The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Media as Islamic Publicity Agents

Posted on | August 14, 2015 | 48 Comments

One of the best books you’ll ever read is Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy, and in Chapter 6 (“Crusades of the Anointed”), Sowell observes the tendency of liberals to divide the world into “targets” and “mascots.”

For example, the U.S. military and evangelical Christians are common targets of the Anointed, whereas homosexuals and criminals are among their favorite mascots. You see how this plays out especially in media coverage of different groups. During the “Occupy” movement, when college kids took part in riotous protests against big business, this made college kids mascots, because they were attacking a target of the Anointed. The media were willing to ignore reports that women were being sexually assaulted in Occupy encampments. However, once the anti-business protests ended and the kids returned to college, sexual assault was suddenly big news because, in that context, heterosexual males are targets and feminists are mascots.

The media narrative must always conform to the particular prejudices of the Anointed, which is why the media are always more concerned about “Islamophobia” than about, say, guys named Muhammad flying jets into skycrapers. Generally speaking, of course, the American media is hostile to religion, because in America, “religion” means Bible-thumpers who vote Republican. However, in terms of foreign policy, the Anointed always sees foreigners as mascots, and if the foreigners are Muslims, this means Muslims are automatically mascots, too. This was especially true after 9/11, because the U.S. military was fighting Muslims and the media hate the U.S. military almost as much as the media hate Bible-thumping evangelical Christians. You can tell when the Anointed have picked a group as mascots, because the media will always portray mascots as victims of “prejudice” and “stereotypes”:

During a segment on the recent New York Times piece detailing the systematic and ideological slavery and rape perpetuated on thousands of young girls by ISIS soldiers, CNN host Chris Cuomo wondered whether the story might feed negative stereotypes about Islam.
“Let’s finish this part of the discussion on a point that you feel often needs to be made,” Cuomo said to Muslim woman’s rights activist Qanta Ahmed. “This feeds the impression that these Muslims are animals, savages and their faith makes them that way.”
“And it feeds an impression of what Islam is,” he continued. “What is your response to that?”

See? The problem for Chris Cuomo isn’t that Muslim terrorists are raping little girls. No, the real problem is that this “feeds the impression” that Muslims are terrorists who rape little girls. Maybe if some of these ISIS guys enrolled at Amherst or Columbia, Chris Cuomo would stop worrying about our “impression” of them.

 

Category: CNN, Islam, Media Bias, Terrorism

Comments

48 Responses to “Media as Islamic Publicity Agents”

  1. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 14th, 2015 @ 3:38 pm

    The left is defending raping children…
    https://twitter.com/MsEBL/status/632286052917510144

  2. DeadMessenger
    August 14th, 2015 @ 3:46 pm

    Cuomo needs to shut his flapping piehole.

    But beyond that, how is it that his mom and the other 12 viewers don’t see the obvious asininity in a dumbass statement blowing off child rape, and instead fretting about the reputations of Muslims in the international community?

    Are they blind? Stupid? Or do they just not care?

  3. GAHCindy
    August 14th, 2015 @ 3:54 pm

    They defend murdering them. What’s a little rape?

  4. Daniel Freeman
    August 14th, 2015 @ 4:45 pm

    They just don’t care (if you belong to a group they don’t like), which is stupid, and makes them blind.

  5. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 14th, 2015 @ 5:25 pm

    ISIS fringe benefits?

  6. DeadMessenger
    August 14th, 2015 @ 8:17 pm

    Which brings up the Bible thumper reference.

    I was sitting on a jury as foreman (after having made a huge deal out of being a Christian, figuring they’d toss me for sure).

    The defense weasel and the assistant weasel were talking to my husband during a break (he was waiting for me), and said that the assistant weasel had wanted to toss me because I was a “Bible thumper”. But the lead weasel had said no, we WANT the Bible thumper (lesson learned there).

    Good call for them, because everybody but me voted guilty at first, but then I brought them around to the right decision (i.e., my decision, by definition, lol). And the prosecuting weasel about spit nails.

    The moral of the story is that when a lot of people figure you for a Christian, you get marginalized as a “Bible thumper. Dumb, considering the influence I had over the rest of the jury.

  7. Jim R
    August 14th, 2015 @ 9:05 pm

    Chris Cuomo is a poster child for the left’s mania for elevating and celebrating idiocy.

  8. M. Thompson
    August 14th, 2015 @ 9:21 pm

    By their actions they worship violence. It is past time to show them what that can mean.

  9. Finrod Felagund
    August 14th, 2015 @ 9:25 pm

    The big honking exception to foreigners being mascots is: Israel.

  10. RS
    August 14th, 2015 @ 10:15 pm

    Did you volunteer that you were a Christian? In my state, it’s impermissible to inquire about religious beliefs during voir dire. The only inquiry which is permissible is whether a potential juror cannot personally sit in judgment over another person because of religious reasons.

  11. Daniel Freeman
    August 14th, 2015 @ 10:25 pm

    In Kyriarchy theory, it’s all about remediating power inequalities. However, in practice, it’s all about tearing down whoever is on top in the United States. When they oppose Israel, it’s because they are the truest believers of the International Jewish Conspiracy theories, more than any neo-Nazi.

  12. DeadMessenger
    August 14th, 2015 @ 10:47 pm

    Heck yeah, I volunteered it. Their tip off was when they asked what my favorite book was and I said the Bible. Every single question gave me the opportunity to answer from the Bible in the form of “It is written in Malachi…” and “The Lord God commands…” and “It is to the glory of God that…”. And I mean every single question, other than acknowledging my name and answering a couple of intrusive personal questions. And not in a psycho manner either, that doesn’t bring glory to God; but in a rational, logical and reasonable way. It sounds weird when I try to explain, but you’d have to hear me in action. I’m an evangelical after all, and I know how to evangelize in a natural, non-whackjob way.

    Moreover, when others in the jury pool heard me, they started answering similarly, which goes to show the influence God’s word has over some people who might otherwise be shy. And prior to voir dire, I was evangelizing people in the jury room. I was talking about prophecy in a normal, indoor tone to someone, and other people started moving in closer. Everybody likes to hear about prophecy. In the jury room, I have a captive audience, and I can’t and won’t be silenced. I’ll go to jail first (giving me a new captive audience to evangelize).

    What’s more, it seems to be God’s will, because I get called for jury duty way more than anyone I know, and I get voir dire’d often also, even though that’s by lottery.

    I do this every time I’m forced into something that that I don’t want to do. I do it at work whenever people ask me why or how I did a thing (hey, they opened the door by asking a question).

  13. DeadMessenger
    August 14th, 2015 @ 11:01 pm

    I think they just say it’s about power inequality. But really, it’s the inarguable fact that people who work hard tend to make more money and move up the career ladder, thus making the segment that doesn’t work hard look bad. So the bottom segment resents the hard-working segment for making them look bad. However, their narcissism prevents them from admitting that the are their own problem, so they make up a fake “power inequality” narrative in order to preserve their victimization rationalization.

    This makes more sense when I think it than when I write it, also.

  14. Daniel Freeman
    August 14th, 2015 @ 11:22 pm

    Makes perfect sense to me. I was just focusing on their provincialism, over their groupism and glass-jaw narcissism.

  15. Daniel Freeman
    August 14th, 2015 @ 11:37 pm

    I assumed that as soon as I read this in February: NY Times Reporter Heartbroken ISIS Treated Pro-Palestinian Activist Kayla Mueller “Like Other Kuffars”

  16. RKae
    August 15th, 2015 @ 12:35 am

    …everybody but me voted guilty at first, but then I brought them around to the right decision…

    Holy smoke! You’re Henry Fonda in “12 Angry Men!”

  17. RKae
    August 15th, 2015 @ 1:37 am

    Homosexuals to one side of me, Mohammedans to the other side of me.

    It’s like being caught between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany: Your two enemies wouldn’t be teaming up if not to destroy YOU. And the moment they destroy you they will then attack each other.

    The only thing the American left and the Islamists have in common is that the mainstream media love them both. Only the MSM could have such cognitive dissonance.

  18. Daniel Freeman
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:08 am

    What rustled the jimmies of the NYT in February was that Daesh would treat a pro-Palestinian that way. That she was a Christian? Eh. Kuffar.

  19. DeadMessenger
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:41 am

    I hadn’t considered it that like that, but yeah, actually that sounds about right. Good thing I’m not pushing Ponzi schemes, I suppose.

  20. DeadMessenger
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:51 am

    “And the moment they destroy you they will then attack each other.”

    That would be a quick dustup insofar as one of those groups exponentially outnumbers the other, and only one side has nukes and rockets (to the best of my knowledge).

  21. DeadMessenger
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:52 am

    That would be a funny headline, if the truth weren’t so damn pathetic.

  22. DeadMessenger
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:55 am

    I know extended families of heavily armed rednecks who could show them right now.

  23. Dana
    August 15th, 2015 @ 8:24 am

    ‘twould seem that the esteemed Mr Cuomo left open the obvious question: if this feeds the impression that these Muslims are animals, savages and their faith makes them that way, is the impression incorrect?

    This is the intellectual problem the left have: political correctness simply forbids them from examining certain questions.

  24. Dana
    August 15th, 2015 @ 8:34 am

    Yes.

  25. M. Thompson
    August 15th, 2015 @ 8:39 am

    Not that sort of disorganized and personal sort, I’m talking about the impersonal and mechanized kind that takes a sizable army.

  26. Shawn Smith
    August 15th, 2015 @ 9:22 am

    The more I actually learn about Islam, the more convinced I become it is literally demonic in origin. Its adherents are human beings made in the image of God who can be saved and who must be treated with whatever dignity possible. Its ideology is sick evil and needs to be destroyed.

    I am deeply ashamed now of the vague, just-another-world-religion impression I got from my early education.

  27. Fail Burton
    August 15th, 2015 @ 9:41 am

    The PC translate Islam into non-white. That’s why you saw so many charges of Charlie Hebdo begging to be attacked because of their racist cartoons, a thing that never actually happened.

  28. ChandlersGhost
    August 15th, 2015 @ 10:15 am

    Perhaps OTC, but what the hell is any American civilian doing over there?

  29. ChandlersGhost
    August 15th, 2015 @ 10:17 am

    Perhaps off-topic, but what the hell is any American civilian doing over there?

  30. RKae
    August 15th, 2015 @ 10:44 am

    Y’know, it’s like when those damned idiots got caught crossing the border into Iran because they were hiking.

    Hiking?

    Aren’t there nice places to hike in the USA? Ever heard of Yellowstone? Yosemite? Olympic Rain Forest?

  31. RKae
    August 15th, 2015 @ 10:46 am

    You’re spot on.

    It’s Satanism under another name. Its weird view of sex as a motivator and punisher is enough to condemn it.

  32. RKae
    August 15th, 2015 @ 10:55 am

    Take a whiff on this!

    John Rhys-Davies speaking out about Christianity being wiped out.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3197450/Lord-Rings-actor-fears-lost-moral-compass-completely-fears-end-Western-European-Christian-civilization.html

    Rhys-Davies said, “Basically, Christianity in the Middle East and in Africa is being wiped out – I mean not just ideologically but physically.”

  33. CaptDMO
    August 15th, 2015 @ 12:05 pm

    Just how many “anecdotals”, “taken out of contexts”, “that’s NOT what we MEANT!s” and “unexpectedlys” claims DOES it take to make up an APPROVED “stereotypical”?

  34. From Around the Blogroll | The First Street Journal.
    August 15th, 2015 @ 12:26 pm

    […] Robert Stacey Stacy McCain on The Other McCain: Media as Islamic Publicity Agents: […]

  35. Finrod Felagund
    August 15th, 2015 @ 12:43 pm

    “It is a pity that our friends lie between,” said Gimli. “If no land divided Isengard and Mordor, then they could fight while we watched and waited.”
    “The victor would emerge stronger than either, and free from doubt,” said Gandalf.

  36. DeadMessenger
    August 15th, 2015 @ 12:45 pm

    Sure, but Obamadinajad would never allow our military to do that.

  37. The original Mr. X
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:15 pm

    I’ll go to jail first (giving me a new captive audience to evangelize).

    Ba-dum tish.

  38. PapayaSF
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:50 pm

    It’s more than political correctness. It’s a basic tenet of (small-l) liberalism that all religions are equal before the law. That has gotten stretched to mean that all members of all religions behave equally, which is absurd, because while there’s overlap, different religions are, you know, different. Jesus was not a caravan robber and warlord.

    Islam is based on the Koran, said to be the true words of Allah (who speaks somewhat archaic Arabic). Muslims read in in the original language. There’s very little room for interpretation, compared to the Bible, which was written by dozens of people “inspired” by God, in a handful of different languages over hundreds of years. Few read it in the original. Plus, the more peaceful New Testament largely supersedes the more violent Old.

    So it’s much more than political correctness that prevents people from seeing the situation clearly.

  39. PapayaSF
    August 15th, 2015 @ 2:54 pm

    The origins of Islam are quite interesting and rarely discussed. It seems to have begun as an offshoot of Christianity, and then was turned into a political tool for conquest. See
    Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam’s Obscure Origins by Robert Spencer    .

  40. M. Thompson
    August 15th, 2015 @ 3:46 pm

    He may not have a choice, besides, elections are coming.

  41. Dystopia Max
    August 15th, 2015 @ 4:21 pm

    The more interesting question is whether Islam itself is the primary agent of Middle Eastern dysfunction, or Arab culture, or the Arabs themselves. Given how early and often they go for child rape, calling them ‘fellow humans’ seems a bit of a stretch at this point.

    In any case, once the Cuckfederacy is taken out of power, and once civilized people start living like they actually own the countries in which they live, a study needs to be done on whether book-burning, forced relocation, or targeted tribal genocide is the most warranted solution for Middle Eastern dysfunction. (Leave no options off the table, obviously and realize that a combination may be called for in certain instances.)

    Until then, don’t waste your outrage on subhumans and degenerates. But do declare, early and often, that they are not humans as we understand them. Liberals will sacralize them as Untainted Innocents Without Agency, Without Guilt, and Thus Models for us All unless you specifically and loudly identify them as subhumans and degenerates.

  42. theBuckWheat
    August 15th, 2015 @ 6:35 pm

    The koran is available for anyone to read online. The only quirk you have to know is that the the older parts, written in Mecca are replaced (or “abrogated”) by the newer parts written in Median. With that in mind, anyone can see with their eyes the evil violence that the koran demands the followers of “allah” practice.

    Now, western apologists for Islam will tell you that you cannot believe your eyes, that you just don’t understand these commands to slay the unbeliever. These are all just metaphors, don’t you see.

    The violent jihadists are practicing a form of Islam that is more true to the words of the text. It appears to me that so-called “moderate” Muslims just cannot bring themselves to accept the violence and depravity that the koran demands of them.

    Indeed that is the problem with groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, and so-called “radical” imams in the west. They have merely been successful at convincing “moderate” Muslims to practice a form of Islam that is more true to the text.

  43. Daniel Freeman
    August 15th, 2015 @ 7:51 pm

    Semi-OT: So, the Society of Professional Journalists held a debate on #GamerGate called AirPlay, with some GG heavy hitters and TOM fave Ashe Schow.

    Naturally, the antis interrupted it with bomb threats. Because of course! They’ve been relentlessly pushing the narrative that GamerGaters are violent, but SJWs always lie and always project.

    (h/t Vox Day)

  44. ChandlersGhost
    August 16th, 2015 @ 12:06 am

    I think someone at Taki’s brought this up. I don’t want to blame the victim, but at the same time…Dude.

  45. Adjoran
    August 16th, 2015 @ 4:22 am

    The Left sees morality differently than we do. To them, it is another tool. If taking the high moral ground best advances their agenda, that’s what they do. But they will just as readily violate all sense of humanity if that is perceived as having a “correct” outcome.

    Part of their ideology is opposing the US, as the great force for freedom and capitalism in the world, so they by default give great latitude to any nation or force that hurts or restrains the US, even if the offender isn’t also leftist.

  46. Quartermaster
    August 16th, 2015 @ 5:14 pm

    And what Army would he use? What’s left is already too undersized.

  47. Quartermaster
    August 16th, 2015 @ 5:17 pm

    ISWYDT

  48. JohnnyL53
    August 17th, 2015 @ 8:30 am

    On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, my local paper interviewed some muslims about any harassment they might have undergone in the aftermath. The most terrible harassment was what some of them interpreted as “dirty” looks on the bus. The entire point of the article was to make the rest of us feel guilty about this instead of highlighting that in spite of what happened we were remarkably restrained. They could have shown how we as Americans reacted vs say the typical angry muslim mob rioting about a youtube video.