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Which besmirches the "Religion of Peace" more? A cartoon about the mistreatment of women in Islam, or the mistreatment of women in Islam? For the Daily Star of Lebanon, it is decidedly the former.
Of course I run up against this all the time. When I report what people like this say, I'm told by the likes of CAIR that it is I who am "spreading hate" and "defaming Islam."
Come off it, Ibrahim. Come off it, Dr. Ghazi Falah. This is one dhimmi who isn't buying. It is Osama bin Laden who is defaming Islam. It is Mukhlas who is defamining Islam. And Omar Bakri. And Abu Hamza. And Abu Bakar Bashir. And Zarqawi. And Shehzad Tanweer. And hordes of others.
The press is, as any regular Jihad Watch reader knows, extraordinarily reluctant to say anything about the Islamic component of jihad violence. We are all accustomed to reading about "gunmen," "activists," "extremists" and "insurgents," and hardly ever about "Muslims" or even "jihadists." Yet Dr. Falah would have us believe, from the comfort of his study in Akron, that some terrible campaign is going on in the press to vilify Muslims because there is any reporting of (and just a bit of lampooning of) Islamic violence at all.
Well, the press can't talk about Baptist extremists, or Methodist gunmen. It does have to stick around within the general neighborhood of what is really happening. Stereotyping? Vilification? Hardly. If Muslim women weren't oppressed, if Muslim preachers weren't yapping constantly about Zionist pigs, you would never hear a peep of any of this.
Note also who is behind this: it comes from the Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud Center for American Studies and Research. That's the guy who is making FoxNews, Harvard and Georgetown dance happily to his tune.
"Effect of U.S. media on perceptions: Press plays key role in stereotyping arabs, Muslims," from Spencer Osberg in The Daily Star, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
BEIRUT: "The Muslim world is a strange and formidable place to an average American, in some ways a perennial zone of magic, mystery and disorder," said Dr. Ghazi Falah, of the University of Akron, Ohio, on Monday at the American University of Beirut. It is regarded in "a framework of violence, disorder and unreason contrasted with the rationalism of the West."Falah was one of three presenters for "Media and Film Representations of Arabs and the Middle East," one session held as part of a three-day "America in the Middle East-The Middle East in America" conference. The conference is an initiative of the Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud Center for American Studies and Research.
"I focus on the way in which an American newspaper makes or decides on a certain 'editorial arrangement' in presenting material concerning Muslim or Arab topics, to serve specific political or geo-political ends or respective governments," said Falah, noting the construction of Arabs as 'the other' - different and inferior to Westerners - is central to American foreign policy....
Informative examples of a newspaper's "definition of a situation" are the editorial cartoon, says Falah, which "are useful sources of data because they are aimed at a mass audience, are full of caricatures and often have action themes with underlying story or meaning."
He pointed to two cartoons which appeared in the Los Angeles Times. On January 1, 2003, the paper printed what Falah describes as a "classic assault on the Arab world and its people," where the Arab world is represented as a yappy dog barking about "America" and "Zionist Pigs," while the dog jumps in the lap of a robed person with the words "Islamic Extremist" on his chest.
"What's the message?" asks Falah. "While the noisy Arab world accuses America of being in the lap of Zionist pigs, they are themselves in the lap of Islamic extremists and in their control."
On November 27, 2002, the Los Angeles Times printed another cartoon depicting three fully veiled women walking across a stage under the banner "Al-Islam sponsors the Miss Muslim World contest." The sashes the women wore read "Miss waiting to be stoned," "Miss can't vote" and "Miss illiteracy," while two Afghani-looking men watched, one of which had a rifle.
"Perhaps some would argue this cartoon contains a kernel of truth, and targets only radical Islam and not all Muslims, but how could such an insulting and crude cartoon be considered newsworthy enough to be published in the Los Angeles Times?"
He notes the cartoon was placed on the same page with an editorial about the Bush administration's preparations for war in Iraq, creating a juxtaposition of "the bad Islam" with the "good Bush administration" coming to the rescue.
"Newspapers enjoy extraordinary freedom to frame, and bend and distort the ways in which information is reported, interpreted and packaged," says Falah, leading to much misrepresentation of the Arabs and Muslims.
Posted by Robert at December 21, 2005 8:37 AM
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"a framework of violence, disorder and unreason..."
-- from the article above
To be fully accurate, the press should be charged quite differently -- it consistently under-reports on the "violence, disorder and unreason" within Muslim countries and communities, a direct result of the influence of the tenets, attitudes, and atmospherics of Islam.
Posted by: Hugh![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 21, 2005 9:23 AM
The Daily Star is where the smooth-tongued Rami Khouri ("khouri" means "priest" in Arabic) hangs his islamochrstian hat, and not for a moment does this "Jordanian" or "Palestinian" or "Palestinian Jordanian" forget, even in Beirut where he must come into contact with entirely un-dhimmified Maronites -- perhaps Habib Malik is not Rami Khouri's cup of tea, nor the late Bishop of Beirut Moubarac (see, for his support for the nascent state of Israel, "Islam and Dhimmitude"), that he must never fail to mention Israel and its sins, and must always and everywhere go lightly, or omit altogether, anything about Islam.
The Daily Star could be good. Compared to the usual level of Arab journalism, it's practically the Neue Zurcher Zeitung or the Boston Evening Transcript. But its unshakable islamochristian nonsense keeps it from being a guide to much of anything, and it fails when measured by any standards other than those of the Arab-language press.
Posted by: Hugh at December 21, 2005 9:33 AM
Muslims deserve to be stereotyped.
Posted by: rocky at December 21, 2005 9:45 AM
Doesn't he know the LA Times is the best friend of the Mohammedans?
Posted by: John Sobieski at December 21, 2005 9:46 AM
Some stereotypes exist....because they are true, mates.
Posted by: Unbridled at December 21, 2005 10:04 AM
"What's the message?" asks Falah. "While the noisy Arab world accuses America of being in the lap of Zionist pigs, they are themselves in the lap of Islamic extremists and in their control."
Yes, Doctor. That is the message. So, what's the problem?
Posted by: PRCS at December 21, 2005 10:13 AM
Cry me a river.
Posted by: 3812Michelle at December 21, 2005 11:39 AM
Of all the things which should inspire self-criticism in the ummah, mistreatment of women is near the top of the list, followed closely by killing non-combatants and children intentionally. Denial suggests it's another intolerable sine qua non of Islam, and one of many reasons why Islam's triumphantly marching forward into the Dark Ages. "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" are the most accomplished Muslim female scientists I'm aware of. That's not good.
at December 21, 2005 11:50 AM
""Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" are the most accomplished Muslim female scientists I'm aware of. That's not good."
-- posted by Beagle
Oh, quit complaining, Beagle. Condi is working overtime with her Wahabi Education Program to create more Moslem Maiden Scientists. Many of them are studying the science of virology, which has boundless applications!
Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at December 21, 2005 11:59 AM
I guess it is fortunate that we ourselves do not depend on the US media for the stereotype that we have of Islam, but rather, the many non-MSM sources available, including Al Jazeera, Albasrah, the Arab News, the Telegraph, Islam Online, CAIR, Pakistani Daily Times, Copenhagen Post, and the websites where the murder videos are posted. Otherwise we might get the wrong idea about Islam.
Posted by: Mr Jones at December 21, 2005 12:07 PM
"Perhaps some would argue this cartoon contains a kernel of truth, and targets only radical Islam and not all Muslims, but how could such an insulting and crude cartoon be considered newsworthy enough to be published in the Los Angeles Times?"
Well maybe the Los Angeles Times should have ran this article on Honor Killings to put things in perspective about MUSLIMS.
Small quote from link below: "If a woman brings shame to the family, her male relatives are bound by duty and culture to kill her. "A woman shamed is like rotting flesh," a Palestinian merchant tells me. "If it is not cut away, it will consume the body. What I mean is the whole family will be tainted if she is not killed." And that includes women who have been raped by their own relatives and the male will lie and save himself and even kill the young daughter, sister, or cousin that he raped.
http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/may/clpub.asp
Posted by: rumoret at December 21, 2005 12:21 PM
Muslims, even those erudite, scholarly types, seem to be genuinely oblivious to the hideous, malevolent elements of Islam that once exposed, are seen by Westerners for exactly what they are---shocking, frightening, and disgusting. Or maybe their lamentations about being misunderstood and maligned are merely smokescreens to go along with their snow jobs.
Surely this distinguished muslim "scholar" cannot really believe that the Western press is stereotyping Islam and muslims with an incessant barrage of denigrating cartoons and articles! He should be grateful that the puscillanimous press has been very generous to Islamic terrorists, Islam, and jihadist muslims all over the world by either not reporting their diabolical deeds, or by obfuscating their true identities and agendas. If the press reported one-tenth of the heinous atrocities committed by deranged, sociopathic muslims, or exposed one-tenth of Islam's psychotic, intolerant, hate-infused doctrine, Islam would not be tolerated anywhere in the West.
The sleazy Saudi royals and Islamic apologists are fully aware that when the horrors of Islam are fully exposed to the befuddled West, Islam will be in big trouble. The apologists, practioners, and appeasers of unholy Islam will do everything in their power to silence those who understand that Islam is the biggest threat the West has ever faced, but they will not succeed. This is just one more attempt to portray poor, pitiful, muslims as the victims of unwarranted persecution so some more hate-speech laws will be enacted to give Islam the cover it needs to pursue its devious agenda. How stupid do these arrogant bastards think we are?
Posted by: Susanp at December 21, 2005 1:12 PM
Lets see
Distortions ...
How could we possibly destory all the EVIL that Islam has committed...
With all of the Videos, tapes, cd's , court records the religion of PIECES Islam has a record
WORSE than the NAZIS....
There is no way anyone could possibly make islam look any worse than the muslims themselves have done....
Its the muslims mess...
Its because of the Psychopath Mohammed..
Its because of the Demonic DEATH cult Islam
So its islams mess
Tell the muslims to clean up their outhouse...
at December 21, 2005 1:53 PM
"How could we possibly destory all the EVIL that Islam has committed..."
-- posted by jingoist
Easy. Given that the vast majority (my guess is 99% plus) of Westerners believe that Islam is a reasonable religion populated by peaceful folk, Moderate Moslems Mostly, who have by terrible luck been hijacked by a crazed minority.
That's how.
Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at December 21, 2005 1:56 PM
How stupid do these arrogant bastards think we are?
Well. they pay plenty to keep us stupid.
By buying into the MSM and by calling Murdoch, (when the French intifadah was raging) Al Talib al Waleed has proven once again that money talks. The "Muslim riots in France" were changed to simply "Riots" within 30 minutes. Murdoch obeyed him.
Al Talib of course, being an Arab, couldn't keep his big mouth shut and so it went all over the tickers and his 'agent of influence' tactics were exposed.
Muslim women, in their "portable seclusion", are of course caricatures of the most bizarre kind, (so are the men) this whole thing is so obscene and preposterous that it should be ridiculed wherever Arabs pop up.
We cannot possibly stereotype them since they are virtual clones of each other and they all spout the same nonsense. Apart from that is is well worth mentioning that the Arab press prints the most vile and obscene caricatures, stuff that would make Adolph Hitler envious.
Posted by: sheik yer'mami at December 21, 2005 2:10 PM
Islam is a blot on humanity. Its the worse ideology to be forced on the unsuspecting & weak willed. Only a person with "simple mind' would try to protect all that is horrible in Islam, under the guise of 'religion'.
Just yesterday on a TV program about heaven, all the diverse religionists were questioned on what heaven was; all religions (other than Islamic scholars) described heaven as a place of peace, tranquility & contentment.
Where as the Muslims described it as a place akin to a high priced brothel, where there will be virgins for sex, boys like pearls to serve every whim and fancy, one would lie on silk couches, rivers of wine, honey and water flow freely and one who dies a shahid (suicide bomber), will go straight to paradise and have all the earthly comforts.
A would be Muslim suicide bomber when questioned (who is incarcerated) stated that, everyone other than Muslims will go to hell, only Muslims will go to Paradise and enjoy all the worldly pleasures. If that is not a simple mind; what is? So its very easy for a religion like Islam to get illiterate, the uneducated and the simple minded believer to do any act, what normal people will consider an Evil act, like murdering innocent civilians women and children as they are told that, Allah will grant them entry to Paradise to enjoy all the worldly pleasures for eternity, that they lack on earth right now.
at December 21, 2005 2:16 PM
Susanp
They don't think we're stupid. They are simply using tactics and techniques that have worked beautifully. They've won allies among those who have an interest in propagating Muslim lies (media, activists, fellow travelers, etc.)Then there are those who will start believing a lie if you repeat it long enough. I don't know if this is "being stupid." Some people are more prone than others to becoming the victims of deceit, manipulation, obfuscation, to being hipnotized into believing things that go against reason.
I hate to think that, in my youth and under the right circumstances, I might have become a Muslim groupie. I did fantasize about being a guerilla fighter in the rainforest...Thank God the worst that came out of that episode was having Che Guevara's portrait on the wall and reading Garaudy' digests of Marx, Engels, and Lenin (which was useful in a number of ways).
at December 21, 2005 2:17 PM
These *ssholes are like hothouse flowers. They can't bear any form of critisism to their precious religion. They attack the Dutch cartoons even though they are pretty urbane in their satire, and the LA Times a well-known big-city; liberal "I feel you pain" newspaper.
What's hilarious is that the quotes of Dr. Falah are absolutely correct when he's struggling to disprove them (even though he offers no rational counter arguments).
Posted by: JadeDragoness at December 21, 2005 2:18 PM
"How stupid do these arrogant bastards think we are?"
-- posted by sheik yer'mami
Frankly, the Moslems are unsure. Every time they think they have plumbed the depths of deference-stupidity, an amazing new capability demonstration is unveiled by an infidel source (George, the Swedish Government, Prince
Charles, the Australian MSM, Oprah, and similar ilk).
My sources tell me that the Moslems have flown their best and brightest into Al-Azhar University in Cairo to calculate how low infidel Liberal self-loathers and defeatists can actually sink.
Trouble is, with no Jews on the team, they lack the expertise in stochastical mathematics to solve the equation.
Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at December 21, 2005 3:57 PM
O Cmon!
Posted by: jsla at December 21, 2005 4:23 PM
Meanwhile, US Army Chaplains can't say Jesus;
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051221-121224-6972r.htm
at December 21, 2005 4:25 PM
We have a saying here in the good ol' USA, "If the shoe fits wear it".
Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.
Posted by: chuck at December 21, 2005 4:27 PM
Just in from reuters...
MUSLIM Terrorists in the darfur region
Go on another killing rampage...
The Useless UN unable to stop them
Makes sense since Sudan was placed in charge of human rights in the sudan and such cant even agree what the Word Genocide even means..
from the story
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c6c5fedd897da787fb67ccdd1fca055f.htm
If at first you dont succeed
At Killing ALL
NON MUSLIMS
JEWS
CHRISTIANS
INFIDELS
BLACKS
WOMEN
CHILDREN
The Demonic Islamic Koran says
TRY TRY to KILL AGAIN
Militias riding on camels and horses attacked Abu Sarouj village in the West Darfur state of Sudan on Monday, killing 20 people and wounding 16 others, according to a United Nations official in the area.
"The attackers also burnt 50 shelters,
temporarily displacing several thousand people,"
Andy Pendleton, the West Darfur coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told IRIN on Wednesday.
Fifteen men, three women and
two children were killed.
Two of the victims were burnt alive when their homes were torched.
The Religion of Pieces Islam
Strikes Again...
I wonder how they would like it if we
Bombed their mosques and burned them up with every one still inside...
The muslims do this day in and day out
the un says its ok...
the Liberals say its your fault for criticizing them
When we try to STOP this vile FILTH being perpetrated upon the defenseless victims of Islamic Terrorism
We are CALLED racists...
ISLAM is Racist
Islam is Murderous
Islam is Rapist
Islam is Demonic.
I dont CARE NOW what you call us
America are You awake YET!!!
Posted by: jingoist at December 21, 2005 5:40 PM
Bin Laden does not defame Islam, he practices the true Islam..which puts everything to death(drinkers, homosexuals, women, children)
The left is beyond stuipid when it comes to this. They of all people should be the most concerned about this threat.
Insulting and crude?!?! Of course stoning adulterers, whipping drunks, chopping off limbs, and hanging and killing everything are not offensive punishments but wholesome and divinely ordained!
"Miss waiting to be stoned! HA. The TV show In Living Color did a Muslim fashion show with all the women covered in Saudi garb with bathing suits over top. Hilarious..
at December 21, 2005 6:22 PM
"Newspapers enjoy extraordinary freedom to frame, and bend and distort the ways in which information is reported, interpreted and packaged," says Falah, leading to much misrepresentation of the Arabs and Muslims.
l would say "freedom of the press" is a western value, you dont like it, go back home!
Posted by: Lulu at December 21, 2005 7:09 PM
Come on Dragoness by complaining about liberals, you are pulling a Muslim, their favorite ploy is to deflect criticism and attention..in our case your "conservative" leaders (thanks to Islamgeld in part) are as much to blame as if not more.. look at Oreilly, he works for the Saudis,(Fox now under the thumb of Prince al Waleed) you don't see him mouthing off about Islamist and Islamofascists, nor do you see the Prez put his money where his mouth is, considering that he bends over backwards for his friends and business partners al Saudi's.
Your national leadership has sold you out for gold and power
Posted by: Nariz at December 21, 2005 7:15 PM
A non-Muslim defaming Islam? Is that a joke? What could possibly defame Islam more than the activities of its members, beginning with Mo himself?
Posted by: mulder at December 21, 2005 7:22 PM
Nariz, even though I usually argue against the liberal position every time there's a left/right squabble on this site I don't consider myself conservative. I live near LA and read the LA Times and it's probably one of the most politicaly correct newspapers out there. O'Reilly and all the other 'conservative' media personalities can be dhimmish as any liberal. I only point out the 'liberal' LA Times because that's what Falah was bitching about (as well as the Dutch cartoons)
Posted by: JadeDragoness at December 22, 2005 1:43 PM
Nariz, even though I usually argue against the liberal position every time there's a left/right squabble on this site I don't consider myself conservative. I live near LA and read the LA Times and it's probably one of the most politicaly correct newspapers out there. O'Reilly and all the other 'conservative' media personalities can be dhimmish as any liberal. I only point out the 'liberal' LA Times because that's what Falah was bitching about (as well as the Dutch cartoons) Posted by: JadeDragoness
My problem is that the words liberal and conservative have been distorted in the public debate, and have taken on Orwellian meanings, just as have left and right.
They simply boil down to "my team good guys" not my team bad guys.
From the Oxford English Dictionary
liberal adj. & n.
— adj.
1given freely; ample, abundant.
2(often foll. by of) giving freely, generous, not sparing.
3open-minded, not prejudiced.
4not strict or rigorous; (of interpretation) not literal.
5for general broadening of the mind, not professional or technical (liberal studies).
6a favouring individual liberty, free trade, and moderate political and social reform. b (Liberal) of or characteristic of Liberals or a Liberal Party.
From the same:
conservative adj. & n.
— adj.
1a averse to rapid change. b (of views, taste, etc.) moderate, avoiding extremes (conservative in his dress).
By those lights I am both liberal and conservative, without contradiction.
And see my other posts about Politically correct, it is a tool of political dialoque which has been employed and initially employed by Jews and people of color, whom now have to suffer the unintended adverse consequences of a tool invented to protect them from discrimination and abuse.
In my youth, people freely flung around the names Kike, nigger, spic, mick, wop and exercised their constitutional rights of discrimination and exclusion. The not so good ole days before pc and multiculturalism were inculcated by those same Leftist academics and media that you all so much love to berate.
Unintended adverse consequences..
For Hugh
To be fully accurate, the press should be charged quite differently -- it consistently under-reports on the "violence, disorder and unreason" within Muslim countries and communities, a direct result of the influence of the tenets, attitudes, and atmospherics of Islam. Posted by: Hugh
It dawned on me last week, that with so many Muslim enclaves in the U.S. Houston, LA, Seattle, Detroit, Dearborn, Lackawanna, Paterson, Jersey City and more.. that most certainly there are crimes going unreported which are Islamic in origin, such as honor killings.. Last week, or was it this week, there was a kitchen fire in or around Seattle, where a woman burned to death supposedly because her sleeve caught on fire over a stove. The press did not report her name, nor show pictures of the family.. I thus suspect that they were Muslim, perhaps Pakistani.
Honor Killings in Pakistan, Bangladesh and (Muslim) India are passed off as kitchen fires. In fact more women in those countries die as a result of "kitchen fires" than perhaps any other cause, non natural cause.
And then there is the case of the Paterson, NJ Copts.
The percentage possibility of religion-ethnic related crimes has to equal the number of Muslims in this country, though there are occasionally reports of such crimes in Europe, there are virtually no reports of such crimes in America..
a fact which is startling by it's absence.
at December 22, 2005 5:17 PM
Wait a minute, you just threw the words “my conservative leaders” at me and now you that I have stated that I am not a conservative and dislike some conservative personalities as much as you do; you suddenly think that the words liberal and conservative as well as left and right are too Orwellian? Granted the words can be open to different interpretations but after I revealed myself to be non-conservative you’ve changed your position.
Not only that you seemed to have missed the point. I found it hilarious and ridiculous that these Muslims can’t bear to have their religion criticized, and found fault with the Los Angeles Times a (liberal), PC newspaper that tries hard not to offend anyone.
As for your third point my only defense is that your probably a lot older than me (sorry if that sounds offensive it was not meant to be) and I was born into the PC world so I can’t recall any period in which racial slurs like the ones you’ve described are casually flung about. I’m not saying such disrespect is desirable but it brings us back to my first point of contention, and the contention of many other posters: That, while probably well-meaning at first, the ideas of political correctness and multiculturalism is a largely leftist invention that is causing anti-jihadists large amounts of problems. As a result Muslims can attempt and occasionally succeed in trying to infringe upon our inalienable right of free speech.
So, no, I don’t advocate a return to the days of casual racism you recall but I favor an end to our PC culture, as it is a liability in the War against the jihad.
Posted by: JadeDragoness at December 22, 2005 8:09 PM
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