Bringing it back to Jesus

From US News and World Report :

"How Not to Label the Holy City

It's no secret that Fox likes its news a certain way. John Moody, the network's senior VP for news, sends out daily missives micromanaging coverage. Last week, as rockets rained on Nazareth in Israel, Moody instructed: "The attacks on Nazareth become the lead until further notice. Nazareth is a historic and holy city. We can refer to it as the holy city, the biblical city, etc. Let's NOT call it the 'hometown of Jesus' though many would argue the city's favorite son turned out pretty well." Apparently, not everyone got the memo, as Fox ran graphics about rocket strikes on "the birthplace of Jesus" later that day."

Now, some might take this as yet another overt sign of Fox’s religious (go Christianity!) and political (boo Arabs! especially anti-Israeli ones) bias. Not me. I take this to be an attempt by Fox to distract their viewers from the real tragedy with a bit of historical context. Let’s ignore the fact that, for some strange reason, Fox execs think Nazareth should be the lead. I mean yes, as far as I can tell from the news, the two brothers who (I think) were the only ones killed in Nazareth are dwarfed by the hundreds who have died in the conflict up until now, and yes, the Fox story on the brothers is one of the few that fails to mention that they were Arab http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,204315,00.html, and yes, Fox also managed to work this question into its ten question weekly news quiz:

"Question 4: On Wednesday, Hezbollah rockets made their first hits near Christian holy sites. In which city did a Hezbollah rocket kill two brothers, bringing the Israeli death toll to 29?
A. Bethlehem
B. Nazareth
C. Jerusalem
D. Jericho"

But really, I think this is a noble attempt on Fox’s part to keep attention away from the really traumatizing fact for it’s hard-rocking, Christian viewership. The town, Nazareth, is the namesake of the Scottish band Nazareth. Can you imagine the uproar, the absolute panic, if people realized that the nominal homeland of the performers behind such hits as “Love Hurts” and “Hair of the Dog” was threatened. To me, and many others, Nazareth has a sacred legacy of miraculous, bone-crunching rock and roll that goes back over thirty-five years. If Hezbollah is messing with Nazareth, they truly would be “messin’ with a son of a bitch.” I for one, can barely stand it any longer and I’m happy Fox has kept others away from the anguish that I’ve been feeling over these attacks. But for those few who have now come to the realization that attacks on Nazareth are unacceptable, I think it’s time to realize that we can turn on Fox News, come together in song, have a good cry over attacks on Nazareth, and show the Arabs attacking our rockin’ heritage that
“Love hurts, love scars,
Love wounds, and marks,
Any heart, not tough,
Or strong, enough
To take a lot of pain,
Take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud
Holds a lot of rain
Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts”

Which coincidentally, sounds to me like something Jesus might have said.