Whatever is good

This morning I was disheartened to see a news story posted by someone on Facebook.  The photograph highlighting the article is of a pretty blonde woman with a battered face sitting  on a hospital bed. Her hair and face are soaked with blood. The title of the article reads:

Couple beaten with chains by Muslims on Christmas Eve.

According to the news source, the incident happened in Copenhagen, Denmark. The article has been shared 52,000 times on Facebook from this one site alone. It is featured on numerous sites. Most of them clearly sensationalist, exceptionally fundamentalist christian or simply anti-muslim.  Here are some red flags regarding the story's accuracy.

1. The boy mentioned as the initial attacker is said to be muslim. There is no information confirming this. Why?
2. The attackers are named as "Somali" youth, but no one was caught. How is it known they were Somalians? Do Somalians have some sort of distinguishing marks?
3. The couple, Nanna and Mads, were on their way home with his family. Nothing is mentioned about anyone in the family defending the boyfriend or getting attacked.  No one in the family is interviewed about what occurred. What did they do, stand and watch or run away?
4. The attacker was on a bicycle, but got off, somehow got a bottle and hit the boyfriend. Then "Suddenly several came up from a basement". Weren't they outside on the street? Where was this basement? Under a manhole?
5. The report was given by the bloodied woman to Ekstra Bladet. Who is this? A reporter in Copenhagen committed to truth and justice? Nope. It's the name of a sensationalist tabloid in Denmark. Sort of like The Star here. A hallmark of the tabloid is a naked woman on page 9 of every issue. A tradition since 1979. High brow news source right here.

    The human mind has deciphered DNA, navigated to the moon and back, and eradicated deadly diseases. It has incredible power of reasoning, the ability to analyze the most complex ideas and make sense of them. Skills most people are too effing lazy to use! The fact that people read stuff like this, suck in a shocked gasp and without hesitating, hit "share", infuriates and distresses me. False reporters carelessly spread the slop of hate and fear and all the hungry hogs run and suck it all up. Every little rancid morsel. Gorging themselves so fast they don't even realize how much shit and dirt they swallowed along with all. 

In order to get to truth, one must question. We ask Who, What, Where, When and How? But not many pigs at the trough are going to look at the farmer and say, "Did you get this at Whole Foods or are you giving us garbage again?" The main reason? They have an appetite for garbage. Filth and rot is what they crave. They're nourishing their minds with excrement. Because they like it that way.

The comments left by people under this article give me a feeling of hopelessness. They are mean, hateful, ignorant, violent. 

"Far cry from a peaceful religion....The goal of a Muslim is either you become Muslim or you die!"

"TIME for another religious war Europe stand against these Muslim dogs ..fight fire with fire where are the men of europe your people are being attacked by sand dwellers hell bent on destroying your civilization..FIGHT BACK."

Reply · Like · 278

"As long as you continue to let these muslim cockroaches live in your country and do as they please, this will always happen, exterminate them all"

Reply · Like · 18 

"The joys of diversity. Thank you politicians. It's just a shame though that more such joys aren't visited upon the politicians who made the choice to subject us to multiculturalism."

"They all need to face either mandatory deportation or summary execution; they will never change..."

"Reply · Like · 27 · 

• 
  

  "pffftttt for mandatory deportation.. they should know the consequences of this violent religious hate crime before they cross our borders. I don't want to pay to send them "home", i'd pull the trigger on an execution for free..."

  Reply · Like · 23 · 

  a

I want to believe we are getting better at accepting and loving one another. I want to believe we are striving to find our common humanity. I know many are, but reading these folks words makes me realize how far we have to go. Ironically, many of the people making these nasty comments claim to be christians. Christians whose Bible tells them in Philippians 4:9, Therefore, my brethren, those things that are true, those that are honorable, those that are righteous, those things that are pure, those things that are precious, those things that are praiseworthy, deeds of glory and of praise, meditate on these things.

Supposedly, the Copenhagen police confirmed the attack. If this was big news in the city on Christmas Eve, it stands to reason there would be reports in every Copenhagen news source for the next several days. I could not find it in any of the reputable papers. Out of the 13 I searched, it showed up in only one other than the tabloid above. The other paper, the Jyllands-Posten, is the same one that printed the cartoons making fun of Muhammed in 2005, causing a tremendous uproar. It is described as a popular paper with inserts tabloid-like in nature. It has a history littered with anti-immigrant and anti-muslim commentary.

I don't know what happened to Nanna and Mads. I wasn't there. I don't know who provoked what nor what followed. I have no idea who hurt them. But it doesn't seem anyone else does either. We have only one person's account of the incident. I'm sorry it happened. It's a terrible thing for anyone to commit violence against anyone. However, speculating and spreading false information fuels the flames of racism and bigotry, breathing new life into fires we've been fighting to put out for decades. 
While searching the newspapers, I tried many words in the search bars. I wanted to be as thorough as possible in getting the story straight.  Nanna, Mads, attack, Christmas Eve, Muslim, Somali. I found the story only once. In one of the more respected Copenhagen newspapers I also found this:

Muslim's Christmas invitation goes viral

Honorable. Precious. Praiseworthy.

When should we begin to meditate on these things?