Taking A Stand: Freedom has its own special sauce
I found it incredibly amusing Monday morning to see the Iraqi minister of information announce his country was defeating coalition troops at the exact time our men were blowing up a statue of Saddam Hussein in the middle of Baghdad live on CNN.
Although it shouldn’t be surprising, seeing Iraq and the Islamic extremists have been all talk for years when it comes to exerting might in the region. Of course, in the Middle East, it’s all about spin. If you thought our politicians use the media for their benefit, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the spin sheiks of the Middle East.
However, one thing remains the same here as there, that being, everything the elite do is about keeping power. They call it a holy war, but in reality, if you look past the mobs chanting their gibberish and burning American flags, it all comes down to the ruling elite spurring on their people so they can keep their lofty positions. Hate and fear are the two best ways for a ruling class to stay in power.
The big thing in the Middle East as you know is a Palestinian state. The Arab countries keep pointing to this as the reason for their resentment. However, if you look at their past, you’ll see it’s as much a bunch of bull as the Iraqi information minister’s almost comical press conference Monday morning.
The Arab countries have never really supported a Palestinian state. When Israel was born in 1948, there were provisions for a separate Palestinian state; however, the Arab states refused to support such a state. During subsequent wars, the Arabs controlled the Gaza strip and the Golan Heights, yet, during all that time leading up to the loss of these areas in their unprovoked attack on Israel in 1967, they made no move to set up such a state.
Instead, the Arab countries use Palestine as an excuse for aggressions toward Israel. They could care less about Palestine and only use it to excite those who aren’t long in the brains department to lay down their lives for the fictional jihad. They see Israel as a little piece of Western culture right in their backyard.
So why is this so threatening? It all comes down to the two F’s — freedom and fun. For as long as anyone can remember, the people of the Middle East have been oppressed. Their women are treated as less than cattle and the people there are under strict law which forces them into a homogeneous society.
There is no independence. The last thing their leaders want is their people thinking for themselves because they would quickly lose influence. It’s no contamination by the infidels. It’s more of an eye-opening into what quality of life could be. You let these people taste freedom and the dictatorial regimes are out the door.
Even as they curse the West on the streets, they’re wearing our Levis and Nikes and cooling down from the exhausting heat with a shot of Coca-Cola. What taste they get of the West, they like. The real threat to the leadership of the Middle East is not American bombs, it’s American culture. Drop a McDonald’s over there, and it’s likely the regimes would fall like dominos once the people got a little special sauce in their mouths.
This is why propaganda, no matter how ridiculous it looks to us, is of utmost importance over there. He who controls the pen controls the minds. You’ve got to remember, Saddam has told his people they won the first Gulf War despite the fact 110,000 Iraqi men didn’t return home from the front. It’s also important to remember, he who controls the pen can also write what they want in the history books.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)