Carnage Reporting

With all this scrutiny of the Muslim world again come some chances for typically Christian Americans to redeem ourselves in the Arab and Muslim world - to restart a rather tenuous and falsified relationship. Broken Telegram has a great post on that here, exploring the rise of democratic revolutions in majority Muslim nations recently (and what that means for a society that tends to think of Muslims and Arab people in purely racist terms).

And then comes this startling revelation - for many of us, anyway - that perhaps the best place to get reportage on the goings-on in Egypt and Tunisia is through Al Jazeera English (which, btw, is basically censored in the US. Although you can get it via internet live feeds, it is not available on any cable networks here, unlike in say, Canada). As one Facebook friend-of-a-friend reminded me, Al Jazeera is primarily known as an anti-American, pro-terrorist network that showed beheadings of American citizens and Osama bin Laden's (postmortem?) "Death to America!" tweets.

Of course, Al Jazeera English isn't quite the same as the older station, but there is enough of an obvious linkage that the initial question, "Isn't that the station that showed Americans' head getting cut off?" needs to at least be acknowledged. My response follows:

That's a good question. I found the fact that they would do such to be abhorrent. From a Western point of view, it seemed like a snuff film, or one of those barbarous hangings/lynchings for general amusement from our recent past.

But then I think and wonder, is the focus of news to be entertainment or is it to be the truth? If it's truth, then aJ has done a shameless job in showing the devastating after-effects of the US-led war on Iraq.

While American media was shunned from even showing the caskets of returning soldiers, al Jazeera was showing the bloody streets where 'smart' bombs killed and crippled civilians.

To honestly critique aJ for showing such footage, I wonder if I can put myself in their shoes. What if it was my state, my country, my neighborhood that was being attacked, besieged, and occupied.

What if I lost my wife and daughter to such a war? Wouldn't I want tne world to know the effects that the invading country left us with? Wouldn't I want the whole world to share in my suffering?

Weekend Links We Like to Link to - Yet Another Political Edition

It seems that I just can't help myself...

Meet the artist of the Obama posters.

I can't be the only person that thinks that the Department of Homeland Security is a piece of irrelevant, bullying sh*t.

Speaking of irrelevant...

“It was pretty tough and hard fought,” [Senator Obama] said about the primary season, describing the former first lady as a “formidable opponent.”

“She was relentless and very effective.”

He may be speaking too early, but not soon enough, for my money.

The real debates have finally begun - and they center on international dealings.

Yet, rural Americans (vastly responsible for the swing states) have different concerns on their minds, and need reassurance that they will be listened to.

Finally, the West Virginia Democratic primary was disappointing, not because of how badly Obama lost by, but for the fairly latent reasons why. But don't take my word for it... here's their words.

(Click here if video doesn't play.)*

And, here's some more of their words.

(Click here if video doesn't play.)

"I guess I'm just kinda scared of the other race because we just had so much conflict with the other race."

"He's Muslim, and you know, that has a lot to do with it."

"I think now I understand West Virginia's state slogan. 'West Virginia, No Interviews Please'."

Now, let's clarify some things (and I wish that the pundits, pontificators and politicians would do the same). My knowledge of Islam is limited, but I do understand that a central tenet of the religion is to declare one's allegiance to and testify to (to use American and Christian terms) the central figures of the religion. Christians like myself should know from our own scripture reading that to deny our God is to forsake our religion, our salvation, so to say. There is no such thing as a "secret Muslim" just like there is no such thing as a "secret Christian" (although in some countries - for safety reasons - Christianity is kept underground, yet it is still practiced and never denied).

One presidential candidate (who shall remain nameless) answered the question of whether or not she believed Obama to be a Muslim by the politically-shrewd yet poisonous non-answer of "Not as far as I know." Let's hope that another presidential candidate (one that was shamed by his own party for having a black daughter), will be more honorable in pulling any similar tactics from out of his campaign's bud (and, in likewise, Obama will shun any playing on that candidate's age).

That's not too much to ask for, is it?

* hat trip to Staycspits