Terry Jones: But Beyond Mel

With seven UN workers dead this weekend in Afghanistan because one pastor Terry Jones insisted on burning a Koran (and Karzai had to make a point of it), what could be more depressing?  Especially since Jones has virtually no following at this point.

Short of just ignoring him (which, from the beginning, might have prevented this outcome), the NYT does its justifiable best to discredit this crackpot, not just with this picture, but the caption:

Terry Jones says the “Braveheart” film poster in his Florida office gives him spiritual sustenance.

But then, is the photo that disparaging, or does it actually encourage Jones by making a portrait out of his state of mind? My question is: after this weekend’s carnage, how much are we supposed to write Jones off as an unbalanced Braveheart fanatic and how much –given the rest of the picture– are we supposed to (and, should we be forced to) reflect on his mood and nature?

(9:30 am. slightly revised.)

(photo: unattributed. NYT article.)