I know this is an old post but I’m doing some study and came across this quote (which I’ve typed up) whilst watching a programme. It has some context on why the Joel Henry Hinrichs event wasn’t made national / international news at the time.

“…Terrorism is a great demonstration, of the power of the media narrative to shape how the media portrays events. In 1995 Timothy McVeigh who was a white anti-government rightwing radical detonates a terrible bomb in Oklahoma City killing many people and that becomes the paradigm of terrorism. The terrorism story, the terrorism narrative throughout the late 1990’s is that of militias, of angry right-wingers, of anti-government radicals. Then of course, 9/11 happens. Now the narrative of course is, it’s Islamic radicals, that’s what terrorism is. Then of course we all go out, rush out go looking for facts and figures that support and advance that media narrative. Well in 2005, in Oklahoma City of all places, a man named Joel Henry Hinrichs detonates himself outside a football stadium. Well this is a suicide bombing in Oklahoma City and it was not reported around the world. If Joel Henry Hinrichs had blown himself up in the late 1990’s that absolutely would have been widely reported. He not only would have been national news, he would have been international news and everybody around the planet would have known his name. But his name was Joel Henry Hinrichs it wasn’t Mohamed. He didn’t fit the narrative so he was ignored…” (Canadian Journalist Dan Gardner)

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