Blasphemy at Fox News prompts boycott

I was watching a Fox News report from Gaza during the beginning of the Israeli assault. There was the sound of a loud explosion and the reporter ducked and yelled out, "Jesus Christ," not as a prayer, but like an expletive.

That is blasphemy. A violation of the Second Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Now given the circumstances, I can sympathize with someone reacting unthinkingly out of fear, so while what he did was wrong, at least there were mitigating circumstances. What he should have done at that point is apologize for his language. It's possible he may have later and Fox did not carry it.

The larger fault lies with Fox News. They broadcast the comment, and did nothing to apologize for it. Again, as a live report it might have slipped through - but they should have then said something about it. They did not. Moreover, they broadcast the comment again later - unedited, unapologized for. There they clearly had some control. They seemed not to care.

There's no excuse for that.

It may be that they are totally oblivious as to the wrongness of the comment. Let's put it in a way the Fox folks might understand: Imagine if someone had similarly used the name of Mohamed. There would be an outcry, and maybe even a death threat against the person. The network would likely have said something. The reporter might even have faced suspension - or loss of job.

But since it was Jesus Christ, and it's a swear a lot of people use without thinking, it seems not to matter. Not to the folks at Fox, anyway.

Well it does to me.

Call me a crank. Accuse me of blowing it out of proportion.

I don't care.

I expect an apology.

Until I hear something, Fox News has joined MSNBC on my "Do Not Watch" list.

Pax et bonum