The Power of Propaganda

In college a few years ago, I took a war class and one of the things we discussed was The Creel Committee.  That was a committee set up to make the Japanese, which the government wanted Americans to go to war against, seem like "the enemy."  They hired folks to write songs equating the Japanese to rats, disgusting animals which infiltrate homes and steal food.  There campaign was a hit and off to war we went.  I took this class as America started attacking Iraq and watched as our media did their job of villifying Muslims.  I was amazed as people ate it up, forgetting that we have had Muslims living peacefully as part of some of our communities for years and years.  My husband and I became very nervous when we went out because, suddenly, people would stop talking and stare as we walked into a business anywhere out of our community because my husband, who is Jewish, looks quite a bit like Osama Bin Laden.

I keep thinking about that as I read the many articles on Gather that have been written about the Muslim man that beheaded his wife in New York the other day.  Many people are writing articles to express their outrage at the murder, while insisting that this crime is heinous, so that's why it is getting so much press.  Others are arguing that were the man not a Muslim, it would not be getting so much attention.

Honestly, I couldn't think of any other beheadings in America, so I Googled beheadings to see if I could find any and quite honestly, was appalled that I had already forgotten the one that happened in January of this year. 

From Fox News:

 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482025,00.html

"Virginia Tech Student Decapitated With Kitchen Knife by Attacker She Knew"

I did realize that the event didn't get a lot of talk time because I hadn't heard anything else after the first night I saw it on TV, but wondered how many Gather articles had been written about it.  After all, those who were saying they weren't upset because the guy was a Muslim were saying they were just outraged because of this horrible event.  So, I figured they probably wrote articles about that one too and went to the search function to prove it.  I could only find one article about the VT student's murder and that article was mostly about how the author (who I won't name here because I can't recommend his article) thought the murderer should have carried a gun because that would have been faster.  Where was the outrage at the method of killing for that murder???  If it was truly the fact that the recent murder was death by decapitation (which over and over is called a "Muslim method of killing" in these articles which aren't being written because it was a Muslim man), where were the articles in January?   

A few commenters on some of the articles tried pointing out that the authors were using their articles as anti-Muslim propaganda and of course the authors stated they were not...They would be just as outraged if it were Christians decapitating someone.  I couldn't think of any Christians decapitating anyone offhand, and then I read an article by Vincent di Fondi who mentioned there were beheadings in Mexico, a Christian country and went to search for what I could find.  I didn't find any articles expressing outrage at those decapitations last September. 

From:   Http://www.stratfor.com/beheadings_mexico_foreign_element_mexicos_drug_wars

"Beheadings in Mexico: The Foreign Element in Mexico's Drug Wars"

May 13, 2006

And before that???

From:  http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=122&art_id=nw20081223053349659C786536

"Chilpacingo, Mexico - It was a "grave mistake" for criminals in the illegal drug trade to have decapitated eight soldiers over the weekend, a top Mexican military officer said Monday."

And where were the articles in 2007, when Fox News revived the story of three children who had been decapitated?

From Fox News: 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296612,00.html

"Texas Court Voids Conviction of Man Found Guilty of Beheading Three Children

...Camacho and Rubio were accused of strangling and decapitating 3-year-old Julissa Quezada, 1-year-old John Esthefan Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio in March 2003.

The couple told police they thought the children were possessed."

It looks like the couple who killed their children were Christians.  And, it looks like the mainstream press didn't think the story was all that newsworthy since it didn't get much talk time. Gatherites don't seem to have been too outraged by it.

Some of the authors stated that it wasn't that it was a Muslim and it wasn't that it was decapitation, especially, that upset them, but that it was decapitation in America.  But the children were killed in Texas and the Virginia Tech student was obviously in America. 

 I also found this article about law enforcement officers who weren't important enough to have their decapitations discussed with any vehemence.

From:  "MEDIA COVER-UP BLOCKS MAJOR NEWS STORY OF 2006"

 http://www.newswithviews.com/Stubbs/rodney13.htm

"On July 5, 2006 the following exchange took place between U.S. Representative William Bilbray and William Kolender, Sheriff of San Diego County. This is an 11-second transcript of that hearing including the time markers.:

2:55:56 - Rep. Bilbray: "Do you want to break the news about three law enforcement officers concerning an incident that took place about two miles from this location in the last couple of weeks?

2:56:02 Sheriff Kolender: "They were killed."

2:56:04 Rep. Bilbray: "They were not only killed, they were decapitated (Beheaded) weren't they?... It is easier to secure a video of Private Tuckers ordeal than find the video regarding the beheading of deputies in San Diego county."

 In my opinion, the decapitation of the woman in New York is a horrible, horrible thing, but so are these others.  When will we, as a species, ever learn to hate such violent acts and not try to use them to manipulate the feelings of others toward those we see as "the other?"  And, not just decapitations, but all violence?  We probably have more control over domestic violence than other types because that's the kind of violence we allow into our homes.  According to the Minnesota Center Against Violence And Abuse:  "Family Violence has Killed More Women in the Last Five Years as the Total Number of Americans Who Were Killed in The Vietnam War."  Yet there aren't all that many articles written on Gather against domestic violence and few written with such outrage as the recent ones about the "Muslim" decapitation.  Heck, one author actually said she believed there were many Americans with perversions here in America that deserved decapitation!  It's hard to take someones outrage seriously when they are suggesting killing others using the same methods which she is condemning someone else for using. 

 What I think we need to do is start waking up.  We need to realize that many women, children, and yes, even men, who are in Aasiya Hassan's shoes don't talk about what is going on at home because they are ashamed and afraid.  We need to realize that domestic abuse happens in EVERY CULTURE, EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD, EVER ECONOMIC STRATA, and start becoming more sensitive and aware of what is going on around us.  We need to not see a story about a student decapitated one night and forget it the next morning. 

We also need to learn to blame the perpetrators and stop letting them get away with shuffling the blame off onto their religion, culture, etc.  Get rid of as many labels as we can, especially when they have nothing to do with the bottom line.  And, we need to learn to care about all humans, whether they live in America or abroad because they are our brothers and sisters and if we turn a blind eye or make excuses, then part of the blame is on us.