Tuesday, february 1, 2005

Whose Rice With Mango Is This?

The Big Media is Spreading a False Image of Iraq

"Since when have we been speaking of ourselves as Sunnis, Shiates, Kurds, etc. We are first and foremost Iraqis, then anything else. " An Iraqi, US resident, replying to an ignorant CNN reporter who kept pressing him about Sunnis and Shiates, etc... The guy participated in voting and was telling the reporter how happy he was when she started to harass him about sectarian matters.

In Costa Rica, when people want to say that something is mixed up, messed up, confused and chaotic, they say: This is rice with mango, which, as you may imagine, makes a repulsive meal.

Few years ago, American politicians and media started to talk about Iraqis in sectarian terms. Since then this false image of Iraq has been spreading and it seems to me that it is almost irreversible. They have inserted it in the minds of millions of people all over the world.

I rarely feel helpless, but I do feel helpless when I hear and read this tremendous falsification. I feel so helpless that I don´t even want to write about it.
It is crazy and unbelievable to watch these illiterates of CNN, NBC, and other media molding the world vision of millions a la 24/30/365. What can you do? Go out and shout. You can do that in a democracy. How many people will hear your message? On the other hand, also in a democracy, millionaire Mr. X can speak from his mass medium to millions all over the world and indoctrinate them in whatever idea he wants, true or false. with the passing of time, people will start to believe him, even if he is not speaking the truth.

(And you want me not to feel helpless!!!)

Whose Rice and Mango is this? Why are they doing this, what is the agenda?