Muslims love to exaggerate about the news media
Writing by abuhatem on Tuesday, 11 of December , 2007 at 4:39 pm
I have blogged about this before, yet more thoughts…
Much of the media is biased, at least according to many definitions of the term. However, people are not as dumb as others give them credit. There are many types of media. The television media is extremely diverse. PBS, CSPAN, al-Jazeera International, and France24 (a new English language television news broadcast) all provide pro-Islamic viewpoints many times and it can often be excessive. On the internet one can easily find thousands of sources of media. There are many leftist sites, socialist sites, paleoconservative sites, and others which provide a pro-Islamic viewpoint. There are dozens of liberal newsmagazines in the United States which provide a viewpoint that is often favorable to Islam - The Nation, Harpers, and Mother Jones just to name a few. When it comes to radio, NPR - available all throughout the country - almost always includes a pro-Islamic speaker when giving an audience to critics. Intellectual journals, such as the New York Review of Books and the Harvard journal “International Security,†often provide pro-Islamic viewpoints that are anti-Israel. And foreign newspapers are available on the internet from every single country for anyone interested to read.
Even in terms of newspaper columnists who write weekly, there are many who are strongly anti-Israel. Pat Buchannan, an American conservative commentator, strongly criticizes Israel, the neoconservatives, and the term “Islamofascism,†in his weekly commentary. Buchanan is also a commentator on MSNBC news everyday and often lets his views be known. Robert Novak is also very anti-Israel. He has stated the fact numerous times whether on CNN’s old “Capitol Gang,†or CSPAN’s “Q&A,†or in his weekly column. Novak appeared weekly on CNN for over 20 years, and has one of the most highly respected newspaper columns in the nation. He is now a weekly pundit on Bloomberg TV.
There are more yet still. Reza Aslan, a Muslim himself who strongly rejects the notion of Muslims being terrorists, is actually the local “Islam expert,†on CNN. Keith Olberman has a daily TV series where he has been extremely critical of anti-Islamic sentiment, numerous times on the show he has called people bigots for supporting the term “Islamofascism,†and even chose David Horowtiz as his “Worst Person in the World,†in his daily “worst person,†segment. CSPAN often airs pro-Islamic and anti-Israel speakers alongside with anti-Islamic and pro-Israel speakers.
Many university professors, and high school educators, make it a point to teach students that there are moderate and good Muslims and that not all Muslims are terrorists. John Esposito, Robert Bulliet, and many others make this point clear. There are many books published in this regard - such as “The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization.â€
All of these are cases against the thesis that it is the media’s fault for people’s attitudes towards Islam or the Palestinians. There is significant proof that there is ample media available to show the other side of the story, even in mainstream U.S. television media. Yes, there are channels such as FoxNews which give a conservative perspective - yet remember that the media in the United States was primarily left-leaning until the introduction of FoxNews.
America runs on the ingenious principle of free markets. The more media diversity the better. I think that it is a good thing that there are conservative networks such as Fox, although I highly disagree with their stances. The sheer amount of media which is available to the average American is so much so that they should be able to decide for themselves. I don’t believe people are so stupid so as to be influenced by certain television or radio commentators who say things about Islam. Many of these people only tell people things that they want to hear and are only listened to by people who have already formulated these views.
Although the media is not supposed to “praise or condemn,†people enjoy listening to the opinions of others in society. Plato defined the essence of society as discussion. Many of the people who appear on the media daily are unreasonable and even bigots in their assertions. However, many are not, and there is a wide variety of views represented in all the channels of the media - even the television media. People use discussion to persuade and convince others to support their cause, yet it is up to one to use their own intelligence and reason to support such causes. None are compelled.
We must be honest with ourselves. Not all of the media is FoxNews, and the Weekly Standard. The media I believe does a good job at representing many of the opinions held on many of the issues. However, the one place where diversity in the media, at least on the cable news networks, is the question of Israel - although as aforementioned, many anti-Israel pundits exist and are prominent. The reason why this is the case is not because of “control,†of the media by any one group - but because the Israel lobby attempts to get its point across. Read John Mearsheimer’s “The Israel Lobby,†book about this - he discusses the topic in depth, and concludes that “Jews controlling the media,†is an antisemetic assertion, but that people with pro-Israel opinions in a democracy have attempted to gain clout in much of the mass media. However, often the opposing view comes out as I mentioned previously.
And the pro-Israel crowd has a rights to their views as well. The myth of Jewish control only contributes to the backwordness of the Arab world and the defamation of an entire community. Are we so fearful that we cannot listen to the arguments of our critics? I support peace with Israel, and co-existence. I oppose the hatred and oppression of the Jewish people. Just as I support the rights of the Palestinian people, and oppose the hatred and oppression of them. Yet I shouldn’t force anyone to take my views, and I should support discussion and listening to the other side.
The media will be critical of Islam, and Christianity, and Judaism, and all other religions or ideologies or philosophies, in a free society. Yet, such criticism which we may respond to - and is often responded to within the media, cannot be confused for a “goal of defamation,†as the media often covers events in a positive light to Muslims - such as the Hajj, Eid, Ramadan, and many positive stories on Muslim Americans which exist. I read the newspaper, watch TV news, and read the major newsmagazines everyday and I always see such articles.
And although some of the news media may blatantly attempt to defame Islam - such as perhaps FoxNews and The Weekly Standard - they do it no more so than the Arab media blatantly and racistly attacks Jews. The defamation of the Jewish people on Arab media is atrocious and often full of blatant lies and antisemetic remarks. Anyone familiar with the Arab media knows this. It is also rampant in our communities. Before we tell Americans to be nice to Islam, we shouldn’t say extremely hateful names about Jews within our masjids when nobody is looking.
All I ask is to be fair and to look within. By changing our approach we can do nothing but help ourselves. It is self-criticism which always led to success, and self-righteouness which often led to failure. It was Ibn ‘Ata Allah, the great Muslim, who stated that every good came from being unpleased with oneself. And it was Robert Neihbur, the American protestat theologian, which stated that arrogance and self-righteousness if not coupled with a notion of responsibility to the Divine can lead to immense injustice in American foreign policy.
Until we remove the problems of ethnocentrism and the blame-game we cannot possibly succeed as societies.
Category: The media
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