Monday, March 12, 2007

An Obession with MisInfromation

Or we can call it by what it is-

"Obsession: The Zionist Propaganda Machine"



Have you tuned into KROQ in the past month or so? KROQ happens to be my fall back radio station when I am depressed about the Iraq horror story and the Bush governments ineptitude- he's in South America with an olive branch, except all his speeches are about Hugo, can we call it an obsession? I was disturbed to hear a commercial on KROQ by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) sponsoring "Obession: Radical Islam's War Against the West".

Lets leave the fact that this advertisement was coming from the AJC- a staunchly Pro-Israel, before American Interest organization sponsoring something like this and look at what exactly this documentary is all about.

This so called documentary, according to the official website (from now on referenced as a Mockumentary)

compares the threat of Islamism with that of Nazism before World War II, and observes the parallels between Islamists and the Nazi Party during the War, specifically Adolf Hitler's relationship with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem as an inspiration for radical Islamic movements in the Middle East today.
Now that in itself is a lot to digest. But wait, here is a list of individuals who are the "experts" that are interviewed:
Nonie Darwish (the daughter of a Fedayeen terrorist), Alan M. Dershowitz, Steven Emerson, Brigitte Gabriel, Martin Gilbert, Caroline Glick, Alfons Heck, Glen Jenvey, John Loftus, Salim Mansur, Itamar Marcus, Khaleel Mohammed, Daniel Pipes, Tashbih Sayyed, Walid Shoebat, Khaled Abu Toameh, Robert Wistrich
Plus it seems that the Israeli government/military had no problem opening up their torture cells to suspect "terrorists"- I am surprised they didn't bring the women and children they hold in the prison to be interviewed as well- for mockumentary- read the wikipedia entry. Read this blog and you will get an idea of how you can make some major bank these days.

I think I will leave the analysis of the movie once I watch it but you can read about a Muslim experience here. However, it is important to focus on this aspect for those of you not familiar because this sets up the tone of where this mockumentary is coming from which allows you to understand why this is no bona fide documentary but rather a propaganda piece.

Honest Reporting is the responsible party- they produced this mockumentary. But is Honest Reporting really what it says it is- honest implies unbiased, neutral, fact driven reporting? Or does it imply one version, one side, one perspective? Here is some information that will help your understanding of Honest Reporting.

First- Honest Reporting was cited by the London Guardian as an Israeli Propaganda mouth piece. Ouch. If you read the article, you will see that Honest Reporting was calling the Israeli bombing of a Red Cross Ambulances in the recent Lebanon war a "hoax"- imagine something that grave and serious being called a hoax and Honest Reporting championing that mantle.3

Human Rights Watch issued this report to rebut the claims made and then propagated by Honest Reporting-here.

Second- What is Honest Reporting? Well according to Honest Reporting they area a media watchdog group that monitors the media for negative portrayals of Israel. So that must be some slant to this right?

Third- If you think Honest Reporting passes as a legitimate honest broker on negative Israeli reporting then its worth checking out how Honest Reporting got it start. Honest Reporting was founded by Aish Ha Torah- they take pride in creating this media monster. But see Aish Ha Torah, in their own bubble, believe that Honest Reporting is legitimate. Aish Ha Torah is a radical, fringe right wing extremist movement in Israeli society. They are not entitled to represent any sort of "objectivity" since the founder of this group felt that "20,000 Jews were being lost" due to them marrying outside of the Jewish race- is that such a bad thing to marry outside one's race, I tell my mom the benefits of this all the time? But basically they are racial elitist that view Israel as a sacred cow that is beyond criticism and Zionism and Judiasim being one and the same- which is not the case!

Obsession the mockumentary really is just another propaganda piece being put out by right-wing extremist!

Going back to KROQ. For a main stream, all access media outlet to take advertisements on such a propaganda piece is disturbing, but understandable. The advertisement department isn't looking into what this is about but rather how much money it will bring in. So it was nice to have Muslims call in and complain about this. The best description of such a conversation is as follows*:

KROQ- You know this is a Freedom of speech issue, you say one thing they say another.

Muslim- I understand that but as KROQ you have listener from all strips.

KROQ- Whats wrong with them paying for the spot, technically its not our message, they paid for the air space.

Muslim- Okay, so let me get this straight, if i pay for an ad, you would play it regardless of content?

KROQ- Yes and no, we have to follow FCC guidelines.

Muslim- I understand but if i pay you will play it meeting FCC guidelines?

KROQ- yes

Muslim- Okay i will pay you money to make an ad that says slavery was good for America and that it would solve our immigration problem and that Jews were responsible for most of the social ills today. The organization sponsoring it is Americans for a Clean America. That's what AJC and the movie Obsession is to me.


Case closed.

*this is not me, I wish I thought of it but it isn't me. Also the conversation didn't occur precisely this way, this just how i remember it.

1 comment:

Um Sumayyah said...

its horrible really, the kinds of lies they let people get away with these days...