Painting a picture of evil
July 9th, 2007 by Wil Robinson
The mainstream media - a.k.a. ‘the liberal media’ - is at it again, sucking down the unfounded rhetoric of entrenched despots and reporting their dribble as ‘news.’ Ethical journalism - writing and reporting that is based in finding facts as well as providing context for their audience to analyze the news through the lens of truth - is dead.
Last week the BBC reporter, Alan Johnston, was freed in Gaza after more than 90 days in captivity, held by a renegade group of criminals that have now resorted to blackmail and ransom to survive in the face of 40 years of economic isolation.
Even the New York Times couldn’t report the event without spinning it in the American-Israeli propaganda machine. Rather than tell the story objectively, the slant of the story is aimed at assuring the western world that Johnston’s release won’t affect the West’s refusal to accept the results of a free and fair democratic election.
America & Israel’s assertion that Hamas is a ‘terrorist organization’ and their refusal to work with the government has led to a civil war between Hamas and the corrupt Fatah group (also a terrorist organization, but since they are largely secular and susceptible to the greed of crony capitalism, such distinctions are overlooked).
Not content to only pollute their own paper, the NY Times have sent their reporters to other news outlets to propagate their slant. Steven Erlanger, the NY Times reporter that covers the Israeli-Palestinian situation, was interviewed on the PBS Newshour about Johnston’s release.
But instead of reporting facts, Erlanger in the PBS interview lays out the evil that these “terrorists” are really up to, and what effect that could have on the rest of the world:
“And to some degree, the biggest nightmare for Fatah and, in fact, even for Western and Israeli policy would be if Hamas was allowed to or managed to succeed in pacifying Gaza and making it a fairly orderly place, and even bringing in investment.”
Yes, what a horrible nightmare. The mere idea of some group being “allowed” to “pacify Gaza.” My God, the horrors. Can you imagine…a Gaza that is a “fairly orderly place?” And heaven forbid… “INVESTMENT!!!” Well, we’d better stop that right away. We can’t have such things as order and investment. If that’s not the work of the evildoers, I don’t know what is. What’s next - development???
The reality is that if Hamas can bring stability to Palestine, no matter how little America may care for their politics, it should be a cause for celebration - not viewed as a nightmare scenario. It would be one time that America should be glad it was wrong, because it would mean peace and growth for a people who have suffered under corrupt leadership and an occupation for more than 40 years.
But the picture being painted in the media surrounding the situation is one aimed at isolation, domination and submission of the Palestinian people. Why? Because the US government (and now a majority of the American public) is so afraid of Islam that it will take any half-cocked, corrupt, ignorant and sadistic leader as long as he’s not a practicing Muslim. We are willing to ignore its own commitments to democracy if it means suppressing Islam. And as a country (the media, the audience and the government), we are willing to dehumanize anyone who gets in the way.
American platitudes about ‘democracy,’ ‘freedom,’ and ‘peace’ are increasingly being smashed under the foot of Pax Americana, with little regard for the consequences such a failed foreign policy has on people of color or religions that don’t reflect the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite that control the world’s weapons of mass destruction.
Until Americans have an open, intelligent and honest discussion about foreign policy, extremists like Ayman Al-Zawahri and strict Wahabbi imams supported by the Saudi royal family will have that discussion with the rest of the world for us.
Can we really afford to be silent, stubbornly refusing to even consider other options because we are so self-assured in our own righteousness?
“Can we really afford to be silent, stubbornly refusing to even consider other options because we are so self-assured in our own righteousness?”
I wrote a post the other day that kind of touches on this.
http://ofrevelation.blogspot.com/2007/07/common-sense.html
It all boils down to greed, arrogance, and an insatiable lust for power.
Great post, Wil.
Hamas is a terrorist organization, no doubt about it. But it has two wings: the security (terrorist) wing and the political wing. Still the political wing refuses to renounce violence…
While it was good that Hamas pressured that third party group to release Johnston — I believe they were an unaffiliated Islamic militant group called Army of Islam — nothing much will change. Army of Islam did not seize Mr. Johnston because they felt repressed after decades of isolation, as many Palestinians feel, no: they were just trying to gain attention, and took the wrong terrorist hostage route by taking a journalist (big no-no, even for terrorists).
Hamas’ seizing of Gaza was not acceptable. That time they crossed the line, as far as I am concerned. You sound frustrated, Wil, and I understand, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that Hamas’ recent moves against peace, along with its refusal (both wings) to renounce terrorism has pushed it further into a rut.
Perhaps the ball is not only in America and Israel’s court, but Hamas’ too. Hamas needs to become less of a disruptor, and if Israel and the US do not respond accordingly then it’s their fault. But right now nearly every party involved carries some large degree of guilt for the lack of peace and stability in the Palestinian Territories.
At least Abbas’ Fatah emergency government has opened talks with Israel and the United States, and aid has resumed, prisoners released in some cases, to the West Bank.
Clearthought -
Thanks for your comment. But I’m left with more questions after reading it.
How did Hamas cross the line by throwing out the political party that 1) lost the election and 2) was being funded/backed/armed by the West (US specifically) in an attempt to thwart true democracy?
What are the recent “moves against peace” that Hamas has committed that you refer to? Do you know when they last were implicated in a terrorist act against Israel?
Where do you draw the line between resistance and terrorism?
And lastly - who gives a rat’s petooty whether Fatah has “opened talks with Israel?” That’s been going on for 40 years, and its gotten either side nowhere. You can’t impose peace on people.
Real peace has to come from the people, and no corrupt despot backed by an imperial power can force his people to do otherwise.