Brainwashing Media

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Permalink Reply by Giant Mohawk Man on November 30, 2008 at 8:10pm

The media has learned that sensationalizing stories gains viewership and therefore money. Its a tough problem to solve. Government controlled media is even worse in my mind.

I'm hoping that with the growth of the internet, small communities like this and individuals speaking out there mind like you are that it will help the problem. Continue speaking of your religion in a positive light and people will slowly listen, maybe not in the drones of the mass media, but its a start.

Every religion and group has its radicals. The radicals gain the press and attention. However, if those most affected, people like you being unfairly prejudiced, do not speak out, then you will lose your identity.

In the south, the hardcore southerners have pretty much lost the use of the confederate flag as the symbol of their southern heritage. This happened because they let racists and kkk types utilize their symbol in a negative racist fashion. They didn't speak out against using "their" flag like that, and thus have lost that symbol of what they want it to mean.

Hopefully with more outspokeness condemning these actions in the muslim community, the core of islam will not lose what it truly means to them, being hijacked by radicals. Thanks for bringing this up here, it is a tough problem.

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Permalink Reply by Herb ☭ on November 30, 2008 at 9:50pm

Like GMM said, every group has it's small minority of crazies.
And the media will only report on the crazies, because let's face it, they need either one of two things for a sensational story. Sex or Violence. In this case, obviously it's violence.
(I guess you could have both, but I've yet to see a story about a murderous group of naughty catholic school girls.)

People just don't care about the good things, so the media only reports the bad.
It's all about the ratings.
And this practice has certainly demonized many groups of good people.

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Permalink Reply by Erika Hysterica on November 30, 2008 at 11:15pm

The only bad thing is that the extremists have long extended arms and won't hesitate to use violence, as we've seen.

It's a shame because the extremists mostly belong to my brand of the religion, the Shi'a, or as westerners say Shi'ite. It's a bit more modern, which is why it's the less followed path by most Muslims, around 90% are Sunna, or Sunni.

But that's exactly the problem. I was in my PIG, participation in government, class, and we were talking about racial profiling. And we came.. of course.. to arabs. Now, mind you, the majority of the Arab world is Muslim, but a good chunk, about 25% are other religions, be it Judaism or Christianity. But my class immediate thought all Arabs are Muslim. It kinda made me mad, but it's a common misconception, and I understand that. Because it's just something that is believed and not really taught.

However, what really bothered me was when I was standing up for anti-racial profiling people were yelling at me and telling me I was dumb. Mind you I place in the top 10% of my class of about 600. And this class.. well.. about 4 of us have the brains to go anywhere in life, so I'm not really arguing with intelligent people, because they're blazed to hell half the time anyways. But.. This black kid who sits two seats behind me had a serious problem with me standing up for Arabs. He said that I didn't know what I was talking about and there is nothing wrong with racial profiling.

This completely caught me off guard because as a black guy I thought he'd be just as much against it as I am. Turns out, he thinks racial profiling is ok if it's anything but a black man. Which is completely dumb and takes away from the point of the whole argument. But he had the nerve to say I didn't know what I was talking about when I brought up my religion. He asked where I got all this information and when I told him I was a practicing Muslim he said I was lying. Lying. I attend mosque every Friday. I fast during Ramadan, I pray 5 (sometimes 3) times a day, I perform my cleansing rituals before I pray and after menstruation, I stay away from non-kosher foods, and I uphold all the basic religious beliefs. Though there are some that I break daily, such as touching my dog, because they're considered dirty, and kissing my boyfriend, but in the Shi'a branch it is ok to have pre-marital sex as long as it's not like.. one night stand useless shit. And I don't wear a hijab and abaya, the gown and headpiece. But when I pray I face Mecca, I cover my arms, legs, body, and hair. And I have read the Qu'ran countless times. I think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to my own religion.

Then, oh then.. This asshole had the nerve to get up while I was debating with him and walk right out of the class. Right out. I was so enfuriated I screamed down the hallway and called him an insensitive dickhole, and then went to my old teachers room and sat with his ex-assistant, he passed over the summer in a plane crash, and cried for the rest of the day.

I HATE the idiocy of this nation.

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Permalink Reply by Spyda on December 1, 2008 at 12:54am

Ok I cant say much about this since I know shit all about religion, but i think its rediculous that people would put down someone because of their religion. Thats what started the Holocaust, and the last thing we need is another one of those. If you dont like someones religion you should keep your mouth shut and deal with it, because its not your business.

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Permalink Reply by Socke on December 1, 2008 at 4:22am

so,the media in europe projected the same pic as the american media do.
but i dont know the problem with the terrorists, the reiligion is just an excuse and an instrument to subordinate people and make them follow. the terrorist fights against the occupying power, much terrorists are vigliante group. the media just know al quaida and so all people thinks that al quaida is a strong gruop, but they arent so strong, the did the 11.9, not much more (and whether they hat cooperate with american politiks or not, is also a think). the media makes panic, and the people shut up, so politics can abolish our human rights.
this shut not mean that terrorism is no danger. and there die a lot of innocent people.

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Permalink Reply by Sonic Architect on December 1, 2008 at 6:53am

almost any faith or religious holy text could be construed or distorted to suit ones own ignorance/cause/belief etc

The Qu'ran, the Bible, both are used by extremists and have been for centuries.

However, all of them usually maintain an open peacefulness to them.

Think of it like this...I read an extremely interesting thought no debate. It said that debates are a competitive thing where each person seeks to overpower and dominate the other. The weapon of this game is terminology. So the one who controls the terminology, controls the debate.

This concept is the same one that is used by religious extremists and also white supremacists. They give an illusion to others around them that they are well versed, well read, and knowledgeable because they are good speakers. They can form words together to distort things. This takes advantage of another aspect that has been employed for at least a century of instill passivity in people. People in the general public do not rally to causes, they are largely unaware of events happening. And the ones they do know about they usually only know from their TVs or text books because some person hurls well structured "facts" (which sometimes are blatantly trumped up or falsified) which convinces the viewer/listener that this is the only truth.

So here is my advice to you and you can do what you will with it. You say you are pissed about how the media distorts it, cant understand why they do it, then force yourself to take a non-partisan stance and figure it out because they do not just do it with your religion. They do it with anything that is in stark contrast to their system of material wealth.

And it is always hard for people to take criticism about themselves but think about your own life and how you fall in to their trap and buy up what they tell you. Not on religion perhaps but everything. From a lot of your posts on here I have seen you state the ineffectiveness or impossibility of socialism or anarchism but you lack any thorough or non-generic argument that is addressed very easily if you look in to it.

My point in saying that is this, you are not alone in thinking those things I just mentioned. If you were not we would not be having this discussion. But here is the state of things, people are indoctrinated into the American idea of what is right and wrong and there is no middle ground. This indoctrination since birth instills those thoughts for decades until we are made to believe (by our own accord in our own minds) any other possibility is absolute failure and accept that this is and has forever been the natural and most effective state.

I am not religious at all but trust me when I tell you I know what you feel. I live everyday having to watch what I say, learning how to be secure, knowing that I could end up in the same place as you if they wanted. They could scapegoat you and label you a terrorist, no matter how absolutely false that is and you end up disappearing. Considering your age that does not seem too likely but it has happened before. That is a reality I face as well and why? I know damn well I am not a terrorist but because I have stated support for the ALF (which is listed as top US domestic terror group) if they wanted to they could subpoena me.

But it does not change by complaining about it or saying. It changes when we do work on ourselves and outward work to create that change. Until then it will never come and peopel will pay blame games until we all see that nuclear blast erupt and take us all.

something to think about anyway.

best of luck.

pe(A)ce

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Permalink Reply by Antikia on December 1, 2008 at 9:51am

Europe is pretty affraid of all the 'terrorist muslims' too, sadly, and I am ashamed to say that there is a political party in Denmark where everyone are complete racistist. What makes this really sad is that a lot of people vote for them, because they're scared of all the 'damn muslims and paki's who're stealing our jobs and bombing our land' it's really like that :(

I've read a tiny bit of the Qu'ran myself and it does seem a lot more peaceful about the practitioning(?) of the religion than the bible does, but I think that it's the part about 'holy war' that the media AND the fundamentalists have misinterpreted, it's like they ignore the rest of it o_O Now I know very little about it, but I don't think it was EVER meant as a psysical war against people who peacefully believe in something else, where does that fit in?

Christians have done a lot of shit too to spread their religion, killed a whole lot of people, but now they're spread around the world and you don't hear of that many violent things from the christians anymore, so it's a lot easier to target your anger against the middle east since that covers a lot of things that many people, sadly, don't like. I don't think things would have ever escalated this much if the media hadn't covered it as much as they have, just like the Muhammed drawings, a man just couldn't resist pushing it to the limit with freedom of speech and then the Danish embassy and the danish flag gets burned around the world, there were even some people who burned the wrong flag because they didn't know about shit but the media gladly filmed them doing it o_O that's just fucked up.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Vicious on December 1, 2008 at 6:07pm

Ok, I know I'm gonna get flak for this but I'm going to run with it, because that's just how I feel. I have nothing against Muslims, or any religion for that matter! We should be free to speak our minds and practice our faith. I've read a lot about the Muslim faith. The peacful parts and the violent parts (which are greatly exaggerated and taken out of context). But if you look at all the terrorist attacks going on around the world, it's all Muslim extremists. You can't blame people for feeling threatened, ignorant or not. Remember the Japanese concentration camps after Pearl Harbor? At least we aren't at that stage of paranoia. People have been using God to justify murders since the dawn of civilization, this is just the next era. I guess the media sure hasn't helped, but it's those few bad seeds that fucked up the reputation of muslims in the western world, not the media.

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Permalink Reply by Socke on December 8, 2008 at 4:14am

but just because of some people (may be 200), they arent a danger for us,
ist like, because of the RAF all german are terrorists, or besaucse of the SLA are all Souht american terrorists, or because of ETA are all france terrorists. is not easy like that.

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Permalink Reply by Josh on December 8, 2008 at 5:25am

As a Christian, I understand where you are coming from... there's only one thing i had a problem with you saying, don't say god damn Holy Bible (i'm not completely offended as i am sure you only said that out of anger as you were typing of your situation)... and the Bible does not belong to the media which is about profitting through spreading hate and paranoia, it belongs to Christians most of which (if they truly practice the word of God as they should) are good people who wouldn't endorse such painful discrimination and hate.

I completely and wholeheartedly agree with you that such things should not be said about the followers of any peaceful religion. But, I am going to go out on a limb and assume you are from the USA? Do you ever believe that in other countries be it Iraq, Iran, or even China (where most religion is not tolerated because it is a communist nation) that they say the same things of Christianity, and that Christians are a threat? its all a matter of location/demographic in conjunction with the media. I'm not saying it's right or justified but it happens not just here, but all over the world to more religions than just your own.

I had the privilege of attending a lecture of a muslim woman who shared with us the basics of her faith, and she told us that the qu'ran and the bible were somewhat similar and essentially worshipped the same God (the story splits after Abraham) which is why our faiths are of the Abrahamic religions. She also said that Muslims at least near to her are told to respect Jews and Christians as "people of the book" because we essentially have some of the same beliefs.

The reason for the hate between religions is that no one cares to see the similarities that we all have for instance none of our faiths advocates terrorism or violence of any kind. People are ignorant and will listen to whatever they are fed in the media (which has its own agenda) You just have the misfortune of being a muslim in a predominantly "Christian" (i use that term loosely as some who claim my faith are not good representations of it, thus the hate and discrimination you face) nation. And as i said before, the situation you face here is the same for members of other faiths who are out of their majority area.

Yes there is a fair share of "killing" in the Bible but none of it was in the context of "go out and force people to accept your beliefs and promote hatred" Some churches (especially out here in the midwest) preach as islam as "the enemy" and that "we need to save people from islam" when it should be " we should tell people of our God so that they can experience His mercy and be saved as we are" Essentially the only reason some of these people go to other countries to share Christianity is to participate in such "spiritual warfare".

I was enraged when i went to a service one day and a missionary from a very islamic part of indonesia preached a sermon about the "evils of islam" and urged people to give him money to help his "crusade". To make a long story short I was so disgusted that someone of a faith such as mine who love God and want to help others honestly would promote such hate mongering so I stood up and left and i never attended that church willingfully ever again (to this day i haven't gone back).

I understand getting angry as i get angry with people who tell me that i am weak and pathetic for believing in any god at all (i made a decision go figure), but its how you handle it that matters. I am glad that you practiced self control and did the right thing with those narrowminded morons that mistreated you. I dont know much about what the Qu'ran says about the end of the world but as far as my faith goes nations will rise up and kill people like me, who believe as i do. none of this is going to get better as humanity slides backwards. I see it as my responsibility to remain a relatively good, openminded, and tolerant person. I know i'm not perfect but i'm at least trying by not letting prejudice and fear run my life.

As a Christian, i do not fear or hate yours or any religion because it is different than mine. I instead embrace the fact that muslims, christians,.... athiests and agnostics alike have made a decision. If we are wrong in our beliefs then one day we will know, but until that time I will be tolerant and I will be happy to share my beliefs with anyone that wants to listen, and thats how its supposed to be i think.

I tell you this so that you know, that yes some people here are paranoid and hate you for what you are and what you believe in, there are others who don't necessarily agree with your beliefs but will stand up for you anyways, and you just have to be strong and be tolerant because if you or i can't then who will and who will learn anything from us?

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