Distracted Media: Islamaphobia versus important stories

{image source: uzairm, NASA}

{Photos from Boston Globe's Big Picture}

Really, this fiasco surrounding the Islamic community center two blocks from ground zero is completely absurd, but I figure I would officially put my claim to the "endorsing it" camp. There are a million other places to get a play-by-play of all the hatred flowing around surrounding Park51 and, I guess since it matters?, the is-Obama-a-Muslim debate, which of course matters.

Instead, I'll focus this little post on the tragedy occurring in Pakistan right now.

• 20% of the country is flooded.
• 5-6 million are displaced.
• 20 million affected, 6 million children.
• 2.7 million in need of life-saving medical attention

Ways to help:

• Text "FLOOD" to 27722 to donate $10 through the US State Department's Pakistan Relief Fund or online.
• UNICEFUSA
• OxFam
• Red Cross
• World Food Program
• More info at NYTimes and this post

More photos:

• New York Times
• Boston Globe's Big Picture
• Time Magazine
• The Week

For more cheeriness, UN Dispatch's top five most ignored humanitarian crises.