A Tale of Terrorists

[kLmNaTy]

A TALE OF TERRORISTS
[Col. Writ. 5/20/04] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal

To say the word, "terrorist", is to evoke an image inculcated into our consciousness of a scowling, bearded and turbaned fundamentalist Arab.

That is the sheer power of the corporate media, in its ability to shape and limit our thinking.

For what's lost is the distinction between retail terrorism and state terrorism. When a state unleashes its power against innocents, it's acceptable collateral damage; when a group does it, it's animalistic evil, and sheer barbarity.

The media's innate bias in favor of nation-states and corporate power makes state violence the norm, and thus makes it virtually invisible.

That's because the media is owned by the wealthy and uses its influence to protect its class interests.

The day this is written, a US plane fired high-powered weaponry into a wedding party in Iraq; at least 40 people were killed. The same day Israeli tanks open fire on a Palestinian protest march to Rafah, killing some 20 unarmed civilians, including women and children.

No corporate media agency will call these acts "terrorist", but for the Iraqis and Palestinians on the receiving end of the tanks, fighter planes, and helicopter gunships, terror is probably the overwhelming feeling.

But under the reigning media regimes, Arabs can only be projected as terrorists (especially after 9-11), and even when they are subjected to massive state violence, it is overlooked as if they are somehow complicit in their own oppression. And because they are permanent suspects, they are somehow responsible for calling this extreme carnage on themselves.

It's war .. and 'war is hell'. Oh, well!

We are witnessing the dehumanization of a people -- where Arab = terrorist - and any degree of violence visited upon them is acceptable.

When we digest this media mental poisoning, we become a party to this evil, and acquiesce in acts of media violence.

We must all reject it, for the mind-poison that it is, and call state terror the evil that it is -- whether the culprit is American or Israeli.


Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Read Mr. Jamal's latest work, *WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South End Press (www.southendpress.org).]

To download Mp3's of Mumia's commentaries visit www.prisonradio.org or www.fsrn.org

Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI-Greene 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370

[MrWG]

Originally Posted by kLmNaTy

A TALE OF TERRORISTS
[Col. Writ. 5/20/04] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal

To say the word, "terrorist", is to evoke an image inculcated into our consciousness of a scowling, bearded and turbaned fundamentalist Arab.

That is the sheer power of the corporate media, in its ability to shape and limit our thinking.

For what's lost is the distinction between retail terrorism and state terrorism. When a state unleashes its power against innocents, it's acceptable collateral damage; when a group does it, it's animalistic evil, and sheer barbarity.

The media's innate bias in favor of nation-states and corporate power makes state violence the norm, and thus makes it virtually invisible.

That's because the media is owned by the wealthy and uses its influence to protect its class interests.

The day this is written, a US plane fired high-powered weaponry into a wedding party in Iraq; at least 40 people were killed. The same day Israeli tanks open fire on a Palestinian protest march to Rafah, killing some 20 unarmed civilians, including women and children.

No corporate media agency will call these acts "terrorist", but for the Iraqis and Palestinians on the receiving end of the tanks, fighter planes, and helicopter gunships, terror is probably the overwhelming feeling.

But under the reigning media regimes, Arabs can only be projected as terrorists (especially after 9-11), and even when they are subjected to massive state violence, it is overlooked as if they are somehow complicit in their own oppression. And because they are permanent suspects, they are somehow responsible for calling this extreme carnage on themselves.

It's war .. and 'war is hell'. Oh, well!

We are witnessing the dehumanization of a people -- where Arab = terrorist - and any degree of violence visited upon them is acceptable.

When we digest this media mental poisoning, we become a party to this evil, and acquiesce in acts of media violence.

We must all reject it, for the mind-poison that it is, and call state terror the evil that it is -- whether the culprit is American or Israeli.


Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Read Mr. Jamal's latest work, *WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South End Press (www.southendpress.org).]

To download Mp3's of Mumia's commentaries visit www.prisonradio.org or www.fsrn.org

Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI-Greene 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370

Amen to that! The media is full of poison. So is almost every other institution in the west. That is why it is important to cleanse oneself from the poison by learning how to see the psychological manipulation that takes place.

In this millenium all of us have to learn to fight against manipulation of the mind. That was and is the true battlefield. When you lose their everything else is lost. When you gain there you have the power to gaine everywhere else.

[khaladeen1]

Our entire idealology has been formed, shaped, and manipulated by those who run this country- We call anybody that fight America -terrorist) Without having identified what causes the acts of terrorism)
(Einstein, nothing happens until something Moves")- The so called words of wisdom from one of their People!!!
What direction are we moving in as Americans,- who does our policies move on or against, Everything that is in the best interest of the United States is not necessarily the best interest of another country.
The biggest terrorist in our own country have either been given the badge of hero, or written off as physcologically challenged individuals.