Resistance is Phutile

US and them.

Not been having much opportunity to blog recently, having neglected to pay the tuition fees for my university course, the bloody swines have cut off my access to the computer systems. All those hours spent arguing with other bloggers with silly screen names, like Scott Burgess (only joking) done away with.

I've still managed to read through a blog or two here and there though, and one thing is bugging me. Despite all the supposed dynamism of the blogging community, citizen journalists, or whatever you want to call us, a lot of us seem depressingly satisfied with swallowing whole whatever the government and right wing press throw at us. When it comes to Polly Toynbee slating the latest garbage to be churned out of Hollywood because of its religious overtones, bloggers are in uproar. When (insert name of Guardian journalist here) writes an opinion piece on (insert relevant issue here), all across the internet, angry writers bustle their way through the pack with talons at the ready to take a swipe. Not content with our own savagery, we scour the web looking for other examples of the same opportunism, hit the 'comment' icon and indulge in some good old back slapping.

Well, thanks, Toynbee, at least your opinion piece gave me something to write about, even if it was shit. An opinion piece on an opinion piece.

But what worries me more at the moment is the increasingly fortified "us and them" mentality fostered by the mainstream press, and bought into by the bloggers.

Yep, you guessed it, I'm talking about the Muslims again. Or the Middle East in general, really. You know, that group of about a billion human individuals whose only representation in the Western media seems to consist of angry young men burning flags or waving guns. Whenever I go on about the demonisation of Muslims I get the same response: it's the extremists who give them a bad name, not the Western media. That just doesn't wash. I don't understand how anybody could see it in such a clear-cut, one dimensional way. Of course the extremists and their jingo-hungry recruits are providing negative images of Islam. But if the press didn't do such a good job of sexing the whole thing up into a "clash of civilisations" the negative impact of the extremist minority would be reduced rather than blown out of all proportion.

Maybe some of us have forgotten the most basic fact, that we are all essentially the same. Like it or not, regardless of religion or race, people have the same needs and desires the world over.

Does nobody but me find it strangely convenient the way Muslims have become such a threatening, dangerous bunch since Bush realised he needed to erase all non-US backed governing bodies in the Middle East?

Funny how, when popular support for the Iraq war (and consequentially the forthcoming invasion of Iran) was dwindling, Bush revealed how Al Qaida were actually planning to steer a plane into the tallest building in LA simultaneously with the attacks in New York. Can't think why he chose to suddenly reveal all this though...

Again, I'm not saying there are no dangerous Muslims out there. But when the American led West is in such agressive pursuit of absolute financial and military dominance of the Muslim world, it's not really surprising. Countries like Egypt are little more than financial colonies of the US. What is really worrying is it is this aggressive policy which is feeding young disillusioned Muslims into the extremist organisations which do pose a tangible danger to society.


Disclaimer: In no way does this post signal an end to the shameless opportunism of "Fisking" which has, on occasion, been witnessed in this blog.

posted by Phu @ 12:16 pm