Sunday, November 23, 2003
Oman Times Editor Steeped in Hatred
Times of Oman Editor in chief Essa bin Mohammed al Zidjali starts out promisingly enough in this special to the English-language Arab News.
Arguing for an English language Arab media channel to broadcast quality programming accessible to Westerners, he writes:
"The Arabs have been making plans, for a long time, for the launch of an Arab television channel in English that would target the West, especially the US, with a view to projecting the true image of the Arabs — Arab generosity and warmth, the forgiving nature of Arabs and their willingness to extend a hand of friendship to all civilizations. The channel would present our rich and ancient culture and civilization as well as our noble traditions and great principles that are passed down the generations."
"Hmmm," I'm thinking. "I'm down with that. Count me in. I'll watch it!"
...So I was wholly unprepared for the poisonous passages that came next:
"The Arab channel could confront the Zionist channels that portray us as terrorists. The Zionist channels are misleading the people in the West, especially the Americans, with lies, and thereby turning them against the Arabs. The proposed Arab channel could confront such lies with undeniable truths and irrefutable evidence, laying stress on our flexible style that reflects Arab forgiveness...
...The need for the channel assumes added significance when we realize how the Zionist lobby is exploiting every single opportunity to distort the facts, arguing that the Arabs are behind all the [Sept. 11th] disasters..."
So this is Editor in Chief of Oman Times? And this is how he chooses to make his point? Doesn't he see that his own pervasive hatred immediately discredits him in the eyes of the very market he is trying to reach?
If this is what they're running in their English-language media outlets, what can they be printing in Arabic?
The venom runs very deep here.
Arguing for an English language Arab media channel to broadcast quality programming accessible to Westerners, he writes:
"The Arabs have been making plans, for a long time, for the launch of an Arab television channel in English that would target the West, especially the US, with a view to projecting the true image of the Arabs — Arab generosity and warmth, the forgiving nature of Arabs and their willingness to extend a hand of friendship to all civilizations. The channel would present our rich and ancient culture and civilization as well as our noble traditions and great principles that are passed down the generations."
"Hmmm," I'm thinking. "I'm down with that. Count me in. I'll watch it!"
...So I was wholly unprepared for the poisonous passages that came next:
"The Arab channel could confront the Zionist channels that portray us as terrorists. The Zionist channels are misleading the people in the West, especially the Americans, with lies, and thereby turning them against the Arabs. The proposed Arab channel could confront such lies with undeniable truths and irrefutable evidence, laying stress on our flexible style that reflects Arab forgiveness...
...The need for the channel assumes added significance when we realize how the Zionist lobby is exploiting every single opportunity to distort the facts, arguing that the Arabs are behind all the [Sept. 11th] disasters..."
So this is Editor in Chief of Oman Times? And this is how he chooses to make his point? Doesn't he see that his own pervasive hatred immediately discredits him in the eyes of the very market he is trying to reach?
If this is what they're running in their English-language media outlets, what can they be printing in Arabic?
The venom runs very deep here.
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