bes@tybalt.caltech.edu (02/12/91)
This article was lifted from another newsgroup. -Behnam -------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Stereotyping of Islam in media From: culmer@edu.upenn.cis.grad1 (Charles Culmer) Summary: Assorted references, quotations, and complaints In article <1991Jan31.235430.1113@mentorg.com> imt@mentorg.com (Imtiyazul Haque) writes: > >After watching CNN's "Special Assignment on Terrorism" two times during >the last week I felt that CNN has implicitly linked Islam with terrorism. >I am really troubled by this and am sending a letter of protest against >their style of reporting. Most of you would agree with me regarding the >stereotyping of Islam in particular and any other race/religion in general >in the media. There is a lot of propaganda about terrorism, especially about Islam and Soviet sponsorship of "international terrorism". (The Soviet stuff might be undergoing revision with the end of the Cold War.) If you're bothered by this CNN report, you should read Edward Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan, The "Terrorism" Industry--The Experts and Institutions that Shape our View of Terror, Pantheon, 1989 (paper, $15.95). Read this book to help see through the propaganda. If you want to see some of the propaganda--and terribly poor scholarship-- check out Benjamin Netanyahu (ed.), Terrorism--How the West Can Win, Avon, 1986 (paper, $4.50). You'll enjoy Netanyahu's explanations-- The antagonism of Islamic and Arab radicalism to the West is frequently misunderstood. It is sometimes explained as deriving from American support for Israel. But the hostility to the West preceded the creation of Israel by centuries, and much of the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ terrorists' animus is directed against targets and issues that have nothing to do with Israel. Indeed, the relationship is most often the other way around. Middle Eastern radicals did not develop their hatred for the West because of Israel; they hated Israel from its inception *because it is an organic part of the West*. That is, because Israel represents for them precisely the incarnation of those very traditions and values, foremost of which is democracy, which they hate and fear. ^^^^^^^^^ (pp. 62-3, asterisks indicate italics in original) Presumably it wasn't democracy that caused the Arabs to hate and fear the West in 1748. Unfortunately, Netanyahu doesn't give an explanation. This material is followed by three moronic essays-- Bernard Lewis, "Islamic Terrorism?" Elie Kedourie, "Political Terrorism in the Muslim World" P. J. Vatikiotis, "The Spread of Islamic Terrorism" These morons apparently didn't read Netanyahu's introduction to the Islam section--or else he didn't read their essays. Kedourie writes-- A more purely European provenance is usual in terrorist movements and activities in the world of Islam during this [19th] century. This is the case with Wardany, a French-educated Muslim pharmacist who murdered the Coptic prime minister of Egypt, Butros Ghali, in 1910, and who, awaiting execution in his prison cell, was busy reading Bagehot's *British Constitution* and Rousseau's *Social Contract*, and sketching a political treatise to deal with the constitution of a future Islamic government. (p. 73) Here's something else you might enjoy. This isn't about terrorism, but it is about the stereotyping of Muslims as religious fanatics. From Lies of Our Times, November, 1990, p. 2-- Back in March (p. 19) we ran a letter Nabeel Abraham sent to the New York Times complaining about a mistranslation of the Arabic in a photo caption. Lebanese journalists were shown carrying a sign which actually read "Freedom of the Press, Yes to the Printed Word, No to Terror," The Times said the sign read "In Allah's hands we are safe." The letter, of course, was not published by the Times. Now they are at it again. The first page of the business section on September 12 (p. C1) presented a piece about the Bank of Kuwait. Illustrating it was the logo of the bank, shown below [not here], with this caption: "The logotype of the National Bank of Kuwait proclaims, 'There is no deity but Allah.'" Abraham sent off another letter which reads in part: "The logotype proclaims no such thing. The Arabic inscription merely says, 'National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait, 1952.'" One last thing. I'm getting tired of hearing Tom Brokaw and other guys on television talk about the "Arab masses". They never mention the "American masses", the "European masses", or the "Israeli masses". I'm tired of the "Muslim faithful", too. Charles W. Culmer culmer@grad1.cis.upenn.edu Truth, justice, and the Canadian way