The 'Avengers'

The headline above the New York Times story about the massacre in Afghanistan touched off by a month-old Koran-burning in the U.S. reads: "Afghans Avenge Koran Burning, Killing 12".

Diana West comments on the curious use of the word "avenge":

As someone who knows that the Koran, like Gone with the Wind or the Bible, is a book, an inanimate object, a thing, a bound bunch of printed material, I have a problem with the word "avenge." The dictionary tells us "avenge" means:

• Inflict harm in return for (an injury or wrong done to oneself or another)

• Inflict such harm on behalf of (oneself or someone else previously wronged or harmed)

A book going up in smoke harms no one.

The New York Times' use of "avenge" in a declarative headline shouts over the traditional, normal, rational, reflex Western reaction to this heinous event: namely, that it is one freakishly barbaric bunch of savages who can go to "religious" services and then mass to massacre 12 innocent people over a burnt book. The use of the word "avenge" insinuates the Islamic rationale -- no "disrepecting" the Koran or else (which is exactly what ISAF is proseletyzing to our troops) -- for the act...

Turning vengeful nutters into "avengers" and butchered victims into victimizers--all in day's work for the world's most respected and duplicitous rag.

Time to change its motto from "All the news that's fit to print" to "All the news that fits our worldview," no?