4 ms·

a fictional story of gay syrian girl prosecuted by syrian government, a similar propaganda to demonize syrian government and promote US imperialist foreign poli

by bedros 10y ago

a fictional story of gay syrian girl prosecuted by syrian government, a similar propaganda to demonize syrian government and promote US imperialist foreign policy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Gay_Girl_In_Damascus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Gay_Girl_In_Damascus what's missing from article is the IP address of the account used by creator of this fictional girl is from Virginia, USA

PhasmaFelis 10y ago
That's incorrect. The IP address was in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the hoaxer Tom McMaster lived. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-gay-girl-in-damascus-comes-clean/2011/06/12/AGkyH0RH_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-gay-girl-in... Other sources mention Georgia (the nation) and Istanbul, Turkey, where he was apparently vacationing: http://www.afterellen.com/movies/444337-gay-girl-damascus-amina-profile-story-two-straight-men-pretending-lesbians-online http://www.afterellen.com/movies/444337-gay-girl-damascus-am... He apparently liked to visit the Middle East, having taken photos of Syria (that he passed off as "Amina's") on a previous trip. McMaster is a miserable lying asshole who did enormous harm, but promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." Dozens of nations embraced gay rights laws long before the US did, and dozens still have better ones than we do. It is not--unfortunately--our doing that the world is slowly crawling out of the gutter of homophobia.
- R_haterade 10y ago
  >promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." Pray tell why Pussy Riot got a spot on 60 Minutes, then?
  - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
    Is "60 Minutes" now in charge of the US's imperialist foreign policy? I thought it was just a news magazine show on CBS, I didn't know it was owned by the US government.
    - R_haterade 10y ago
      It's a distribution channel, same as NPR. Here's how the sausage gets made: "you're in journalism, you want the story? We'll give you access to get the story, but it would be great if alongside that you gave coverage to [topic] with a narrative that helps build support for our diplomatic goals." I only bring up NPR because I can remember feeling sick to my stomach when I realized how outright manipulative their coverage of Syria in 2012 was. I was wondering why we weren't at war with Assad after a week of 'All Things Considered'. Now I'm certain they were manufacturing consent, again. Especially given how nicely a disruptive actor like ISIS gels with the current administration's diplomatic interests in the region.
      - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
        I love this how people compare the US system to say Russia's. "The press isn't owned/controlled by the government, but it might as well be!" But in reality, this is just a red herring to prop up crappy despots. Nobody from the state department went to the 60 minutes crew and said: "If you don't interview Pussy Riot, we won't give you stuff." No, no, Russia solidified Pussy Riot's fame when they threw them in jail for...wait, what "premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility". Ya, because they criticized the church for supporting Putin? It's like China and the Dalai Lama: the popularity of the DL is completely related to the vitriol of the Chinese government. Whenever the Chinese government criticizes the DL, he becomes more popular, simple/easy. Russia makes its own bed, the US media requires no pushing from the state department at all to make these stories interesting to the American public.
        cryoshon 10y ago
        stories about russian oppression are interesting to the us public because of decades of media coverage... nobody is interested elsewhere because the media doesnt even cover when a neutral or us-aligned country is oppressive.
        seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    Because it's news. I don't understand why you guys bother going through these contortions to vilify anyone pro-gay while pretending that you're not actually anti-gay. Suppressing gay rights and gay issues is never about homophobia, it's always about free speech or imperialism or journalistic bias some other buzzword. Do you think you're fooling anyone?
    - R_haterade 10y ago
      Why do I have to be pro- or anti- anything? I'm ambivalent about homosexuals. And that's on days when I even think about homosexuals. Why can't I observe that it's convenient for a propaganda machine to highlight an enemy's mistreatment of a marginalized class? Your comment typifies the mental short-circuiting that identity politics encourages. I suggest you not take everything so personally, and stop defaulting to the supposition that anything you don't agree with must be bigoted.
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    Or, to put it another way: If the CIA had set out to slander the poor, unappreciated Syrian public servants who kidnap and murder gay people, their sinister propaganda operative wouldn't have pulled "Amina's" picture off of Google Images. He wouldn't have gotten her "hometown pictures" from his own vacation photos on his public Facebook. McMaster is too stupid to be a government agent. You are seriously underestimating your enemy if you think the US intelligence system is that dim.
- themihai 10y ago
  > McMaster is a miserable lying asshole who did enormous harm, but promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." I think using fake stories to push various agendas is wrong. Policy makers should make decisions on real data otherwise you end-up with nasty stuff(i.e. civil war). I think the Iraq war(and perhaps other wars) was started using a fake story too. It may worth it to start a war if the crazy guy has weapons of mass destruction but it's not the case anymore if you just want to push your culture and interests into a foreign country. At least the plan should be different(i.e. full colonisation instead of just knocking the current regime). It's all about responsibility and honesty or the lack of them.
acqq 10y ago
Not the IP address but as the article states: the creator "was raised in Harrisonburg, Virginia" USA. You shouldn't be downvoted only for that detail, IMHO. I didn't know about the whole story, so it's worth reading the post. On another side, I also think that mentioning such a fact doesn't prove that the author didn't act alone, so "readers beware." But "readers beware" should always be implicit anyway. And it's symptomatic that 2011 was actually the very characteristic year of foreign (US included) supported "spontaneous" actions against Assad in Syria and the appropriate media coverage. This Washington Post article was somewhat exceptional, it covers the Wikileaks provided US confidential cables: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-groups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syri...

by bedros 10y ago

PhasmaFelis 10y ago

That's incorrect. The IP address was in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the hoaxer Tom McMaster lived. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-gay-girl-in-damascus-comes-clean/2011/06/12/AGkyH0RH_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-gay-girl-in... Other sources mention Georgia (the nation) and Istanbul, Turkey, where he was apparently vacationing: http://www.afterellen.com/movies/444337-gay-girl-damascus-amina-profile-story-two-straight-men-pretending-lesbians-online http://www.afterellen.com/movies/444337-gay-girl-damascus-am... He apparently liked to visit the Middle East, having taken photos of Syria (that he passed off as "Amina's") on a previous trip. McMaster is a miserable lying asshole who did enormous harm, but promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." Dozens of nations embraced gay rights laws long before the US did, and dozens still have better ones than we do. It is not--unfortunately--our doing that the world is slowly crawling out of the gutter of homophobia.

R_haterade 10y ago
>promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." Pray tell why Pussy Riot got a spot on 60 Minutes, then?
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  Is "60 Minutes" now in charge of the US's imperialist foreign policy? I thought it was just a news magazine show on CBS, I didn't know it was owned by the US government.
  - R_haterade 10y ago
    It's a distribution channel, same as NPR. Here's how the sausage gets made: "you're in journalism, you want the story? We'll give you access to get the story, but it would be great if alongside that you gave coverage to [topic] with a narrative that helps build support for our diplomatic goals." I only bring up NPR because I can remember feeling sick to my stomach when I realized how outright manipulative their coverage of Syria in 2012 was. I was wondering why we weren't at war with Assad after a week of 'All Things Considered'. Now I'm certain they were manufacturing consent, again. Especially given how nicely a disruptive actor like ISIS gels with the current administration's diplomatic interests in the region.
    - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
      I love this how people compare the US system to say Russia's. "The press isn't owned/controlled by the government, but it might as well be!" But in reality, this is just a red herring to prop up crappy despots. Nobody from the state department went to the 60 minutes crew and said: "If you don't interview Pussy Riot, we won't give you stuff." No, no, Russia solidified Pussy Riot's fame when they threw them in jail for...wait, what "premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility". Ya, because they criticized the church for supporting Putin? It's like China and the Dalai Lama: the popularity of the DL is completely related to the vitriol of the Chinese government. Whenever the Chinese government criticizes the DL, he becomes more popular, simple/easy. Russia makes its own bed, the US media requires no pushing from the state department at all to make these stories interesting to the American public.
      - cryoshon 10y ago
        stories about russian oppression are interesting to the us public because of decades of media coverage... nobody is interested elsewhere because the media doesnt even cover when a neutral or us-aligned country is oppressive.
        seanmcdirmid 10y ago
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  Because it's news. I don't understand why you guys bother going through these contortions to vilify anyone pro-gay while pretending that you're not actually anti-gay. Suppressing gay rights and gay issues is never about homophobia, it's always about free speech or imperialism or journalistic bias some other buzzword. Do you think you're fooling anyone?
  - R_haterade 10y ago
    Why do I have to be pro- or anti- anything? I'm ambivalent about homosexuals. And that's on days when I even think about homosexuals. Why can't I observe that it's convenient for a propaganda machine to highlight an enemy's mistreatment of a marginalized class? Your comment typifies the mental short-circuiting that identity politics encourages. I suggest you not take everything so personally, and stop defaulting to the supposition that anything you don't agree with must be bigoted.
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  Or, to put it another way: If the CIA had set out to slander the poor, unappreciated Syrian public servants who kidnap and murder gay people, their sinister propaganda operative wouldn't have pulled "Amina's" picture off of Google Images. He wouldn't have gotten her "hometown pictures" from his own vacation photos on his public Facebook. McMaster is too stupid to be a government agent. You are seriously underestimating your enemy if you think the US intelligence system is that dim.
themihai 10y ago
> McMaster is a miserable lying asshole who did enormous harm, but promoting gay rights (however incompetently) is not "US imperialist foreign policy." I think using fake stories to push various agendas is wrong. Policy makers should make decisions on real data otherwise you end-up with nasty stuff(i.e. civil war). I think the Iraq war(and perhaps other wars) was started using a fake story too. It may worth it to start a war if the crazy guy has weapons of mass destruction but it's not the case anymore if you just want to push your culture and interests into a foreign country. At least the plan should be different(i.e. full colonisation instead of just knocking the current regime). It's all about responsibility and honesty or the lack of them.

acqq 10y ago

Not the IP address but as the article states: the creator "was raised in Harrisonburg, Virginia" USA. You shouldn't be downvoted only for that detail, IMHO. I didn't know about the whole story, so it's worth reading the post. On another side, I also think that mentioning such a fact doesn't prove that the author didn't act alone, so "readers beware." But "readers beware" should always be implicit anyway. And it's symptomatic that 2011 was actually the very characteristic year of foreign (US included) supported "spontaneous" actions against Assad in Syria and the appropriate media coverage. This Washington Post article was somewhat exceptional, it covers the Wikileaks provided US confidential cables: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-groups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syri...