Andy Warhol once said that television would make everybody famous for 15 minutes. The world wide web and instant communications merely amplify that effect.
For instance, why is the entire world, from the State Department to the Vatican, worried about the doings of some insignificant small congregation of whacked out Fundamentalists in Gainesville, Florida?
This just goes to show that in the modern world, if you want to get noticed, just do the most outrageous thing that you can think of and put it on the internet and call the TV stations.
The global reaction to Preacher Terry Jones' "Burn the Koran Day" just incourages others who want to get noticed to do equally outrageous things. The thought that these Goobers burning a couple of books in Florida can cause a global reaction is scary.
I taught Criminal Justice at the college level for about four years before returning to full time law practice. I used to enjoy pointing out to my students that the reason there are so many conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination is that it is comforting to think that something as monumental as the murder of a President was the result of an organized group with a master plan. It's comforting to believe that it was the Mafia, or the Communists, or the C.I.A. or whoever.
What's scary is the hard fact that one idiot with a cheap rifle can change the course of world history.
Let's hope that the Koran burners get their 15 minutes of fame and that everybody forgets about them.
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