Incitement
April 21st, 2009 by Wil Robinson
A story about a women’s shelter in Afghanistan should be an opportunity to showcase what can really drive progress. It could be a chance to commend those handling the day-to-day operations. It might be an opening to demonstrate what role Islam plays in women’s lives who, although they have been victims of a brutal misogynist tradition, have not abandoned their faith. It can be a chance to show that, despite our preconceptions, within every women’s group are religious Afghan men.
Instead, NBC Nightly News ignored all these opportunities and simply reverted to western stereotypes and fears.
Anchor Brian Williams introduced the “In Depth” story:
“[I]n Afghanistan today, 300 women came together in a protest march, something just about unheard of there. They were demanding the repeal of a new law imposing harsh restrictions on women’s rights.
But then the marchers were set upon by about 1,000 men, yelling insults, terrible insults, and threats.”
(Sadly, msnbc.com had an AP internet story the same day about the Afghan men who joined the pro-women march – but this wasn’t worthy of being included in the TV broadcast. After all, Afghan men protesting side-by-side with Afghan women don’t fit our Western narrative of a Muslim male out to oppress women and decapitate the infidel.)
“Though things got better there briefly, women’s rights are again under fire in Afghanistan by Muslim extremists, but some women are fighting back at great personal risk.
The story you are about to see is a tough one, and fair warning, what follows is not suitable if you have little ones in the room.
But we agreed with our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, that the story needed to be told…”
Thus, in the introduction, NBC has framed the story against a backdrop of Western fear and hatred of Islam. (And if you are a “little one,” the seed has been planted: all you saw was a burqa and heard was that it had something to do with “Afghanistan,” “women,” and “Muslim extremists” before you were promptly sent to your room.)
Engel’s story itself detailed the horrors – the beatings, the forced prostitution, the abandonment of children. He makes one woman hyperventilate after asking about her sons she left with her homicidal husband (he says he “regretted” asking, but kept the shot in the final cut – he couldn’t have regretted it too much).
He even finds one “modern” spokeswoman (with a western accent) from the Women for Afghan Women center who addresses the camera without so much as a headscarf, reinforcing the idea that women’s rights are all about the veil.
Thus, NBC’s “In Depth” was far from deep – it had only two truly Afghan voices, both edited to support the premise that Afghan men are evil and abuse women (unspoken, yet insinuated, is that Islam is the reason).
And of course, there was the obligatory blurb from an Afghan ex-pat that grew up in the U.S. telling us “how it really is in Afghanistan,” because we don’t really believe those people until we hear it from one of our own. That’s how Orientalism works, isn’t it?
Am I to believe that none of these women – when asked “How do you cope?” – ever mentioned their faith? None of them once uttered “I trust in Allah to take care of me?” Even American Idol has gratuitous sound bytes of the winner proclaiming they “just put their trust in God.” But apparently these Afghan women are so secular that they put their trust in…what…? Democracy?
And where are the men? Are we to believe there were NO men at this center? No guards? No lawyers? No assistants? None? Nada? Zip?
I call bullshit.
I’ve spent time with Afghans working for women’s rights. They aren’t secular feminists ready to join the Western tirade against all things Islam. On the contrary, it is precisely their religion that motivates them.
Every women’s center, NGO, and educational group that I visited in Kabul and surrounding provinces relied on men. I asked these men the same question: Why do you risk your life for women’s rights?
All of them immediately gave me the same answer:
These Afghans that see Islam as the foundation of social justice aren’t an aberration. I heard it from young teachers, office administrators, lawyers, sharia scholars, and even a mufti. I listened to the same message from students, security guards, and drivers.
Which is why it is impossible for someone to do a story about women’s rights in Afghanistan and not hear the same thing.
Matthew Fisher of Canwest News Services heard them:
The nearly unanimous view on the campus — arguably the most progressive institution in Afghanistan — was that the West should not involve itself in the country’s cultural and religious affairs.
“This is not a good law. Women should be allowed to do what they want,” said Hamida Hasani, 18, a [female] architecture student at Kabul University…“But we do not want total freedom. We wanted it to be limited and to be within Islam.”
…“[Westerners] don’t know anything about us and our problems,” [Hasani] said. “If they faced what we have faced with hunger and war, they’d realize what is most important to fight for here. Before they come here they should . . . experience our difficulties.”
…“There is change in Afghanistan today,” Riosi [an 18-year-old female student of literature] said. “There is respect for us if we are educated or if we work.
“But westerners want to change Afghanistan for their benefit, not for ours. They have a bad view of our culture. Some of our women imitate their clothes and their ways. Our freedom must come within Islam.”
While loyal readers of the Vancouver Sun can actually be proud that their small media outlet has the ethics to print truth, the media conglomerates of the U.S. continue their propaganda battle.
For NBC to run a story about women’s rights and not have one person referring to their faith as a guiding force for good, or omit any men who defend women’s rights because of their religion, can only be deliberate.
To tell the viewing audience about 300 women protesters without acknowledging that some Afghan men were in their midst is a calculated choice.
To publish an internet article “Key to women’s rights in Afghanistan: men” and not once mention Islam or religion is premeditated.
NBC’s story wasn’t intended to promote more shelters, encourage donations from wealthy viewers, and certainly not to show what role Afghan men, much less religion, could play in Afghanistan’s future. It appears the only purpose was to incite more hatred of Muslims.
Which brings me back to NBC’s claim:
“This is a story that needed to be told…”
What, exactly, is that “story?” Because the only story that NBC ran was propaganda aimed at stirring up anger, hatred, and violence toward “others” that think, live, and believe differently than ourselves. Is that what “needed to be told?” Was the country running low on Islamophobia?
NBC’s “story” about Afghan women served no useful purpose other than to darken the lenses that Americans use to see the “other.”
Misguided and false perceptions of Muslims have persisted for centuries. In a globalized world, where information is exchanged freely and we interact with people from opposite sides of the world, can we afford to continue to be so ignorant?
Tags: rape law, media, muslim, sharia, taliban
Frankly Wil,
whenever I am at a loss as to why my country is using military force, I go looking for an economic reason. Usually it has to do with energy supplies, something that suburban home developers don’t bother to factor in to their profit margins and local governments end up begging the federal government for help on.
Afghanistan Oil Pipeline
I also think it’s a hopeless situation. They don’t call Afghanistan “The Graveyard of Empires” for nothing.
Multinational corporations have used military force for so long that I wonder if they can imagine anything different?
Did you see this?
PBS NOW
Week of 4.17.09
On Thin Ice
The rapid glacier melt in the Himalayas is going to hit India and China like a ton of bricks.
It was well worth the 56 minutes it took to watch it online for me.
Nunya–
Economics certainly played a role in our deciding to invade/occupy Afghanistan, but I don’t think the oil pipeline was the be all, end all. There’s just not enough money to make it worth our while.
A strategic base in Iran’s backyard was, I think, the primary reason, especially when the neo-cons were looking ahead to an invasion of Iraq, which has effectively sandwiched Iran between two US bases.
But that wasn’t the point of my post. My point was that however this may have started, it has become a holy war - another crusade - on our side. We no longer can see non-Christians for anything other than an evil “other.”
The moment we can see the other from a different perspective is when we can stop killing indiscriminately, stop bombing from 30,000 feet, and start reconciling.
And despite India’s reputation as being the IT hub, the growing digital divide means that no one here who isn’t a millionaire can afford more than dial-up service - which means I can’t watch any videos over the internet.
And regarding the claim of “graveyard of empires” and other hopelessness about Afghanistan…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/opinion/20nadery.html?_r=1
The corporate MSM is continuing to sell us the bullshit they used to get us into Iraq. And they will continue to do it for as long as they can, and they’ll also do what they can to whip up Jesusistan extremists in America. It’s good distractive business for them, and it supplies Jesusistan warmongering scum with cannon fodder for whatever they decide to do next. Nothing beats a zealot if you want to kill people. Just ask anyone in Manhattan.
Wil,
“And despite India’s reputation as being the IT hub, the growing digital divide means that no one here who isn’t a millionaire can afford more than dial-up service - which means I can’t watch any videos over the internet.”
Oh my gosh it must take forever to upload pictures then?
Here is how the page with the video embedded reads:
Seventy-five percent of the world’s fresh water is stored in glaciers, but scientists predict climate change will cause some of the world’s largest glaciers to completely melt by 2030. What effect will this have on our daily lives? With global warming falling low on a national list of American concerns, it’s time to take a deeper look at what could be a global calamity in the making.
This week, in a special one-hour NOW on PBS, David Brancaccio and environmentalist Conrad Anker—one of the world’s leading high altitude climbers—trek to the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayan Mountains, the source of the Ganges River, to witness the great melt and its dire consequences first-hand. The two also visit Montana’s Glacier National Park to see the striking effects of global warming closer to home and learn how melting glaciers across the globe can have a direct impact on food prices in the U.S.
Read David Brancaccio’s daily dispatches from India and see images from his extraordinary trip.Along the way, Brancaccio and Anker talk to both scientists and swamis, bathe in the River Ganges, view a water shortage calamity in India, and come as close as any human can to seeing the tangible costs of climate change.
“We can’t take climate change and put it on the back burner,” warns Anker. “If we don’t address climate change, we won’t be around as humans.”
“But that wasn’t the point of my post. My point was that however this may have started, it has become a holy war - another crusade - on our side. We no longer can see non-Christians for anything other than an evil “other.” ”
Who’s ‘we’? There may be only 3 million people in this county, but white people of European descent are definitely in the minority here. There are recent immigrants from all over the world here.
Holy war my ass. You show me a holy war and I’ll show you some corporate interest trying to make a profit on cheap raw materials, or a cheap labor supply. Are you watching Fox news? Fewer and fewer Americans are buying that shit.
http://mediamatters.org/
Nunya–
Thanks for your comments. I like that you are so willing to engage in debate/conversation. We need more of that. But I’ll disagree:
I don’t need to watch Fox News for an example of religious hatred. That was the point of my post. I can simply watch NBC News.
When our media runs a story whose sole purpose was to incite hatred of the other, based on religious differences, then yes, we are in a holy war.
When people use the Taliban from the Swat Valley - an extremely conservative and reactionary region - as an example of why “Islamists are crazy,” then yes, we are in a holy war. Because “Islamist” does not, never has, and never will equal Taliban. But from our Western perspective, we see them as one in the same, allowing us to label the “other” as reactionary, violent, and extreme based on the small example of the Taliban.
And while it may be true in your county that ‘white people of European descent’ are a minority, Christianity is still a huge majority - and with it comes Western attitudes toward other religions that are based on centuries of hate.
You claim that “The negative views that I personally have of Islam…are based on conversations I have had with women who came from countries with Shariah law. They told me things because I am a woman that they won’t tell you guys because you are men” But your sample that you are drawing from is not representative.
Anyone who moves to the US from a “Muslim” country moved to the US precisely because they disagree with the way their country was being run. They represent only that part of their society that is strongly opposed to the status quo in their country of origin (and given the fact that they moved to the US, are likely wealthier than most of their fellow nationals back home). Of course most, if not all, women living in the US will be critics of their prior governments - that’s the reason they left in the first place. Thus, any sampling of views or opinions of women from Muslim countries who are living in the US is necessarily biased and not truly representative. You may be a woman, and may have more conversations that men cannot, but your sample is skewed.
If you speak to women in these countries - still living there - you will find much different views. There are still women opposed to the system - and rightfully so - but they oppose it in different ways, and see problems and solutions in a different light. This goes for the idea of having many children - despite living in poverty. There is a cultural aspect - a respect and status symbol - that many women in poor countries enjoy about having many children. Just because a woman has 6 kids in India doesn’t mean she’s oppressed and is being forced to have those kids. There is a cultural difference there that is hard for Westerners - with only experiences in the West - to understand.
To truly move away from a holy war mentality, we must start to see the rest of the world from their perspective. We must understand that Islam is not the “religion of the sword” and that we can do more good by using Islam as a societal force instead of trying to ignore (or demonize) it.
And we must move away from labeling people as the “other” or assuming that opinions we hear are always representative of an entire people. This is (one of) the reasons we got into the whole Iraq mess - because we assumed that a few ex-pat Iraqis - largely wealthy figures that were pushed from positions of power by Saddam’s dictatorship - represented an entire people. Because Ahmed Chalabi was willing to welcome us with “open arms as liberators,” we assumed every other Iraqi would too. That’s stereotyping and generalizing at its worst.
If you see “corporate interest” in the war - you are right. There always is. But consider the financial interests - whether direct or indirect- behind the information and the sources we base our views on. Why was this one book published and not others? How did the author gain access to contacts to publish it? Why did that person you meet move from Iran/Pakistan/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/etc. in the first place? What other factors - besides gender oppression - were involved in their decision to leave? Why did the editor run one story over another on the news?
Jolly Roger–
“Nothing beats a zealot if you want to kill people. ”
Unfortunately, you are too right. And good point- it goes both ways - as we have rediscovered over the past 8 years.
I followed you back from Boss Kitty’s Truthhugger comments again Wil. Even a surfer like myself is hard pressed to find more cogent and reasoned refutation of the corporate media’s kool-aid than you present with regards to hatemongering as conditioning for the acceptance of atrocity.
AlterNet posted Orwell’s expose a while back : I hadn’t reviously realized his good reason to be familiar with controlled media spin.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/107326/former_news_radio_staffer_spills_the_beans_on_how_shock_jocks_inspire_hatred_and_anger/
Wil,
I’m fully aware that my sample is skewed, but is what I have to base my opinion on.
I’m also aware of the fact that when my mother was born there were 2.3 billion people on the planet. When I was born there were 3.2 billion people on the planet. My child is now old enough to have children and we are pushing 7 billion people. Having taken advanced placement environmental science, said child is not interested in adding to an already overpopulated planet. Since there is no cultural pressure for her to squirt out a bunch of brats, I’m ok with that. I’m not a math whiz, but exponential human population growth isn’t that hard to understand.
There are already shortages of water in some places in India, and with the loss of fresh water from glaciers melting, six kids ( exponential hpg remember ) is completely unsustainable, culture or no culture.
Since I live in Southern California, there’s about to be some major culture shock going on here also. Many people moved here from the eastern part of the country (and before that, Europe) where there is more water and rainfall. They had better get used to cactus and rocks surrounding their ridiculously unsustainable McMansions because we just don’t have the water for grassy lawns anymore. You can’t tell the morons who manage this particular complex that, though, and I’ll enjoy the trees and grass until I can’t anymore.
Of course, the droughts and glacier melt quickening because of global warming can be blamed on the West and their dependence on the burning of fossil fuels. Growing economies in the East are catching up quickly in the co2 emissions department, though.
My friend from India was trying to explain the albedo effect around 15 years ago to me. The way he explained it was that his friend was a pilot who flew into LA regularly (25, 30 years ago) and it would be raining in the sky, but it would never reach the ground in LA because of the heat from all of the pavement.
And Wil?
I’m not any more anti-Muslim than I am anti-religion. I’m not the only one either, because my “religion sucks” posts are some of my most popular Google search hits.
Along with my mercenary camp posts. Lots of people end up on my blog with that Google search term. I happen to think that mercenary camps suck too, lol
You make some excellent points, Wil. This HAS turned into an holy war. Many have been mislead by the few, on all sides.
Terrorists=Muslims and vice-versa is just plain wrong. It is no truer than Infadels=Christians or vice-versa.
Christians group all Islamists together, not realizing that they are divided up into as many sects (denominations) as the Christians are.
Todays Christians, for the most part, are the Pharisees of Jesus’ time.
“Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, These people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
~Mark 7:6
All this hate-mongering propoganda serves, is to blind the already-blind pseudo-faithful; and solidify negative Holy War emotions.
Most Christians (including Pastors and Preachers) will tell you that Muslims don’t believe in Jesus. Wrong! They stare at me in disbelief when I tell them that, next to Allah Himself, Jesus is the most mentioned name in the Qur’an.
The difference, which I consider to be semantic, is that Islamists do not believe Jesus was the ‘biological’ Son of God, but the ’spiritual’ Son of God. Although Christians don’t like to admit it, Jesus taught that very thing many different times. He has called us His Brothers, saying we were all Sons of God.
Yet the Jews deny Jesus, and the Christians will go to Hell and back for them; well, maybe they won’t come back. Can not any of these pseudo-christians see the hypocrite staring back at them in the mirror?
Religion may “suck,” but trying to convince the public to abandon religion may be harder than trying to convert a Christian to Islam, or vice-versa.
Why butt our heads against the wall? Why not use religion for our advantage instead of fighting it? Why not use the similarities to unite, instead of the differences to divide?
We will never eliminate religion nor its influence in society. But we can change how religion influences society.
Wil,
Those “religion sucks” posts are usually links to articles that highlight human rights violations from fundamental religious extremists. I happen to personally believe that religion in the hands and minds of sane, fair, and reasonable human beings is a good thing. Balanced with some education, respect for human rights, respect for other people’s religions and respect for science it can add a lot to people’s lives.
Religion, in/of itself, is a good thing. It is the perversion of religion that is the scourge of man.
Virtually every religion believes their scriptures are the inspired Word of God. They are the ‘owner’s manuals’ of our spiritual beings. They are detailed instructions for the pathway to Salvation, and examples of the steps to righteousness. When taken in totality, one can see that the Torah, the New Testament, the Qur’an, or even the Vedas, have more commonality than differentiality.
Most all, also believe in His omniscience. If God created man, then He understands full-well the level of comprehension man has. God desires that we use our intelligence and free will to come to Him, e.g. ‘God calls all men’. He realizes that many are simple people; He would not inspire a handbook that was hard to decipher, a book of puzzles.
Take it as a caveat and beware: Those that read Scripture, and say, “What He really meant was ……….”, are on the fast track to perdition. For the Pastors, Ministers, Preachers, and others in Spiritual Authority, who pervert the Word of God, and by consequence, lead the flock astray: As Jesus said, “It would be better for them if they had not been born”.
That’s my two shekels worth.
Nunya–
You astutely note that extremist religion is the problem - I couldn’t agree more.
You said “…religion in the hands and minds of sane, fair, and reasonable human beings is a good thing. Balanced with some education, respect for human rights, respect for other people’s religions and respect for science it can add a lot to people’s lives.”
Exactly.
And that is the crux of the post -
Why do we never see anything but extremist Islam through the media? Why is there no coverage of the “reasonable human beings” that are also Muslim? Why is it always either “extremist” or “secular?”
We don’t see many images or portraits of other extreme religion. There isn’t much coverage on the religious beliefs of right-wing Christians and their hope to bring about the apocalypse. There isn’t hardly any coverage of the orthodox Jewish settlers who believe they can run Palestinians off their land because of what the Torah says. There isn’t much coverage of the religious extremism of the Hindus of Tamil (the Tamil Tigers), and their clash with the Buddhist Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka.
Why are we not treating Islam the same way?
Wil,
There isn’t hardly any coverage of the orthodox Jewish settlers who believe they can run Palestinians off their land because of what the Torah says. There isn’t much coverage of the religious extremism of the Hindus of Tamil (the Tamil Tigers), and their clash with the Buddhist Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka.
Why are we not treating Islam the same way?
Wow, I guess I must have given up on the mainstream media in the US, because I do see the coverage you refer to. I usually scan the headlines of the LA Times, the NY Times, but I find other sources. I added those to my blogroll after a poli-sci prof told us we had to read them for the class. If you scan my blogroll you will see that I read lefty publications and the BBC and alJazeera, and the blogs I read will pull out Haaretz articles.
The local newz (intentionally mispelled) disgusted me the other night with a teaser about an upcoming story abut a local girl disappearing and the psychics who were helping the family and local police to find her. I was watching a show called “Medium” which is about a women who helps her local police find the killers with her psychic dreams.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen the newz use teasers that were like a fictional show I was watching.
Why butt our heads against the wall? Why not use religion for our advantage instead of fighting it?
———————————–
That’s like saying we should have sided with the Nazis to fight the soviets.
Religious values are a tool of oppression. The only way to change the middle east from a cultural backwater is to replace those iron age values with modern ones.
If europe had continued to cling to it’s medieval religious value system we’d be in the same spot. West Asia needs an enlightenment.
Militant Secularist–
You’ve invoked Godwin’s Law.
Consider the thread closed.