by “Ya_Baqiyatullah”
We live in a world where the media helps shape our lives; be it for social, economical, political or entertainment purposes the importance of media cannot be underestimated. It is something which builds our personalities due to the information it feeds us. We are in many ways attached to this source and make it our comfort zone. Today, where the World has reached a critical stage in every aspect due to the economical situation as well as the political situation, the Media has become a very important tool. A tool which has replaced religion as the opium of masses in many ways. Today there are millions of people who are addicted to it by being hooked through the slim line flashy television sets in their homes. Our personalities are defined through the programs that are aired, our views and perceptions are built upon the reports that are broadcasted and our lifestyle is based around the characters of a certain hit series. The Media has become this comfort zone for people who do not wish to delve to see the true reality and are happy with what is being fed to them through their television set.
In most recent example of Iranian elections, the Media became the force of this election for the Reformists, who used the internet as a tool for their campaigning. The Mousavi Group on Facebook boasts 89,000 users, many of them from Iran, who update the rest of the world with the latest news on the happenings in Iran as well as the speeches of Mr Mousavi himself. On the other hand, the social networking site Twitter is being used to get information regarding the aftermath of the elections. Then there are the Western Channels and their reporting stories on the elections and different groups that are competing in it. One thing that stood out from this recent episode is how easy it is for the Media to manipulate and present a totally different perception to that which is reality.
Let us cast our minds back to early this year when the Israel siege was happening around Gaza. Israel barred Foreign Media reporters from Gaza, instead they were reporting from the ‘Hill of Shame’, as Jon Snow called it. There was no widespread condemnation of the Israeli policy then by either US analyst or British reporters as there is now to Iran’s policy of restricting the Foreign reporters. In US, the Congress voted 405-1 condemning the approach Iran had taken. I wonder if the Israelis received such a strong protest too as they barred the reporters from the Gaza strip and slayed hundreds of civilians?
In the UK, the Iranian Ambassador was summoned to explain the remarks of the Wilayatul Faqee, Ayatollah Ali Khamenai regarding the BBC coverage. The remarks were nothing short of what the BBC deserved for their half baked reporting and their manipulations, the BBC were guilty of much more than what they got told. One such example is that during the Friday Sermon of Ayatollah Ali Khamenai the BBC Radio Service indicated a number of times that the slogans being shouted during the sermon are anti-Khamenai. In reality the slogans were actually supporting the Wilayatul Faqee and the system of Iran. One can accept that a mishap happens once but for it to happen a number of times in the same coverage is far from a mishap. Another example of BBC misinformation is the report by Jon Leyne who offered his interpretation of the blast at the Shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini to be the work of the Iranian government, in order to help their cause. What followed was a swift action by Iran in asking the reporter to leave the country and rightly so. These are only certain example of how BBC were guilty as charged however the masses rejected it calling it a weak attempt by the Iranians to cover up their shortcomings.
Mr Brown went a step further in his statement stating that “The whole of the world is speaking out.” One has to ask how does Mr Brown come to this conclusion? Many countries of the world congratulated Ahmedinijad and accepted the result of the elections. Many of them have actually condemned the view of the Western powers regarding their rhetoric towards Iran and there was no comment from China or Russia. However the point to note here is that why was the world quiet as the Palestinians died in Gaza? Why did Mr Brown fail to say such a statement then? Is it easy to condemn an nation because their ideology is not conformed with his ideology?
January 2009 witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the Israeli forces in Gaza killing over 1400 civilians and damaging the strip by attacking the infrastructure, yet there was no public outcry as bodies laid of innocents. There was no condemnation of this aggression nor on the restrictions of reporting by the US President Mr Obama nor there was there criticism by UK Prime Minister Mr Brown. June 2009 saw the Iranian people go to the polls and re-elect Ahmedinijad. The propoganda machines came into work in distorting the will of the people who chose Ahmedinijad by indoctrinating people with constant reports of ‘stolen elections’, ‘rigging’ and ‘fraud’. The manipulations and the spin by the Western Media continued to weave a particular image into the minds of the people around the World regarding Iran. They portrayed an image that displayed Iran to be an oppressive dictatorial regime which had rejected the ‘rightful’ choice of the people by endorsing Ahmedinijad. The platform of misinformation provided the Politicians of the Western countries to take advantage and add their rhetoric too. The minds of people accepted it all as they were blinded to reality, their perception was based on what the Media reported and showed.
In leaving no stone uncovered, the Western Media jumped at the tragic death of Neda Soltan. A lady who had allegiance to neither camps and was tragically killed on the streets of Tehran, but what followed afterwards was a trail of exploitation of her death. The Western Media symbolized her as the Martyr of the Reformist Revolution. Her death was aired again and again to incite the emotions of people all over, to display how brutal the Iranian Government is in dealing with its own people, to portray how the Iranian Government oppresses women. The reality was left aside as emotions bought the propaganda coming from the box set. The Media acted as the judge, jury and the executioner in her case without stopping to consider or in certain aspects reporting the unaswered questions surrounding her death. One has to ask where was this added coverage when 500 children died in the assault on Gaza? Where was such emotion when the bombs dropped on civilians in the Gaza strip? What happened to humanity when BBC refused to air the Gaza appeal commercial? Where did this garb of judge, jury and executioner disappear to in the light of these crimes? The answer will come with a dose of self righteousness. What you see in this article are two situations with an air of similarity in some aspects around it but what you also see are two vastly different reactions and perceptions from both the Media and the Western Governments, the question remains; why has the aspect of justice and equality been lost? Why the differentiation in responses when both; friend and foe are guilty of the same act of censure?
We live in a world which is connected to the Media, we seek and are content with the surface of everything that is given to us. We refuse to devlve further because we fear. We fear that we may not be comfortable anymore if we find the truth and it does not conform to our beliefs. We fear that we may not fit into the society anymore if we know the truth. Let me finish with a quote from the first Shi’ite Leader Ali ibn Abi Talib [a] who has said ‘Plunge into the depths until you reach the truth’.
Some times plunging into the depths until you reach the truth can appear as a lonely path, yet reaching for the truth is the most rewarding, because what you find on the path of truth seeking will remain with you till the end of your life and will even be a benefit for you in the after life…
All fair points VS.
But very negative in how you see the masses. Once again you see the masses as fools that are easily duped.
The example of the Israeli attack on Gaza, despite the media blackout and its support for Israel, did lead huge demonstrations against what Israel was doing in the UK (the largest pro-Palestine demos ever), USA and elsewhere in Europe.
I ask you. Do you believe that the masses can ‘Plunge into the depths until you reach the truth’ or is that beyond them?
Still seeking out the truth…
Obama faces a Persian rebuff
By M K Bhadrakumar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KG01Ak03.html
anticapitalista,
Exactly which masses in Iran do you believe are more easily duped? The masses of the more secular and materialistic Iranians that supported Mousavil. or the masses who are more religiously oriented and less materialistic that supported Ahmadinejad?
In regards to the masses out demonstrating during the war on Gaza by Israel, can you tell me who made up the masses of demonstrators in Iran who were demonstrating for the Palestinians in Gaza?
My guess is that those who were demonstrating in Iran over the Israeli attack on Gaza were primarily from the masses of Ahmadinijad supporters…
Saker,
I would like to know what are your thoughts on the following piece written by a pro-Zionist Neocon who used to go by the pseudonym Spengler in the Asian Times online, and recently revealed himself as David P. Goldman:
Obama creates a deadly power vacuum
By Spengler
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF30Ak02.html
Hezbollah keeps its eye on the ball
By Sami Moubayed
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF27Ak01.html
Maybe the U.S. should try and learn somethings from China…
COMMENT
China doesn’t want Iran unstable
By Jian Junbo
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KG01Ad01.html
@Anticapitalista: PART 1:
@Anticapitalista: first, I am not the author of this piece. It was written for my blog by one of my readers turned authors. Second, I don’t see the point of going into this academic discussion about the forces of history, the personality vs masses, etc. etc. etc. This is an excellent topic for discussion at the Faculte Politique de la Sorbonne, but something which I believe has no relevance to the situation in Iran. I would point out to you that it was not one of my “maitres a penser” (any of the Church Fathers) which came up with the idea of “useful idiots” but Lenin (although that is in dispute) and it was also Lenin who by declaring that the Party was the vanguard of the proletariat clearly implied that the latter needed a vanguard.
For whatever it’s worth, I tend to believe that modern propaganda techniques do con a huge majority of people – including, I am sad to say, in this case, you – with rather basic manipulation techniques. People like Milgram, Asch, Herman, Chomsky,Gustave LeBon and many others who have researched this ad nauseam.
I also believe that masses as such, are unable of any kind of sophisticated thought – hence the use of slogans – but that every single indivudual in a mass can very much “plunge into the depths until he/she reaches the truth”.
Now that I have given you a short, but honest, answer I hope we can get out of this rather sterile debate which reminds me of stuff like “how many angels can fit on the top of a pin” or something equally irrelevant.
What is relevant to me is that you, anticapitalista, undoubteldy got conned this time. This was immediately clear to me when you posted
“Are not not disgusted by the cold-blooded murder of the young woman? It seems to me that, in your haste to side with the regime in Iran, you have lost sight of this fact
You made a number of assumptions here which reveal it all:
1) “Cold-blooded”: how did you know that? Nevermind that nobody knows who killed Neda and that the story of her death has undergone many (equally official) re-writings. Let’s assume that it was, indeed, a Basij. How do you know that this was not a lost bullet? That he putative Basij did not miss his target? Correct – you did not know any such thing.
2) Let us now assume that it was a deliberate shot by a Basij. Do you know that he was under orders? If yes, whose orders? His squand leader? The Mayor of Tehran? Ahmadinejad? Khamenei? Correct – you did not know any of that either.
3) My “haste to side with the regime”. The proof of that “haste” was in the fact that I asked all the questions above and that I did not jump to conclusions. So I assume that jumping to conclusions without any basis for them would be the democratic, progressive and/or socialist thing to do?! Correct, that is nonsense.
Whoever killed Neda – the fact is that the huge imperial PR/Psyops machine used her death to make YOU react exactly in the way the Empire wanted most people to react: bypassing any kind of logical analysis. The same thing happened in the lightening speed in with which YOU, Anticapitalista, and the rest of the Left also uncritically accepted the version that the elections not only rigged, but that the magnitude of the fraud was at least ELEVEN MILLION VOTES!!!
@Anticapitalista PART 2:
One example where you (collective “you”) could have waited is the issue of the districts with more than 100% of elegible voters voting. Had you just waited to find out that Iranians can vote anywhere in the country and you might have put that claim into perspective. But you did not such thing.
You could also have asked yourself another rather simple question. If the majority of Iranian did vote for Musavi and if at least 11’000’000 votes were stolen – HOW could that have been achieved? Did any of you look at how the election is organized? How a local election office it set up? Who counts the vote and where? What kind of observers are present, etc.? Of course not! Then, when Mousavi finally gave his list of complaints to the council overseeing this election it turned out that there was nothing of substance in it (I posted several articles on that on my blog). You guys all looked the other way and said that, well, the real thing is not the election anymore, but the desire of “freedom from the Mullah”. How convenient, no? It’s like Dubya going into Iraq for fictional WMD only to then claim that the important thing is to “remove the dictator”. That is clearly intellectually dishonest.
Then the violence. About 20 Iranians killed including 8 Basij. The Basij all killed by gunfire. Does that sound like Tiananmen to you? As far as I remember the students there did not have guns? But no, let’s sweep that under the carpet too. Then the bombing at the Khomeini shrine – under the same carpet. If my math is correct, 20-8 equals only 12 and that for a country of the size of Iran: is that a bloodbath of crazed Mullahs? I say that if 100 people had died that would NOT have been a “bloodbath”.
I could go on for pages and pages and pages, but there is no point. You either have the courage to admit that you were conned and reacted without taking the time to think, or you don’t. In the latter case no further evidence will convince you of anything.
Let me conclude by reminding you of my first response to you:
First, I am not supporting any ‘regime’ in Iran. What I do support is the rule of law in this country, and since I have not seen as much as a tiny shread of evidence that the election was stolen (by a whopping 11 million votes, of all things!), I do not support extra-legal methods to contest the results.
Second, I am absolutely convinced that all this is the result of a community of interests between such pseudo-reformers as Rafsanjani and his puppet Mousavi and the Empire and this has nothing to do with any “reforms”. This is a power grab by the Iranian Guccis supported by the USraelians.
Third, I categorically reject the kind of logic which says that if I ask pernitent questions about a shooting I am therefore not disgusted by the “cold blooded” (how do you know that, by the way?) murder of a young woman. Frankly, I am offended by your words.
Fourth, I do believe that the government has the right and, in fact, the DUTY to uphold the results of the elections. There is no doubt in my mind that unless somebody establishes with some degree of plausability that Mousavi won, the will of the majority has to be respected and, yes, ENFORCED.
I still stand behind every single word I wrote. In fact, all the info that came in since that date only strengthens my initial analysis.
The Saker
I have a few issues I want to raise. Baqiya says “Mr Brown went a step further in his statement stating that “The whole of the world is speaking out.” One has to ask how does Mr Brown come to this conclusion? Many countries of the world congratulated Ahmedinijad and accepted the result of the elections. “
So was Mr. Zardari :)
The common problem I see is the following. If Rafsancani and Mosavi want to tople the regime (Musavi was involved in the regime from the beginning, right?) doesn’t that tell you something is inherently wrong with the way things are run in Iran? I mean come on, Musavi was a nice guy for so many years and all of a sudden he became an SOB?
Another thing I want to bring up is when one talks about media and how masses are controlled yada yada. Why is it that nobody here says a damn thing about what happened in Darfur and more recently in Sri Lanka?
Can it be that you guys end up favoring the very foundations of nation state which I might add has been one of the biggest reasons for bloodshed in middle east and other places.
Nonetullah
I have a few issues I want to raise. Baqiya says “Mr Brown went a step further in his statement stating that “The whole of the world is speaking out.” One has to ask how does Mr Brown come to this conclusion? Many countries of the world congratulated Ahmedinijad and accepted the result of the elections. “
So was Mr. Zardari :)
Peace all,
Do you mean countries which require a puppet in Pakistan hence approved of his election as the President? :)
As for Mousavi, you need to read the Iranian history to realise his view. He was in the position of PM when he served under Khomeini. That position has little power compared to the position of President now. Furthermore, he did not show his true colours because his era was plagued by the Iran-Iraq war hence no one really knew his true creditionals. His view became evident now, and as someone stated before that he could not have been thrown out by the Guardian Council just because he is a reformist as Guardian Council do not filter on the basis of ideology rather creditionals/experience.
If you think Mousavi was a nice guy from the beginning then you need to wake up and smell the coffee. No one knew who Mousavi was while he was the PM and no one knew who he was when he started his campaign.
As for the media and the masses, I choose to compare and contrast two situations such as that of Gaza and Iran showing how the Media has given differing views when both sides applied the same policy. It is by no means regarding overall censure and selectiveness of the Media, if I was to write about that then sure I would have definitely included about Darfur and Sri Lanka.
If you think Iran is the biggest reason for bloodshed in Middle East then I am sorry you either are unaware or are acting ignorant. Israel has massacred Palestinians for more than 3 decades, Iraq occupation has left more than 1.3 million death and you are pointing your finger at Iran? Gee some thought pattern there.
Regards
Ya Baqiyatullah
酒店經紀人, 菲梵酒店經紀, 酒店經紀, 禮服酒店經紀, 酒店兼職經紀, 便服酒店經紀, 酒店打工經紀, 制服酒店經紀, 專業酒店經紀, 合法酒店經紀, 酒店暑假打工, 酒店寒假打工, 酒店經紀人, 菲梵酒店經紀, 酒店經紀, 禮服酒店經紀, 酒店兼職經紀, 便服酒店經紀, 酒店打工經紀, 制服酒店經紀, 專業酒店經紀, 合法酒店經紀, 酒店暑假打工, 酒店寒假打工, 酒店經紀人, 菲梵酒店經紀, 酒店經紀, 禮服酒店經紀, 酒店兼職經紀, 便服酒店經紀, 酒店打工經紀, 制服酒店經紀, 專業酒店經紀, 合法酒店經紀, 酒店暑假打工, 酒店寒假打工, 酒店經紀人, 菲梵酒店經紀, 酒店經紀, 禮服酒店經紀, 酒店兼職經紀, 便服酒店經紀, 酒店打工經紀,
29047126483369175 I play dofus Replica Watches for one year, I Replica Rolex Watches want to get some Replica Watch kamas to buy Replica Chanel Watches item for my character. So, I search “Replica Swiss Watches” on google and found many website. As Exact Replica Graham Watch the tips from the forum, I just review the Swiss Replica Watches websites and choose some Replica Montblanc Watches quality sites to Replica Cartier Watches compare the price, and go to their Replica Breguet Watches online support to make Replica Breitling Watches the test. And Last Chaos Gold I decide to use Replica BRM Watch at the end. And Tag Heuer Replica Watch that is the Replica IWC Watch beginning..