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When the Western Press Gives Credence to Anti-Israel Propaganda

(Tablet) Lee Smith - Israel's enemies are waging a relentless information war against the Jewish state, and Israel is losing. An example: Last week, the New York Times reported that a Palestinian woman named Jawaher Abu Rahmah had died from inhaling tear gas after participating in a demonstration against the separation barrier, according to the family. Israeli military officials claimed they had evidence that she died from complications due to the medication she was taking for cancer. It's not clear why the Times failed to treat the story with more circumspection: If the chances of dying from inhaling tear gas in an open space were not infinitesimal, wrongful-death suits would prevent police forces from using it, as they do throughout the U.S. and Europe, to disperse riotous crowds. At the least, this is evidence of a lazy press corps that ought to take its work a little more seriously; at worst, it means that the Western media knowingly participates in a campaign to slander and libel a UN member state. The Arabic word taqqiya is frequently used to denote the kind of dissimulation practiced by Muslims in the Middle East. The concept is a useful reminder that this is a part of the world where saying the wrong thing to the wrong person can be costly. Yet Westerners are very sensitive to the idea that some cultures do not value truth-telling in the same way that we do. So we pretend that Arab societies respect the truth as much as we do. The reason the Arab countries do not lead the world in any field is not because they are any more violent or stupid or lazy than anyone else; rather, it is because the culture is set against the very principles of reason that make success possible. It is no mystery why Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah must come to New York for medical treatment - even though his country is more than wealthy enough to build first-rate medical facilities. The culture of the kingdom rewards students for memorizing the Quran, not for scientific explorations. Western cyber-optimists argue that information technology like satellite television and the Internet will so inundate the Arabic-speaking Middle East with images and information that it will entirely reconfigure Arab societies. But culture is more powerful than technology, and how a society uses any given technology is determined by its culture. This is why no one wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to have a nuclear bomb, but no one has a problem with France's weapons program. This is also why the Internet is not going to open the eyes of those Arabs who are instead more inclined to use it to spread disinformation.
2011-01-14 08:49:34
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