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| War:
Are the Media reports accurate? Liam Brian Yost In
the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Since the atrocities of September 11, 2001, Muslims have been under the watchful eye of the United States media as well as the United States’ citizens. The citizens of the United States have questions and with good reason. Unfortunately in the West, television is the only source of information linking many to the outside world and the many other cultures that exist. So in other words, many trust this media here to provide them with answers. They put the trust in them that many would put into their parents or their spouses. So of course they’ll believe what the reporter on the screen has to say. He’s, in a sense, like an extended family member in most households. There is already much confusion these days as to what
Islam is and what it represents. Many turn towards the medium of
television to enlighten them on such issues and what does it do? It
irresponsibly shows Arabs overseas shouting out anti American slogans and
burning the American flag. It shows footage of wreckage left after alleged
suicide bombings and last but not least it shows the footage over and over
again of these jets hurling themselves into the sides of the World Trade
Center buildings. Yet over and over again, we hear George W. Bush talk
about peace amongst us. We hear him say that hate crimes towards Muslims
or anyone of Arab decent will “not be tolerated”. Now answer me this:
How on Earth are we to begin to heal when the footage of the disaster is
plastered on TV screens time and time again? How can the Western media say
it plays any part in the bringing together of these cultures, when every
chance it gets, it puts up negative images of one to the other? I guess
what I’m asking you the reader is…does the Western media really want
peace? Think about this now. What has the media to gain from peace? The
answer is absolutely nothing!
Do you think the media tells you what’s going on for the sake of
keeping you informed? If this is what you think, then you’re one naive
individual and need to go sign up for Common Sense 101 classes next
semester at your local Community College. These people are in your face
every night for one reason and one reason alone…ratings. Most newscasts
come on around 11pm nightly and there are always three to four news
channels running at once at this time. Now the thought with these people
is “what can we do to get the public to watch us and not them on the
other channels?” It all a big battle between newscasters and we, the
public, are the unwilling pawns in this “war”. Now, like I said, most
of these news shows run simultaneously and in the beginning of each show,
they show you what’s coming up. Now which do you
stay and watch? The story about a boy and his dog being rescued from a
well or the live police standoff outside a post office where a worker has
gone nuts and held many hostage? Be honest with yourselves, the more
extreme of the two, the post office, is what you would watch more than
likely. And even if you chose to watch the boy and his dog…you’d flip
back and forth between channels to see if anyone has been killed yet a the
post office. So, the point is, the media is going to keep as much hype up
as possible concerning these issues which keeps tempers and paranoia on
the up and up. I’m sure you’ve seen the line on the news when they go
to introduce the stories of the latest goings on in the Middle East.
It’ll say things like “America Fights Back” and “America at
War”. I can’t help but laugh when I see these lines; especially
‘America Fights Back’. In order for there to be a true fight, the
sides have to be equal in strength and very skilled. To sum it up, a fight
should be fair. This that is going on in Afghanistan is not a fight. These
people in Afghanistan don’t have the weaponry the U.S. has. They don’t
have any of the resources the U.S. has in the way of strategy or any of
that. So this, my friends, is not a fight. This is a beating; a
merciless beating. Evolution at it’s best; the “strong” stomping on
the “weak”. It amazes me at the accuracy these men possess in taking
out these Al-Qaida fortresses. They even go as far as to record the
blowing up of these establishments so we at home can cheer and chant out
“USA! USA!” like a bunch of drunken monkeys. But, when it comes to the
hitting of a civilian home or dropping a bomb in a civilian neighborhood,
the response is always “Oh, well we have to look into this further”.
What happened to all that dead-on accuracy from before? I’ll tell you
what happened…it went out the window along with conscience of the one
that decided he wanted to wipe out small neighborhoods with women and
children about. And the West has the gall to call Muslims and Arabs
barbaric. To sum up this point I’m trying to make, the answer to the
question “does the Western media really want peace?” is, in my eyes, a
no. There’s too much to lose. So now, here we
are. Television aka the informer, has shown us that Islam is a backwards
religion. It has shown that Muslims are a bunch of angry, barbaric men. It
has shown that Muslim women are the targets for much abuse and oppression.
It has shown a bunch of garbage that has killed it’s credibility with me
now and forever more. Now to those who
haven’t the willpower to get up and read the Qur’an or any book that
explains Islam for that matter, I’m gonna walk you through this slowly
and I want you to pay attention and tell that prejudice voice in the back
of your head to shut it’s mouth tightly. What many outside the fold of
Islam have to understand is the following: We come across two kinds of
people; ones who are our brothers in Religion and the others who are our
brothers in creation. There is a big difference between these two and many
seem to have a hard time deciphering which is which since we have these so
called “Muslims” doing all sorts of foolishness in the name of Islam.
First off, let’s look at the word Islam. Islam simply means submission;
submission to the will of the one true God. And what is the will of the
one true God? Let’s look at some of the names attributed to Him: Al-Ghaffar
(the Forgiver), Ar-Razzaq (the Provider), Al-Adl (the Just, the
Equitable), Al-Karim (the Generous). These are just five of ninety-nine
beautiful names describing the attributes of the one true God. These are NOT
the attributes of one that teaches His followers to strap bombs to
themselves. These are NOT the attributes of one who tells His
people to kill innocence. These are NOT the attributes of one that
teaches His followers to run planes into the sides of buildings. These ARE
the attributes of the one who sent us mankind’s book of guidance, the
Qur’an. So, it’s quite easy to figure that this book that these so
called “Muslims” say support this cause of theirs actually does not
support their cause at all. So to any of those out there saying the
Qur’an supports violence and killing, I have this to say to you. Either
read the Qur’an for yourselves and stop being parrots and mimicking what
you hear on tv and from others, or close your mouths concerning something
you know nothing about. That is, of course, unless you like looking
foolish. Because only a fool speaks on something that he knows nothing
about. I’ve noticed something about America; a very bad habit of hers.
She likes to play victim. She likes to downgrade other countries and call
them barbaric or backwards when she gets attacked by them. Yet, she never
acknowledges the reasoning for the attacks on her though. She never once
stops to think about what she could have possibly done to deserve such
treatment. America…she’s a very naïve young girl, isn’t she?
Apparently she sees it as okay to provide Israel with weapons of mass
destruction to oppress a people that are not as powerful as far as
weaponry is concerned. Why do they hate her? Let me give you a little
insight. When a
Palestinian woman’s child is cleaned up after having being killed by an
Israeli soldier, the bullet she pries from her child’s dead body is made
in the U.S.A. The tanks that roll over Palestinian homes with occupants
sometime still in them are made in the U.S.A. The rockets, mines, bombs,
etc. that kill the Palestinians are all made in the U.S.A. And when they
run out of ammo, the States send them more. Yet she wonders why they hate
her. Sanctions that she put on Iraq many years ago are the reason for many
people dying of sickness and starving to death due to lack of medicine,
the right foods, etc. Yet she still wonders why they hate her. President
Bush says in his speech “you’re either with us or you’re with the
terrorists”. In other words, “if you try to critique us and show us
that these acts against us were brought on by none other than us, you are
the enemy.” Am I anti-America? No. I love my country. I think I love
this country more than those patriots out there waving their flags around
and screaming out cheesy slogans in support of the U.S. So no I don’t
hate my country. I love my country, but I fear my government. I fear the
possibility that what they say and do is seen as a blanket statement from
all Americans when shown on TV to other nations. I fear their lack of
morality. I fear their lack of self-reflection. I fear the fact that good
old country boys are making decisions that are gonna affect the very
people they loathe….the “minorities”. The Middle East is now the
target; the newest in a long line of victimized nations. This government
sees them not as people. Many people foolishly ask…”Why not find out
why they’re angry with us? Why not just sit down and talk this out?”
Why? To do this would be an admittance of guilt. It would put a face on
all these strategic plans that they think of, and we can’t have that now
can we? To the US Government, the Afghanis, Pakistanis, Saudis, etc. are
not people. These are obstacles to plow through to get to their goal…to
play God. To be the father of all nations…to make all the decisions
based on what will be of benefit to them, who cares what they over there
think? They want to disagree? That’s okay…we can just bomb them and
accept their apologies afterward for making us mad in the first place.
There is a famous quote that this behavior makes me think of. It goes
“When God wants to destroy a man he begins by making him arrogant.”
This is true of not only men, but nations as well…and this nation
is the most arrogant of them all in thinking it can police the world and
meddle in business that is not theirs without making enemies along the
way. America trying to tell other nations how to be more civilized is like
a drug addicted man telling a working citizen that contributes to society
that he needs to get his life together. This country needs more work than
any other. The only difference is it’s more blatant in other countries.
Here, corruption is disguised behind business suits and made to stand
behind a podium to tell the public how great we’re doing as a country as
opposed to how they’re doing over there in the Middle East. This country
currently has one of the highest rates of crime and drug use in the world.
This country is also the number one consumer of all the world’s
resources and also the most wasteful with them. In time these resources
will run out…and what then? More than likely they’ll find someone to
blame for it other than themselves. So
in closing, we needn’t worry about the Taliban or Al-Qaida destroying
anything here or “threatening our way of life” as I’ve heard some
put it. People here have been ripping this country to shreds morally,
economically and socially for years now and show no signs of stopping
anytime soon. The sooner the citizens of this country realize this, the
better off all will be for it. Let’s just hope this realization sets in
soon and that we all begin to make better decisions based on fear of God
and morality rather than what’s going to benefit us. Besides, if you
don’t…George W. will do it for you and we’ve all seen what happens
to those that oppose George W. May Allah guide
us in making right decisions based on His will, may we find favor in His
sight and may He show the Ummah victory over it’s oppressors in the end
when all is said and done. Ameen. Contact Info:
Liam Brian Yost |