My Thoughts on Islam, Media, and the West

After watching Control Room I made some observations that I believe cater to a Western audience:
1. The constant comparison of Al Jazeera to Fox News- Both news sources portray themselves as fair and balanced. It is important to compare Al Jazeera to a news station in the United States in order for the Western audience to gain a better understanding of this news station.
2. The way Al Jazeera speaks English in their news rooms saying "thank you" to each other as opposed to speaking in Arabic. This aspect I found particularly interesting- It shows how the Arab media is Westernized in their ideas.
3. The idea of two worlds colliding at a rapid rate (from the opinion of the American soldier) This aspect shows the Clash of Civilization theory which the US government endorses.
4. The fall of the statue of Sadaam. According to Al Jazeera, it was just a media show for American citizens to get behind the war. They wanted to know where the Iraqi police and military were during such an act. Also, they claimed that it was just a ploy especially because the people pulling down the statue were not Iraqi at all. It was just a propaganda stunt to further the favor of America.

Technically, it is all propaganda. Both Americans and Iraqis are guilty of using propaganda in their news media for their own personal benefits. So, why does the term propaganda have such an extremely negative connotation? At least in my mind, it reminds me of the Nazis. Since Nazi propaganda, people have been very careful to steer clear of this term, yet they are guilty of utilizing it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5190462.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2015164

Salaam Pax may be the blogger king in Iraq, but according to this article, the Blogfather, Hossein Derakhshan was the master of Iran. He even developed a program so he could blog in Farsi: work that allowed Persian letters to show up on the Internet. This weekend he was arrested due to his opinions about Israel, the government referring to him as an Israeli spy. As an advocate of free speech I believe his arrest is completely ridiculous. Just because of he believes Iran should recognize Israel, he was arrested as a spy. Nobody even considered his other beliefs and his patriotism toward Iran, claiming that he would fight on Iran's side if it were ever attacked by America. He also avidly promotes Iran to have its own nuclear weapons. However, when you live in Iran, I guess you are expected to hate Israel, or at least talk as though you hate Israel in order to avoid suspicion. Granted, I think that he should have stayed in Canada, where he was safe and away from all the ridiculous antics of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. With a man like Ahmadinejad as president, how is a country like Iran supposed expand knowledge? Forums like blogs are necessary to exchange opinions and inspire growth within the country. With the president calling for the arrest of Iranians with different opinions, how is Iran supposed to grow as a culture? It seems backward to me. Not that I believe in the clash of civilizations, I just believe that the president of Iran is an idiot (and I mean that). He denies the fact that there are gays in Iran. He denies the fact that the Holocaust happened. He apparently lives in a fantasy world. The oppression emanating from Iran makes me sick. Even from reading Persepolis, I became nauseas about the Iranian government. I have nothing against the people of Iran. In fact I think that bloggers like Hossein Derakhshan are necessary for the eventual transformation of the Iranian government. I will admit that I have no idea what the president of Iran does for his own people, however I do see the way he preaches. He is scary to me, almost reminiscent of Hitler himself. Bold statement, I know. But people like him should never have a chance to attain nuclear weapons. Because he may actually destroy the world. And people can disagree with these statements, I just thought I would throw out my opinion since this is a BLOG and on BLOGS you are allowed to express your opinions in a safe environment. Except for the blogfather of Iran.

Last week London celebrated its fifteenth year of Islam Awareness Week (November 17th to November 23rd). The aim of the week is to shrink stereotyping and clear up misconceptions about Islam, which is the second most popular religion in England. The week is packed events including debates, concerts and famous public speakers. I have mixed feelings about Islam Awareness Week. As I was trained in public relations, I see these special weeks as attempts for companies to align themselves with a cause. I also don’t really see Islam as qualifying as a “cause”. In America, we have a different cause every week: AIDs awareness week, breast cancer awareness week, mouth cancer awareness week, hunger and homelessness week, etc… Literally every week has a different focus and a chance for publicists to promote products. For example, during mouth cancer week, a gum company may hold a fundraiser to help research aid, simultaneously promoting their wonderful gum. Or during hunger and homelessness week, a grocery store like Whole Foods will promote themselves through acts of community service and donation of their food products. That is what I would do if I were a publicist for either a gum company or grocery store. In the United States, we literally have fifty-two weeks of causes. It is a bit much. While I do think it is important to promote awareness of these various diseases and sad situations, I cant help but think of it from a business perspective, which in turn ruins the aspect of awareness for me.

As for London and their Islam Awareness Week, I think it is a little different. Islam is not a cause, it’s a religion. Therefore businesses may have a little bit more difficulty aligning themselves as Islam promoters. Apparently the week was started by an Islamic society living in England. It is focused towards schools and universities to promote awareness of the religion in youth. This tactic always works: get kids while they are young and impressionable. Even Hitler used this tactic in Hitler Youth, brainwashing the German youth about his antics. I am in no way comparing Hitler to Islamic Awareness Week, I am merely pointing out how easily the youth are influenced in both good and bad ways. Teaching tolerance to kids makes it more probable these ideals will stick throughout adulthood. However, it also singles out Islam. I am not entire sure it is better to point out the differences between individuals at a young age. I know when I was little, I never even noticed the differences between me and my friends. Once you point out to little children that there are some people that are not the same, this may cause even more problems. However, for university-aged young adults, I think this week could spread understanding. Young adults are at an age where education can influence them even more than parents may be able to. Therefore, I hope that in London, most of the efforts to promote Islam Awareness Week are geared towards people my age.

My question is: if there is an Islam Awareness Week, do other religions of England also have their own weeks? Or is it all encompassed under the title of “Diversity Week”? And if so, why don’t they spread awareness of all religions?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27925893/

To ride the subway or not to ride the subway… that is the question. Today word leaked from the Associated Press (a wire service) that al-Qaida terrorists are targeting New York City subways and railways over the upcoming holidays. According to the story, the FBI “received a ‘plausible but unsubstantiated’ report” about an upcoming attack. The first thing that comes to my mind is fear. I certainly don’t want to die in the New York City metro system. So, should I avoid the subways? The second thing that comes to my mind is: is this all bullshit? Should I go on with my day-to-day life and not allow a fear of a ‘plausible but unsubstantiated’ threat? Is this just a ploy by the government to instill terror into the lives of Americans? Part of me feels like if I am going to die, then I am going to die and that’s it. I cannot live my life in fear of an ominous death lurking at any corner. The fact is, everyone will die eventually, maybe today, maybe in 50 years.

What bothers me about this article is the fact that these attacks were discussed all the way back in September. Meaning, someone knew of a potential plot and waited until now to scare us. And who knows if this is even a real threat? It pisses me off that the government would hide something like this until now.

Fear is a very powerful thing. People act differently when they are scared, especially with the threat of death hovering in front of their eyes. I won’t be surprised if New Yorkers look suspiciously at anyone in Arab garb over the next couple weeks. These threats make Americans revert back to 9/11 sentiments. How are we supposed to promote peace and understanding amongst Arabs and Americans when Americans only see terror? They don’t even see the horrors we are causing over in the Middle East because American media only broadcasts what it wants. Even the color system we assign to the different levels of terror alerts. It is meant to play with American emotions and let me tell you, it works. The government understands the powers of fear and terror and they utilize it to gain support for their actions in the Middle East. And it works.

After a big turkey dinner, my family and I sat down to watch Slumdog Millionaire together. It was great and completely relevant for this class. First of all, the film is about a poor Muslim boy in India who competes in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. As we learned in class, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is a national media phenomenon (although in India they play to twenty million rubies). It was very interesting to see how similar the show in India is to the United States. Granted, it was directed by Danny Boyle who happens to be British. But, I found this clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIN1Fa5Kpk and it is of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire India. It seems the same to me, questions in English with a little bit of Hindi in between. The movie exemplifies how extremely popular Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is around the world. In the film, everyone was watching the boy, Jamal. Before he even won the game, the poor people in the street surrounded him praying for his win. He represented hope in the eyes of everyone who will never see that amount of money. It seemed as though every television in India was tuned in to this particular event. The film proves that the presence of popular culture transcends into even the poorest areas of the world.

Of course, Jamal was arrested for cheating before he was able to answer the million-dollar question. The film takes us from beginning to end on the different events throughout his life that allowed him to answer each question. One of the questions was about the Hindi god Rama. While Jamal is Muslim he was able to give the answer due to an unfortunate situation that happened when he was a young boy. In the scene, Jamal recalls the death of his mother. I thought that this segment was particularly relevant, especially in light of the events that occurred today in the exact town. He grew up in Mumbai as a Muslim. The scene was set on a Muslim camp, where Hindi people invaded, killing everyone that got in their way. Jamal’s mother died during the attack, which seemed relatively common in that area. The Hindu people set fire to homes and Muslim’s clothing while they were still wearing it. The attack was horrible to watch. However, while Jamal was running from the attack, he found the answer to his Millionaire question: Rama was holding a bow and arrow. The route of the problem between the Hindu Indians and the Muslims (both in India and Pakistan) is due to the way the British government set up partitions when they ended their colonial reign: namely the fight over Kashmir. The problem continues to be a conflict even today, as there was a terrorist attack in Mumbai. Although it is uncertain as to who was truly behind the attack, many news stations reported that the terrorist group was rumored to be Pakistani based. I guess we will find out more as the story further develops. I found it interesting how the United States television stations were mainly concerned about whether any US citizens were taken hostage. The anchors briefly mentioned the other hostages but focused on Americans and discussed how the attacks could be against the West, although I don't really believe the West has anything to do with it. But then again, we will see!

I really enjoyed this film and I think everyone should go see it. Although I am always a sucker for feel good films, I found that it was very relevant for this class and for the current events happening in Mumbai. My prediction is that this film will not only nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but that it will win. I haven’t seen anything that even compares this season so far.