecting the two subjects: gay rights and Mormonism.

 

on May 18, 2009

Haha, you obviously haven't visted ksl.com.

According to the forums there, it's logical to assume that anything that happens to an LDS church in Utah is caused by gay rights activists.

Why it is logical to assume/imply this anywhere else other than Utah, I have no idea.  Perhaps the insanity has caught on?

on May 18, 2009

Curiously enough, that seems to be washington post specific layout. I checked a couple other sites, and while the article is identical (AP Wire), the photo captionioning on most of the actually relates to the fire.

on May 18, 2009

it's logical to assume that anything that happens to an LDS church in Utah is caused by gay rights activists.

LQTMS. As a refugee... I mean, former resident of Salt Lake City, I know the constant enmity between the Church and the non-Mormon community throughout Utah quite well. The bad blood between ex-Mormons (and current Mormons) versus the LDS Church in Utah is well-documented.

I was just incredibly surprised that Associated Press and the newspapers which carried this wire story would implicate a "they get what they deserve" attitude so blatantly. Making a highly tangenital association between a tragic occurrence involving the LDS Church and that church's stance against a controversial political and social issue is bad journalism at its finest.

on May 18, 2009

Making a highly tangenital association between a tragic occurrence involving the LDS Church and that church's stance against a controversial political and social issue is bad journalism at its finest.

Am I correct in assuming that the AP picks up articles from local newspapers?  Perhaps there would be logic behind the picture if one were to look at the original article?

As mentioned before, it could simply be a mistake, rather than an implication that the LDS church deserves to have a church burned down.

LQTMS

??

 

on May 18, 2009

??

LQTMS: laughing quietly to my self, as opposed to LOL.

on May 18, 2009

Curiously enough, that seems to be washington post specific layout. I checked a couple other sites, and while the article is identical (AP Wire), the photo captionioning on most of the actually relates to the fire.

the AP picks up articles from local newspapers? Perhaps there would be logic behind the picture if one were to look at the original article?

Good point and I looked into that question also. The Boston Globe carried its own version of the event, with accompanying video of the chapel blaze. Several other articles covering the event were published throughout the country, but I found no linkages with the gay marriage advocacy group, other than WaPo.

on May 18, 2009

either they are insinuating that the gays started the fire.

or that the mormons DESERVED the fire for being not supporting gay marriage.

Either situation is completely inappropriate and unacceptable from any journalistic standard and is downright despicable.