Quote:
Originally Posted by timj219
"Western media" is free. The broadcasters and printers of the horrible depictions we're talking about are state controlled.
There is no equivalence between poking fun at muhammed (or jesus or moses) in a cartoon and making a movie which depicts jews killing christian children to use their blood for passover motzah or plucking the eyes out of palestinian babies. Indeed, pretending there is equivalence is a derivative of the same kind of political manipulation that is the ultimate goal of these telelvision show. They are all a means to divert the attention of poor and oppressed arabs and persians from the abuses they suffer at the hands of their own dictatorial leaders and direct the peoples anger at the nearest target of convenience. It's an old trick but it can still work.
Apropos of nothing in particular here is a link to a cartoon that cracks me up sometimes. It goes after jesus and muhammed simultaeneoulsy. |
Apparently, it also plays on an independent Jordanian channel Al-Mamnou TV (
http://www.intelligence.org.il/fr/fr...shataat_f.pdf). So whether states are broadcasting it or private channels isn't relevant. Such series are extremely bad taste, but while we as westerners easily downplay the significance of the cartoons, we may very well ignore the true sensitivity they have in the muslim world.
I agree fully that many of these broadcasts are indeed a way of the regimes to create an external enemy, but on either side the deminization serves a sinister purpose.
Edit: in case you're not fluent in French:
Jordanian TV - “Al-Shatat,” an anti-Semitic Syrian-produced series