Friday, October 21, 2005

The Media War

On the news is the 'desecration' of Taliban bodies in Afghanistan, by burning them and having them face west (instead of east). The risk of broadcasting this inflammatory footage, is obviously that it will fuel hatred, and provide material for the fundamentalist websites used by Al Qaiada, and encouraging terrorists to sign up and respond.

It was initially recorded by an embedded Australian reporter (working for SBS Australia). I wouldn't understand a network like NBC broadcasting this footage in Primetime (acknowledge and discuss what happened, but don't show pictures and then show footage of angry responses). I wouldn't understand it unless the idea is to incite largescale resentments, both at home and abroad.

The people in power, the top 1 percentile, profit from war. They want to incite their populations along racial, religious or national lines.
We would do well to remember this.

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