[Peace-discuss] re: Hate speech

[David Green]

So what does it take to get people--including Muslim
students--to care about what is written in the student
newspaper? A couple of weeks ago Tom Amenta, the
ex-military right-winger, stated in a column that
Jessica Lynch had been sodomized by Iraqis. No
complaint, no response, no retraction, nothing. Here
we have a classic scenario of a pure white woman
allegedly brutally raped by sex-crazed Arab men. The
truth, of course, is that her life was saved by Arab
men at some risk to themselves. A little more
aggravating to me than depictions of the prophet, but
then again I'm not Muslim.

Let's put aside for a moment that American military
bases are centers of prostitution everywhere except in
the Middle East, apparently.

The students just aren't paying attention. Then the
editors, who can't help themselves, do something to
get them to pay attention. Good for the editors,
ironically speaking. What I really mean is, good for
those of us who want to raise awareness of what is
going on. Unlike Fox News, we can actually talk back
at this level. We're not dealing with Bill O'Reilly.

DG





--- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> Tom comes, at the end, to the heart of the matter:
> 
>   "...lurking behind the utterly hypocritical
> lectures on the
>   violence and supposed 'irrationality' of Islamic
> culture 
>   creeps yet another pretext for the predatory
> machinations 
>   of Western imperialism." 
> 
> That's what we should be having demonstrations about
> (not the
> proposed firing of editors from a student
> newspaper).
> 
> I wish that, on the way, he hadn't so easily cast
> aside the
> idea of free speech -- as all authoritarian
> societies do -- on
> the important, undeniable, but irrelevant grounds
> that MSM is
> under corporate control. --CGE
> 
> 
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:48:54 -0600
> >From: Thomas Mackaman <mackaman at uiuc.edu>  
> >Subject: [Peace-discuss] re:  Hate speech  
> >To: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> >
> >
> >The notion that what is involved in the cartoon
> uproar is a
> question of free 
> >speech is a red herring.  Noone protesting the
> cartoons has
> any state control to 
> >prohibit what the corporate press in the West
> prints.  On the
> contrary, the cries 
> >of "freedom of press" are being used as blunt
> instrument to
> silence the 
> >righteous outrage of masses of people who have,
> quite
> correctlly taken offense 
> >at the images.    
> >
> >As we should know only too well, what the
> mainstream press
> chooses to print 
> >(and what it doesn't) actually result from
> countless
> different pressures, including 
> >the profit motive.  But at heart these decisions
> always
> reflect, even if in distorted 
> >fashion, the interests of the ruling elite.
> >
> >Pasted below is a letter to the editor of the DI,
> which I
> hope will be printed.
> >
> >Best,
> >Tom
> >*********
> >   
> >It’s Not Just the Cartoons
> >
> >
> >The anger of Muslims unleashed by the racist
> “prophet”
> cartoons must be 
> >contextualized.  In Europe, Denmark included,
> Muslims are a
> poor and 
> >exploited, but growing, section of the population. 
> European
> politicians have 
> >increasingly promoted anti-Islamic chauvinism as a
> means of
> diverting anger 
> >from unpopular “austerity” social policies.  On
> Europe's
> extreme right, anti-
> >Muslim chauvinism is truly blood-curdling (Le Pen
> in France,
> Bossi in Italy, 
> >Haider in Austria, etc.)  The Danish newspaper
> Jyllands-Posten, which first 
> >published the cartoons, is cut from this cloth.  It
> supports
> the anti-immigrant 
> >Danish People's Party, and has historical ties to
> German
> fascism.  This is no 
> >friend of freedom of speech! 
> >
> >To this must be added the deep anger resulting from
> the
> continuing oppression 
> >of the working masses of the Middle East and South
> Asia at
> the hands of 
> >Western imperialism.  It is within living memory
> that the
> entire Muslim world, 
> >from West Africa to Indonesia, was under the yoke
> of British,
> French, Italian, and 
> >Dutch imperialism.  Israel was carved out of Arab
> lands with
> the backing of the 
> >Western powers, and continues the process of
> dispossessing
> the native 
> >Palestinian population.  And now the US has placed
> Afghanistan and Iraq —
> >where the images of sadistic torture at Abu Graib
> have been
> seared into the 
> >consciousness of a generation—under de facto
> colonial rule
> while menacing Iran 
> >and Syria with wider war.  
> >
> >Indeed, lurking behind the utterly hypocritical
> lectures on
> the violence and 
> >supposed “irrantionality” of Islamic culture
> creeps yet
> another pretext for the 
> >predatory machinations of Western imperialism.     
>      
> >
> >
> >
> >Tom Macakman
> >Students for Social Equality
> >________________
> >_______________________________________________
> >Peace-discuss mailing list
> >Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
>http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> > _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com