And The Media Is Biased HOW?
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I happen to be in the middle of reading Woodward’s State of Denial, and he reports (p.45) that on June 3, 2001, Saudi Prince Bandar had dinner with George W. Bush, Colin Powell, and Condi Rice for the express purpose of explaining to them how the Arab world viewed the United States.
Bandar spent five hours to try to hammer into their thick heads that ” … moderate Arab countries, as well as the US, have lost the media war and the Arab public opinion. What the average Arab sees everyday is …Women, children, elderly … being killed by the Israelis” with American-made and -provided arms.
The specific phrase of Bandar’s to remember for this post is “lost the media war”.
Bandar did what looked logical to him. He went to the leader of this nation to protest that the Arab side of the story wasn’t being heard, and that there would be dire consequences. He was wasting his time. To explain Bandar’s specific problem, I’m going to paraphrase a stanza from Jesus Christ, Superstar:
Mohammad in 700 had no mass communication
Unlike the Arabs’ opponents, who have mastered the use of mass mail along with the political usage of the rest of the media world.
It’s clear that Bandar then had no clue as to how the American media works. Unlike in Bandar’s homeland, our government doesn’t have control over the media. It barely has influence ever since Reagan began the process of deregulation of the industry, so the cameras will focus only on that which generates revenue, not that which promotes balance and understanding. There aren’t enough Muslims in America to offset the relatively large number of Israel-backing Jews.
[For the record, these Jews have every right to back Israel, so leave the anti-Semite crap in your own foul mind.]
In some markets, mostly in the Northeast, Jews make up the dominant demographic sector. It can make a big difference to the continued careers of certain politicians (see: Joe Lieberman, I-Israel).
This next quote is from an email I received from HonestReporting, a group dedicated to promoting Israeli interests to Americans:
“The recent conflict in Lebanon demonstrated the leading role of the media in shaping international opinion. Within days, understanding of Israel’s actions turned to condemnation of Israel’s “disproportionate” response. But was it really Israel that acted “disproportionately” or was it the media’s biased and inaccurate reporting?
“Please take a minute to view our short film and to share it with friends. We have over 150,000 subscribers currently, but we need more. Help us reach 250,000 subscribers by encouraging a few friends to join the battle against media bias. With this many voices, we can continue to ensure that the media is held accountable for inaccurate and biased coverage.”
The phrase to remember from this quote is “the battle against media bias”. Kind of sounds like the way the GOP recruits evangelicals, doesn’t it? Not a coincidence when one sees things like Israel’s hope – Jews and Christians together.
While the situation referenced above in the quotes of Bandar and HonestReporting is worrisome, that isn’t the topic of this post. The use of the media to propagandize in favor of one of these views is.
There is little doubt in anyone with a memory that Arabs and Muslims are getting a bad image, thanks in no small part to the way they are being portrayed in the media. This is no accident, for it is the very key to continued Republican electoral success.
As we get closer to the November elections, we are going to see a lot of ads ‘reminding’ us about the threat represented by Muslim extremists and that they are everywhere. This meme will successfully resonate, for the basic fear of Muslims is already deeply implanted in our brains.
Look at the bias shown toward Muslims by so-called Christians. Despite the fact that nearly five thousand people had been taken into custody and none of these were indicted for terrorist acts, that wasn’t evidence enough that MCA is a major violation of human rights, mush less Constitutional rights.
And if one is even slightly Arab-looking, it can get one thrown off airplanes, even if one is Jewish, or Hindu.
One can have a chat with the bobbies for merely humming along with London Calling by the Clash, and flights can be delayed because of an Arabic-looking scrawl in an airline magazine, or when someone forgets to take their cell phone when they debark.
Jewish organizations reacted very strongly to what they described as “this show of disrespect and discrimination… of insensitivity” shown toward the Jewish passenger, as they should. Yet, dare a Muslim group do the same when their co-religionists are taken off aircraft for their appearance?
I myself saw news stories on television which reported the story about the Jewish man, but I never saw anything on television about an Iraqi architect living in the US who was Denied Boarding for Wearing an Arabic T-Shirt until I went looking for it.
I think I have established the situation by now, so I’ll cut to the conclusion.
Bandar attempted to convey the seriousness of his lecture to the Bush Administration (p.47): “You’ve got to do something. I mean, you are killing us basically. We are being killed left and right and you’re not doing anything. The region is boiling and it’s building and it’s building.”
And soon, that pressure which has been building for decades is going to cause the region to burst, and Bush will still have done nothing. The media propaganda aimed at American voters won’t let him. Neither will those corporations who benefit handsomely from the creation and operation of a security state.
In the article titled, “Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?” published in the prestigious Foreign Affairs journal, Prof. John Mueller from Ohio State University underlines that Muslim Americans are labeled as terrorists, just as Japanese Americans during the Second World War, and the leftists during the Cold War were labeled as “huge threats.”
Noting that “the myth of the omnipresent enemy” has been created, Mueller believes the only one or two people with the intention to commit violent acts could be enough to cause a substantial damage. The suspicion of terror is so prevalent that a terrorist plot is sought behind an ordinary fire caused by an electrical short circuit.
The existence of omnipresent terrorists as well as the alleged al-Qaeda threat is extremely exaggerated. Mueller draws attention to the fact that despite the persistent claims of terror threats, there is no significant violent action.
Referring to the ability and creativity of the security forces to create potential enemies, Mueller notes that it has become evident that the perceived threat posed by Japanese Americans or Communist Americans was not a genuine one, and that only time will tell if the same applies in this case.
The paramount and very expensive security systems maintained after Sept. 11 secretly monitor many people and often cause disruption, as well as the over taxation of the American people for the sake of defending the country against a non-existent enemy.
And very profitably, I might add. The only real loser in this situation is The Truth.
And everyone who believes in it.
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