Not to belabor the point from my previous post, but I wanted to share one more thought on our very telling relationship with groups like the Taliban or Al-Shabab. I'll start by quoting from a Jonathan Lyons piece over at Juan Cole's site:
"Central to this narrative (referring to Huntington's clash of civilization theory) is a series of familiar ideas across the political arena, on the Internet, on talk radio, in the mainstream media, and, all too frequently, in academia. Such notions include: Islam is a religion of violence; ... Muslims are “medieval” and fearful of modernity; Muslims are sexually perverse – either lascivious polygamists, repressive misogynists, or both; and, finally, they are caught up in a jealous rage at the West’s failure to value them or their beliefs.
Today, such assertions still echo: We love liberty, They hate freedom; We are rational, They are not; We are modern, They are medieval; We are good, They are evil."
The West (and Western Muslims who have fallen for their empty rhetoric) needs to constantly prop up and tear down the actions of groups that feed the above stereotypes. It's no coincidence that the exact qualities that Lyons lists above are the qualities that are constantly publicized in media reports demonizing these groups.
They are the Lex Luthor to our Superman. This narrative is so W Bush and we've got to move beyond it. Our analysis must be properly informed and respectfully objective.
For starters, if you want a fresh perspective on the Taliban as they exist in north Pakistan, this Asia Times Online series is a good place to start. The reporter tries to present a balanced view of the situation.
Sadly, too many will find it long and boring. Quick soundbites reporting the closing of girl schools or lashing of criminals are much sexier.
WAW
3 days ago
3 comments:
I am sorry to burst your intellectual bubble br Naeem, but the Al Shabaab are evil. They are so evil that they stoned to death a mentally-ill girl who has never been married in a propaganda ploy. the girl was going around town saying that Al Shabaab fighters have raped her. They picked her up and told her and that they would help her. The next thing she knew she was being led to a hole in the ground with men with a crowd grathered while the people in charge where claiming that a muslima confessed to adultury and that she wanted to be purified. THAT MY FRIEND IS EVIL. They would ask unsuspecting porters mostly poor women to carry a package for them. when the porter walks close to a soldier or a check-point they would detonated a remote-controlled bomb that kills the poor porter a lot of other Muslims and may be one Ethiopian or government soldier. THAT IS EVIL MY FRIEND. They follow Ethiopian soldiers as they buy cigarrets from poor women who are propably raising children whose fathers have died. the wait till the Ethiopians are gone, then they kill the woman who sold them the ciggarettes. THAT, MY FRIEND, IS EVIL. They have never won a single battle against Ethiopians. While, For centuries, Somali Sufi Muslims have been defeating the Ethiopians in Jihaad. Muslims will never be able to stand up to the West as long as these rats remain. they are Western in Tactics(I.E ends justify the means) and Aspirations(I.E to masters of the universe as in a Muslim tribe). And Muslim in clothing and slogans(Jihaad, Qur'an and Sunnah). They perpeterate both FITNAH and QATL. They give the west a Moral cover to kill, occupy, and humiliate Muslims.(mind you that the West needs moral cover for propaganda reasons and not for morality's sake) Assalamu Alaykum.
AA- Abubakr,
Thank you for your comments...and nothing you stated is unknown to me. I've read about these stories and others similar for quite some time. Can you reliably source these stories? Or are we simply parroting propaganda fed to us by those intent on destroying these Islamist groups?
Let us acknowledge that groups like Shabab polarize people - there are strong factions against them and there are people in support of them.
And this goes for those people who are actually living and experiencing the actions of these groups - so what of those of us who are only able to relate to them through media reports and spurious stories?
I find these stories very incredible and hard to believe. I read similar stories (about porters unknowingly driving explosive-packed cars in Iraq that were later detonated by US/UK forces, who would turn around and label them as jihadi suicide bombers!).
In times of war, its hard to filter truth from propaganda. The truth is indeed the first casualty.
I find these stories very incredible and hard to believe. I read similar stories (about porters unknowingly driving explosive-packed cars in Iraq that were later detonated by US/UK forces, who would turn around and label them as jihadi suicide bombers!).
Although the theme of this post is on the American economy, I thought you might find the last two paragraphs to be of interest:
As many of you know I’m a semi-retired business economist and began my professional career as a CIA economist back in the old cold war days. In those days the CIA and KGB engaged in a practice called disinformation, where the intelligence agencies would plant distorted and/or false article in the press as propaganda or to mislead others. But this is exactly what this and other Cato article are, pure disinformation. Maybe we would be a lot better off if all these Cato authors were employed by the CIA to spread disinformation about al-Qaeda and bin Laden rather than by wealthy conservatives to spread disinformation about the United States.
What really surprises me about this and other Cato studies is not that they publish such dishonest analysis. After all, that is what they are paid to do. What really surprises me is how such fellow travelers as the libertarians uncritically accept these findings without a second thought. They really appear to have no intellectual integrity. But remember what Lenin called fellow travelers, useful fools.
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