2002-06-06 -
7:35 p.m.
The Media, the Middle East and Me
Peacock Texas is little more than a footprint in the sand. It's a
dying town in a remote corner of the Big Country. Life here is
hard and labor intensive. So you might not expect someone living
here without ties to the oil business to have real concern about
events in the Middle East. But folks in the Middle East are my neighbors as much as the folks next door. If you've read any of my online statements, you already know I believe that if my neighbor's
rights are violated, so are mine. You also know that I am a
"scold" who addresses bad behavior wherever I find it.
For years, I have been watching as events in the Middle East
between Israel and Palestine unfolded. It's been confusing for
me because the media would provide a full report with video of an
event one week, then the next, somehow manage to forget what they
reported the week before. One day, I watched a bulldozer level the home of a suspected terrorist's family and a few days later, an Israeli spokesman saying "We don't do that." The comment went unchallenged. With such inconsistency in the media,
is it any wonder we find the problems in the Middle East so difficult to understand?
Now, with the feud between Israel and Palestine once again being
played out in the same format as it's always played out -- our
mainstream journalists are again sucking up the propaganda
they're
being served as if they never watched or read the news.
Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel based on his
refusal to accept the peace accords and determination to expand
the settlements further into Palestinian territory. Because our
government and media have provided tacit approval by not
addressing
that issue head on, of course he is free to pursue his plan -- although it is clearly illegal.
It was the treatment of the Palestinian people and the media bias
favoring Israel that had me looking for relevant content for the Peacock Chronicle last August.
The search was sidetracked by the events of September 11--
but due to the subsequent events it's even more important to
get the word out now than ever before.
We are being cheated of the truth. When journalists fail to
challenge a lie though they know the truth because they are
afraid (or so I've heard) of being labeled "Anti-Semite", "Liberal", "Un-American", etc.....which is the standard response when
speaking out against Israel's International politics, it creates
a dangerous situation for all of us. The effect of knuckling
under to fear is to cause untold harm to the world and our future.
We can't afford to let fear control us.
Beyond the plight of the Palestinian people, my main concern is
for our children. Our children see how we
handle the difficult things in life...like how we address
wrongdoing and they learn from it. So they saw how the media
embraced the new "President" who, with the help of the Supreme
Court, stole the election. Just like Mr. Bush, Sharon believes he
can do what he's doing with impunity because of the things he
hasn't been called to task for in the past. There is a strong
movement underway to bring charges against Mr. Sharon for past
war crimes.
Palestinian children grow up to be suicide bombers because they
don't believe there will be any other repurcussion for the crimes
that have been committed against them. They see what has been
done to their families, their homes, their nation -- then they
watch for our response to those actions. I am ashamed of our
leaders for letting them down.
The lesson in this, I believe, is that civil and criminal wrongdoing has to be addressed wherever and however it is done, but especially no
matter who is doing it. It is the only way our children will know
how to tell the difference between right and wrong and perhaps
even learn a better way to live.
As a member of the media, it is my responsibility to show
restraint when it comes to my own opinions and that is generally
not difficult to do. But when I see how slanted the reporting is
in the US mainstream media, I am appalled that our news anchors
and reporters are so unconcerned about their responsibility and
so unaware of the impact their reporting will have on future
generations.
But the good news is that mainstream media is not the only place
to go for the news.
With access to the Internet, you can actually spend the afternoon in
Palestine and see it for
yourself.
(http://electronicintifada.net/diaries/index.html)
Or
go to
Belgium to check out the progress of the efforts to indict Ariel
Sharon
(http://www.indictsharon.net) by the survivors of the 1982
Sabra
and Shatila Massacres.
Or you can discover what resolutions to the conflict others are
offering by reading the articles in the Peacock Chronicle
Magazine:
"Fellini in Palestine" at
http://www.peacockchronicle.com/features/kingirani.html,
by
Laurie King-Irani of Electronic Intifada
(http://electronicintifada.net)
and Indict Sharon
(http://www.indictsharon.net)
and "A World Out of Touch With
Itself: Where the Violence Comes From"
by Rabbi Michael Lerner of
Tikkun Magazine
(http://www.tikkun.org)
http://www.peacockchronicle.com/features/lerner.html
