It appears that Pastor Terry Jones has decided that burning Qur’ans is a bad idea. While this is good news Jim West wonders if this will lead to “lunatic clerics all across the country…seeking publicity too”. I worry about this as well. Since Jones made it onto big time TV why shouldn’t others follow his model? Personally, I think our media outlets made a mistake by covering these shenanigans. I hope that if anyone else makes an attention-grabbing move like the one Jones made that media agencies will make an ethical decision not to provide the sought after attention.

I wonder when it is the right time to simply ignore the antics of wackos? When I lived in San Francisco I saw plenty of nut jobs doing all kinds of silly things to gain attention. What frustrated them more than anything was when you refused to look. I am not sure if this will always work, and I don’t have guidelines for how to make it happen, but I do think it is something we need to think about before another Terry Jones pops up on the nightly news.