Egypt on alert as Copts celebrate Christmas

[caddyman]

Every now and again, you find a news story that's hidden away and ask yourself why it is not being trumpeted more loudly by the news media. This is one such story.

Even allowing for a little justifiable enthusiasm from the website, I would have thought that the general western news media would have picked it up in some form:

Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt’s threatened Christian community

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

The term "human shield"  maybe rather emotive and the overall tone of the piece a little histrionic for British taste, but nonetheless, the bare fact that following the recent bombing of a Coptic church, there was a wider move for solidarity among the Muslim population should merit some sort of attention. It doesn't take much effort to find the reports of radical Muslims calling for jihad against the Copts, but you have to dig rather deeper to find references to this show of solidarity.  

The event is mentioned in passing by the BBC here.

Comments

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting that. I think it's very interesting that stories like that don't get wider coverage too.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Yes. Exactly.
The media are the most useful method of ...covering, is it, or perhaps I mean uncovering facts, as we all know?
I loved reading this.
Haven´t read it anywhere else, so far, and I read german, swedish and english online news daily.
Thanks.

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

good news doesn't sell papers - especially those owned by media moguls of an antipodean persuasion.
good news is usually spread by word of mouth.

[keresaspa.livejournal.com]

The papers will all be too busy devoting 50 pages to the latest installment of baby Beckham to care about something like this. After all inter-religious solidarity is one thing but it doesn't sell papers like a washed-up footballer and his feckless wife.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

This makes me feel better about a thing or two. Thank you for posting it.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

It is good to read about people being decent for once, isn't it?

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

It really does. I am surprised at how much it has cheered me up!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Both Furtle and I got a bit of a lump in the throat reading it.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

Hmpf. That's good. Pity its not publicized more. Pity that Russel Howard's Good News has just finished its run or I'd suggest polling it in to them, they're apparently on the look-out for good news stories the mainstream media ignore.

[suitandtieguy.livejournal.com]

yeah this should have got more attention.