MEDIA - LOOKING GLASS NEWS
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Media war on Islam
from Aljazeera.com
Entered into the database on Thursday, January 12th, 2006 @ 15:58:18 MST


 

Untitled Document
The Western media always portrays the Islamic religion as exotic imagery

We live in the age of lies.

The U.S. media has been fueling hatred against the Muslims and the Islamic religion, since the September 11 attacks, creating an atmosphere of fear particularly for Arabs living in the West.

The 'negative' media coverage has been influencing the attitudes and perceptions in the West, making it even more hostile towards Muslims.

Every Muslim must understand what the typical Westerner thinks about him - his traditions, culture and religion- He’ll be both amused and shocked and may be frightened.

Western minds consider the Islamic world an exotic enigma, part fairy tale, part attitudes formed in colonial times in which logical acts are construed with misunderstandings and misgivings.

And lately we started seeing disrespect for the Islamic culture and Prophets all under the guise of Freedom of Speech.

Recently we read media reports, some praising, and others denouncing a Danish newspaper for publishing drawings portraying Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), ignoring the fact that visual depictions of prophets is prohibited in Islam.

In September, Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten invited cartoonists to submit drawings of the holy Mohammed, after an author complained that nobody dared illustrate his book on Mohammed.

About 12 cartoons were published as "a test of whether fear of Islamic retribution has begun to limit freedom of expression in Denmark."

Instead of seeing the cartoon as controversy and racist, some media outlets defended the incident as an expression of Freedom of Speech.

Danish Muslim organizations plan to take the daily Jyllands-Posten to the European Court of Human Rights for publishing drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Kasem Ahmad, leader of Danish Islamic religious body Islamsk Trossamfund, uniting different Muslim organizations, announced the decision following an announcement that a Danish local attorney general had rejected their case.

Islamsk Trossamfund sued the Danish paper for the publication of drawings of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for blasphemy.

But the media war against the Muslims has taken a more grievous turn than some cartoons; this matter has become a test case for the continued viability of freedom of speech in Western countries.

The Western media always portrays the Islamic religion as exotic imagery - a myth adapted from 1001 Nights; with huge harems, wild sex orgies, luxurious palaces, flying carpets, incredible wealth, fierce warriors, hordes of thieves, cruelty and religious fanaticism.

The biased approach of the Western media led people in European nations and the Americas believe that the armed groups we hear about, including Al Qaeda network, are the true representatives of the Islamic faith and the Muslims, or course here we’re not speaking about the resistance groups in Palestine like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, we’re speaking about militant and armed groups who perceive Islam the wrong way. All that with the aim of fueling negative feelings, hatred and fear against this religion.

Unfortunately people, who depend mainly on Western media as their sole source of information, continue on blissfully ignorant of just how biased and unjust their free societies are.