4 ms·

What I've been wishing could be done is to translate and spread messages on both sides of the divide. Everyone outside the Muslim world knows the film was a fra

What I've been wishing could be done is to translate and spread messages on both sides of the divide. Everyone outside the Muslim world knows the film was a fraud and the actors were misled, and virtually everyone thinks it's stupid and unworthy of mention. But I see no mention in global media that the societies wracked by protests know this. Surely there must be some inklings of this trickling out in their media? Or is it so controlled that they only hear that America is screening the film everywhere? Surely some people there would recognise that you can't blame an entire nation for the acts of one or two individuals who hold no particular power in the country. Or do the media and authorities in these countries portray the movie as being instigated or supported by the American government and wider society? Of course, if the film was merely a convenient scapegoat in order to get some good anti-Western riots going, then it's a much deeper problem and there's little to say. What's terrible is that there's no communication between the ground on both sides. No one likes the film, but the common citizen doesn't seem to know that. What happened to the social media networks that we saw playing a big role in the Arab Spring? This case is not much different from the Danish cartoons, but it just feels to me that there should have been some improvements in social media relations since that time. And what are they saying over there that we aren't hearing from our media and social networks? I'd love to see more things like this: http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/295211_10151382506295828_1930856996_n.jpg http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/295211_101513...

megablast 14y ago
From what I have been reading, this is partly an excuse for rioting, and partly due to cultural differences. Muslim nations are ruled very strongly, and people are told what to do, so it is hard for a lot of people brought up like this to understand that this is not been created from the top. I also imagine there is a fair bit of manipulating going on, by there religious leaders.
zalew 14y ago
> What happened to the social media networks that we saw playing a big role in the Arab Spring? they host the anti-islam movie. but in all seriousness, westerners overvalue the peaceful and democratic role of the internet. I recommend reading 'The Net Delusion' by Evgeny Morozov (http://fave.co/SwFks5 http://fave.co/SwFks5).
EliRivers 14y ago
"But I see no mention in global media that the societies wracked by protests know this." There are no societies wracked by protest over this. It's a handful of high visibility, orchestrated protests (which generally seem to be anti-America rather than anti-theActualFilm) scoring media attention while most people get on with their lives.
- debacle 14y ago
  US Libya relations will be mired for years because of the murders of US citizens.
calibraxis 14y ago
Hmm, if China was the global superpower and invaded the US, and installed/supported some regional Christian dictatorships... what would happen if a film came along and really rubbed in the humiliation? In the real world, Iran's in our crosshairs, and it turns out that the US and UK overthrew their secular parliamentary democracy, installing the brutal Shah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat) People notice this stuff. I mean, it boggles the mind for us not to mention the US MILITARY which happens to be in the middle east. Are we handing out flowers? Or killing people, breaking stuff, and controlling them? Does anyone really think it's just about one film?
- berntb 14y ago
  A large factor is that dictatorships need external enemies. They have the jews and the US in the Middle East... How large? I have no clue. Do you -- really? >>what would happen if a film came along and really rubbed in the humiliation? Please don't make excuse for religious intolerance and murder. It is not racism to condemn that in other cultures -- it is normal when tyrants control a country. By the way, this extremely NSFW cartoon is the funniest argument I've seen regarding this. http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-...
  - mkhattab 14y ago
    There's no excuse for the murders related to the film and protests, but one cannot deny that US foreign policy has created fertile ground for these extremists.
    - sigzero 14y ago
      Extremists will find ground that is fertile regardless.
      - einhverfr 14y ago
        And extremists will often go where the ground is fertile. In fact, I recall something about the US sponsoring a campaign to this effect in '79: Go to Afghanistan! Join the Jihad! Fight the evil imperialists for the glory of Islam! In retrospect, that might have been short-sighted.
snewman 14y ago
It's important to understand what's behind the protests - the movie is basically just a pretext: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/douthat-its-not-about-the-video.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/douthat-its...

megablast 14y ago

From what I have been reading, this is partly an excuse for rioting, and partly due to cultural differences. Muslim nations are ruled very strongly, and people are told what to do, so it is hard for a lot of people brought up like this to understand that this is not been created from the top. I also imagine there is a fair bit of manipulating going on, by there religious leaders.

zalew 14y ago

> What happened to the social media networks that we saw playing a big role in the Arab Spring? they host the anti-islam movie. but in all seriousness, westerners overvalue the peaceful and democratic role of the internet. I recommend reading 'The Net Delusion' by Evgeny Morozov (http://fave.co/SwFks5 http://fave.co/SwFks5).

EliRivers 14y ago

"But I see no mention in global media that the societies wracked by protests know this." There are no societies wracked by protest over this. It's a handful of high visibility, orchestrated protests (which generally seem to be anti-America rather than anti-theActualFilm) scoring media attention while most people get on with their lives.

debacle 14y ago
US Libya relations will be mired for years because of the murders of US citizens.

calibraxis 14y ago

Hmm, if China was the global superpower and invaded the US, and installed/supported some regional Christian dictatorships... what would happen if a film came along and really rubbed in the humiliation? In the real world, Iran's in our crosshairs, and it turns out that the US and UK overthrew their secular parliamentary democracy, installing the brutal Shah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat) People notice this stuff. I mean, it boggles the mind for us not to mention the US MILITARY which happens to be in the middle east. Are we handing out flowers? Or killing people, breaking stuff, and controlling them? Does anyone really think it's just about one film?

berntb 14y ago
A large factor is that dictatorships need external enemies. They have the jews and the US in the Middle East... How large? I have no clue. Do you -- really? >>what would happen if a film came along and really rubbed in the humiliation? Please don't make excuse for religious intolerance and murder. It is not racism to condemn that in other cultures -- it is normal when tyrants control a country. By the way, this extremely NSFW cartoon is the funniest argument I've seen regarding this. http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-...
- mkhattab 14y ago
  There's no excuse for the murders related to the film and protests, but one cannot deny that US foreign policy has created fertile ground for these extremists.
  - sigzero 14y ago
    Extremists will find ground that is fertile regardless.
    - einhverfr 14y ago
      And extremists will often go where the ground is fertile. In fact, I recall something about the US sponsoring a campaign to this effect in '79: Go to Afghanistan! Join the Jihad! Fight the evil imperialists for the glory of Islam! In retrospect, that might have been short-sighted.

snewman 14y ago

It's important to understand what's behind the protests - the movie is basically just a pretext: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/douthat-its-not-about-the-video.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/douthat-its...