Be wary of the headlines!
“Muslim beauty stoned to death’’ was a headline on Express Tribune. (7th of June 2011)
The screaming headline is a perfect example of yellow journalism gone wild. Unfortunately these dirty tactics of marketing news have become a norm. The news was picked up from British and Ukrainian newspapers which in summary said,
“Aspiring Miss Ukraine stoned to death under Shariah Law by Crimean Radical Islamist. The man was told to be a radicalised Wahabi extremist and the lady was reportedly a Muslim who was given this punishment by him as it is not allowed for women to take part in a beauty contest in Islam”
Sensational and ‘Masalay-dar’ as it sounds, our heavily funded Pakistani media didn’t bother to carry out any further research before propagating this piece, as it perfectly fulfils the purpose and agenda they are working on.
A few hours later the headline was amended to ‘’Teenage beauty ‘’ instead of ‘’Muslim beauty’’ and an addendum was added to the article as the original story was absolutely different to what was published. An elementary online research shows:
Big round of applause to this media company who never misses an opportunity to defame Islam, Muslims or Shariah Laws by strictly following the rules of the game. This is in line with the negative stereotyping of Muslims, that western media is bent upon promoting. A threat, a bomb, a killing- a faint link to anyone having a Muslim sounding name, there you go! You have a perfect combination, so publish and propagate.
How many of us know about a police officer killed in an explosion caused by a bomb planted under his car in Northern Ireland (the 2nd of April 2011), or Irish militants warning of a bomb blast in central London just a day before Queen Elizabeth’s first state visit to Ireland (16th May 2011) or the discovery of a bomb in town of Maynooth ,15 minutes away from Dublin and a second suspicious device found at a Dublin tram station (the 17th of May 2011). Of course, it doesn’t carry any material for any media hype as no Muslims were found attached to it.
How many of us remember Marwah Al-Sherbini, a 32 year old Egyptian girl who was called a ‘Muslim ***** and a terrorist *****’ and was killed by a racist in a German court. She was three months pregnant and was stabbed 18 times with a verdict by her killer, ‘you don’t have a right to live’ (July 2009). Has anyone seen our media talking about the plight of Muslims all over the world because of being Muslims’? Of course not! Because those 50 million dollars pledged by President Obama are not to serve that cause.
How many of us saw our media getting furious about Niqab ban in France. Did you see any feminist or human rights NGOs voicing this issue?
Did you see any blog or article or even a news showing their fury or concern on Sharon Horgan’s comments on BBC’s ‘Have I got news for you?’ when she calls Makkah as Mecca (hub) of suicide bombers just a few days ago.
I was watching an interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube, a trained KGB agent, recorded in 1985. interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube
He tells “In recent times, 15% of the time, money and manpower is spent on espionage, and 85% is spent on the great brainwashing process called the ideological subversion or psychological warfare. It changes the perception of reality so much so that despite the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions.”
In a nutshell, he lays out four steps to transform the thinking and behaviour of an entire population, namely:
I adore my prime inspiration, Malcolm X’s quote where he says,
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like a victim and make the victim look like a criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppression”
Let’s keep our eyes open to the dirty tricks of the people who are out to sell their news (and Eiman) for a few bags of dollars and helping the confusion grow every day.
Aisha Aijaz, the writer of this blog, is a medical doctor, specialising in Acute Medicine . She writes about Pakistan politics and current affairs and likes to read Urdu poetry. She can be reached at [email protected]
“Muslim beauty stoned to death’’ was a headline on Express Tribune. (7th of June 2011)
The screaming headline is a perfect example of yellow journalism gone wild. Unfortunately these dirty tactics of marketing news have become a norm. The news was picked up from British and Ukrainian newspapers which in summary said,
“Aspiring Miss Ukraine stoned to death under Shariah Law by Crimean Radical Islamist. The man was told to be a radicalised Wahabi extremist and the lady was reportedly a Muslim who was given this punishment by him as it is not allowed for women to take part in a beauty contest in Islam”
Sensational and ‘Masalay-dar’ as it sounds, our heavily funded Pakistani media didn’t bother to carry out any further research before propagating this piece, as it perfectly fulfils the purpose and agenda they are working on.
A few hours later the headline was amended to ‘’Teenage beauty ‘’ instead of ‘’Muslim beauty’’ and an addendum was added to the article as the original story was absolutely different to what was published. An elementary online research shows:
- There are conflicting reports and according to Crimean Police, the girl was not a Muslim
- The boy who killed her strangled her and then struck a blunt object on her head which according to the police was her cause of death
- The boy was her admirer and was suffering from serious mental health disorder
- The only relation of the killer with Islam was that his parents were non-practising Muslims who had never attended a Mosque.
Big round of applause to this media company who never misses an opportunity to defame Islam, Muslims or Shariah Laws by strictly following the rules of the game. This is in line with the negative stereotyping of Muslims, that western media is bent upon promoting. A threat, a bomb, a killing- a faint link to anyone having a Muslim sounding name, there you go! You have a perfect combination, so publish and propagate.
How many of us know about a police officer killed in an explosion caused by a bomb planted under his car in Northern Ireland (the 2nd of April 2011), or Irish militants warning of a bomb blast in central London just a day before Queen Elizabeth’s first state visit to Ireland (16th May 2011) or the discovery of a bomb in town of Maynooth ,15 minutes away from Dublin and a second suspicious device found at a Dublin tram station (the 17th of May 2011). Of course, it doesn’t carry any material for any media hype as no Muslims were found attached to it.
How many of us remember Marwah Al-Sherbini, a 32 year old Egyptian girl who was called a ‘Muslim ***** and a terrorist *****’ and was killed by a racist in a German court. She was three months pregnant and was stabbed 18 times with a verdict by her killer, ‘you don’t have a right to live’ (July 2009). Has anyone seen our media talking about the plight of Muslims all over the world because of being Muslims’? Of course not! Because those 50 million dollars pledged by President Obama are not to serve that cause.
How many of us saw our media getting furious about Niqab ban in France. Did you see any feminist or human rights NGOs voicing this issue?
Did you see any blog or article or even a news showing their fury or concern on Sharon Horgan’s comments on BBC’s ‘Have I got news for you?’ when she calls Makkah as Mecca (hub) of suicide bombers just a few days ago.
I was watching an interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube, a trained KGB agent, recorded in 1985. interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube
He tells “In recent times, 15% of the time, money and manpower is spent on espionage, and 85% is spent on the great brainwashing process called the ideological subversion or psychological warfare. It changes the perception of reality so much so that despite the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions.”
In a nutshell, he lays out four steps to transform the thinking and behaviour of an entire population, namely:
- Demoralisation (which takes 10-15 years to brainwash one generation)
- Destabilisation (over 2-5 years) where economy, foreign relations and defence systems are rattled.
- Crisis
- Normalisation (a cynical term which lasts indefinitely and includes violent changes of power and structure and economy)
I adore my prime inspiration, Malcolm X’s quote where he says,
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like a victim and make the victim look like a criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppression”
Let’s keep our eyes open to the dirty tricks of the people who are out to sell their news (and Eiman) for a few bags of dollars and helping the confusion grow every day.
Aisha Aijaz, the writer of this blog, is a medical doctor, specialising in Acute Medicine . She writes about Pakistan politics and current affairs and likes to read Urdu poetry. She can be reached at [email protected]
