Media Narratives Feed Terrorist Fantasies

WSJ Opinion Journal ^ | December 2, 2008 | BRET STEPHENS

[rightwingintelligentsia]

For purposes of self-justification, Azam Amir Kasab, the only terrorist taken alive in last week's Mumbai massacre, offered that the murder of Jews in the city's Chabad House was undertaken to avenge Israeli atrocities on Palestinians. Two other terrorists cited instances of anti-Muslim Hindu violence as the answer to the question, "Why are you doing this to us?" before mowing down 14 unarmed people at the Oberoi Hotel. And if dead terrorists could talk, we would surely hear Abu Ghraib mentioned as among their reasons for singling out U.S. and British hostages.

One suspects the terrorists spent far too much time listening to the BBC World Service.

Let's hasten to add that by no means should the BBC alone be singled out. When it comes to terrorists and their grievances, nearly all the Western media have provided them with a rich diet on which to feed.

In the spring of 2005, Newsweek ran with a thinly sourced item about the Quran being flushed down a Guantanamo toilet. Result: At least 15 people were killed in Afghan riots.

[Carley]

The terrorist dog was simply quoting the New York Times.

[livius]

This is true. Muslim terrorists feel justified by the bizarrely sympathetic treatment they receive in the press, and are also adept at using this gullible sympathetic press as a propaganda arm.

Furthermore, probably half of the US now thinks 9/11 was a “justified response” to some sort of American “mistreatment” of Muslims. Or at least, that’s what one might think based on the fact that half of Americans just elected a man named Hussein to the presidency.

[jocon307]

Thanks for posting this, it’s a very important piece.

[CPOSharky]

And if dead terrorists could talk, we would surely hear Abu Ghraib mentioned as among their reasons for singling out U.S. and British hostages.

They are driven by blind unthinking hate learned in their mosques. Any excuse will do.

[Jabba the Nutt]

I happened to have CNN on over the weekend (I know, I know). The anchor was speaking to a Jewish American, who escaped getting killed or wounded in Bombay. The man, explained how the terrorists were looking for Americans and Brits and how they targeted the Chabad house and slaughter Jews and Americans.

The anchor asked how it felt to be a member of a group targeted by the terrorists. The anchor wasn't referring to the targeting of Americans, but only Jews. I guess he didn't get the part about how Americans were targeted. It doesn't go with CNN's template of Americans are evil and guilty. The man actually gave a pretty good answer, he said Jews have been targets for centuries.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

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[Sir Francis Dashwood]

From the article: When it comes to terrorists and their grievances, nearly all the Western media have provided them with a rich diet on which to feed.

Some of my friends in India say their pseudo secular media in India is also like a terrorist mothers' milk!

The media in the West is scrambling to find some reason to blame the Hind-Jews!

This just doesn't work for the white liberals because the Hindus aren't the politically correct lapdogs the left has always considered them to be.

[Hari prasad]

Sir Francis,
Absolutely. Indian media is infested with pseudo seculars and commie sympathizers. The western media readily laps up whatever these people put out.

The Hindus have been at the receiving end for centuries and still are.

[Hari prasad]

Also 90% of the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Mumbai was involved in investigating an alleged Hindu bombing rather than going after the real terrorists. Hope this attack serves as a wake up call.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

"The majority of Congress leaders reverted to the total pacifism of Ghandi, who wrote in his newspaper on May 10: 'The presence of the British in India is an invitation to Japan to invade India. Their withdrawal would remove the bait.'"

- Winston S. Churchill. The Second World War, The Hinge of Fate, Riverside Press Cambridge, c. Hougton Mifflin Company, Boston. 1950.

[little jeremiah]

On another forum someone scours jihad forums, and posts machine translated excerpts. She also informs relevant alphabets when she finds useful data.

She has said that the jihadis regularly laugh at the 9-11 “truthers” and calls them the equivalent of useful idiots. They read the media and use it to their advantage.