Demokracja a aclu

[ghotir]

Ktos slusznie zwrocil uwage ze aclu broni nie-main stream pogladow za cene
obrony pogladow main stream. Odpowiedzialem ze jest to 'bias' aclu, ktore
zdaje sie uwazac ze main stream poglady obronia sie same (i, tutaj dodaje,
korzystaja z olbrzymiego poparcia panstwa usa) kiedy inne potrzebuja opieki.
Ponizej zamieszczam fragment jednego z moich ulubionych blogow z iraku. Kiedy
pokazywalem ten blog mojej zonie, ta odpowiadala ze wpisy riverbend sa
podejrzane bo reprezentuja reakcje na amerykanskie media (to tak jakby
irakijka mieszkajaca w stanach ustosunkowywala sie do tego co widzi na tv
tutaj). Prezentowany wpis riverbend pokazuje ze 'main stream' amerykanskie
media przenikaja do irackich (i ogolnie blisko-wschodnich) mediow nie dlatego
ze 'targeted' populacja tego sobie zyczy ale dlatego ze usa ma praktyczny
monopol na to co pokazuje sie na bliskim wschodzie. Mysle ze to w pewnym
stopniu usprawiedliwia bias aclu.

Sunday, April 03, 2005
American Media...
You wake up in the morning. Brush your teeth. Splash the sleep out of your
eyes and head for the kitchen for a cup of coffee or tea and whatever is
available for breakfast.
You wander to the living room and search for the remote control. It is in its
usual place- stuck inexplicably between the sofa cushions. You turn on the
television and stand there flipping from one channel to the other, looking for
a news brief or something that will sum up what happened during those six
hours you slept. You finally settle on the pleasant face on the screen- the
big hair, bright power suit, capped teeth and colorful talons- blandly reading
the news. The anchoress is Julie Chan. The program is CBS?s The Early Show
(Live from Fifth Avenue!).
Guess the nationality of the viewer above. Three guesses. American? No.
Canadian? No. British? Japanese? Australian? No, no and no. The viewer is
Iraqi? or Jordanian? or Lebanese? or Syrian? or Saudi? or Kuwaiti? or? but you
get the picture.
Two years ago, the major part of the war in Iraq was all about bombarding us
with smart bombs and high-tech missiles. Now there?s a different sort of war-
or perhaps it?s just another phase of the same war. Now we?re being assailed
with American media. It?s everywhere all at once.
It began with radio stations like Voice of America which we could access even
before the war. After the war, there were other radio stations- ones with
mechanical voices that told us to put down our weapons and remain inside our
homes, ones that fed us American news in an Iraqi dialect and ones that just
played music. With satellite access we are constantly listening to American
music and watching American sitcoms and movies. To be fair- it?s not just Iraq
that is being targeted- it?s the whole region and it?s all being done very
cleverly.
Al-Hurra, the purported channel of freedom, is the American gift to the Arab
world. What they do is show us translated documentaries about certain
historical events (American documentaries) or about movie stars (American
stars) or vacation spots. Throughout this, there are Arab anchors giving us
the news (which is like watching Fox in Arabic). It?s news about the Arab
world with the American twist.
Our new ?national? channels are a joke. One of the most amusing, in a gruesome
sort of way, is Al-Iraqiya. It?s said to be American sponsored but the
attitude is decidedly pro-Iran, anti-Sunni. There?s a program where they
parade ?terrorists? on screen for us to see in an attempt to show us that our
National Guard are not only good at raiding homes and harassing people in the
streets. The funny thing about the terrorists is that the majority of them
have ?Sunni? names like Omar and Othman, etc. They admit to doing things such
as having sexual intercourse in mosques and raping women and the whole show is
disgusting. Iraqis don?t believe it because it?s so obviously produced to
support the American definition of the Iraqi, Sunni, Islamic fanatic that it
is embarrassing. Couldn?t the PSYOPS people come up with anything more subtle?
Then you have the whole MBC collection. MBC is actually financed by Saudi
Arabia, but based in Dubai, as far as I know. They have several different
channels. It started out with the original MBC which was a mainly Arabic
channel that was harmless enough. It showed some talk shows, debates and
Egyptian movies with an occasional program on music or style.
Then we were introduced to MBC?s Al-Arabia- a news channel which was meant to
be the Saudi antidote to Al-Jazeera. Simultaneously, we were accessing MBC?s
Channel 2, which is a channel that shows only English movies and programs. The
programs varied from talk shows like Oprah, to sitcoms like Friends, Third
Rock from the Sun and Seinfeld. Earlier this year, the MBC did a mystifying
thing. They announced that Channel 2 was going to be made a 24-hour movie
channel which would show all sorts of movies- old Clint Eastwood cowboy
movies, and newer movies like ?A Beautiful Mind?, etc. The programs and
sitcoms would be transferred to the new MBC Channel 4.
Personally, I was pleased with the change at first. I?m not big on movies and
it was nice to know our favorite sitcoms and programs would all be accessible
on one channel without the annoyance of two-hour movies. I could turn on
Channel 4 at any time and expect to find something interesting or humorous
that would end within 30-60 minutes.
The first time I saw 60 Minutes on MBC 4, it didn?t occur to me that something
was wrong. I can?t remember what the discussion was, but I remember being
vaguely interested and somewhat mystified at why we were getting 60 Minutes. I
soon found out that it wasn?t just 60 Minutes at night: It was Good Morning,
America in the morning, 20/20 in the evening, 60 Minutes, 48-Hours, Inside
Edition, The Early Show ? it was a constant barrage of American media. The
chipper voice in Arabic tells us, ?So you can watch what *they* watch!? *They*
apparently being millions of Americans.
The schedule on MBC?s Channel 4 goes something like this:
9 am ? CBS Evening News
9:30 am ? CBS The Early Show
10:45 am ? The Days of Our Lives
11:20 am ? Wheel of Fortune
11:45 am ? Jeopardy
12:05 pm ? A re-run of whatever was on the night before ? 20/20, Inside
Edition, etc.
And the programming continues?
I?ve been enchanted with the shows these last few weeks. The thing that
strikes me most is the fact that the news is so? clean. It?s like hospital
food. It?s all organized and disinfected. Everything is partitioned and you
can feel how it has been doled out carefully with extreme attention to the
portions- 2 minutes on women?s rights in Afghanistan, 1 minute on training
troops in Iraq and 20 minutes on Terri Schiavo! All the reportages are upbeat
and somewhat cheerful, and the anchor person manages to look properly
concerned and completely uncaring all at once.
About a month ago, we were treated to an interview on 20/20 with Sabrina
Harman- the witch in some of the Abu Ghraib pictures. You know- the one
smiling over faceless, naked Iraqis piled up to make a human pyramid.
Elizabeth Vargus was doing the interview and the whole show was revolting.
They were trying to portray Sabrina as an innocent who was caught up in
military orders and fear of higher ranking officers. The show went on and on
about how American troops never really got seminars on Geneva Conventions
(like one needs to be taught humanity) and how poor Sabrina was being made a
scapegoat. They showed the restaurant where she worked before the war and how
everyone thought she was ?such a nice person? who couldn?t hurt a fly!
We sat there watching like we were a part of another world, in another galaxy.
I?ve always sensed from the various websites that American mainstream news is
far-removed from reality- I just didn?t know how far. Everything is so tame
and simplified. Everyone is so sincere.
Furthermore, I don?t under