Monday, May 16, 2005

covering covering islam

some points:

Mr. Said positions himself (45)
TWA Flight 800 (35)


parallels to Iraq / unintended foresight:
“…never in all this could they put Iran out of mind.” (6)

“modernization” (30) sounds like democratization

“…only what took place concerning the hostages was important about Iran; the rest of the country was ignorable.” (54) - Iraqi civilian death toll vs. American soldier death toll


Islam is beyond rationality:
“… the people overthrew the shah were simply not explainable according to the canons of behavior presupposed by modernization theory.” ? (31)

“Religious intensity of a violent kind was ascribed solely to Islam.” (33)

“…the role of Israel in mediating American views.” (34)

“Islam’s aberrations from normalcy: peculiarities of the Arabic language, oddities of its beliefs, illiberal totalitarianism, domination over its faithful…” (42)


us vs. them:
“In what way do ‘Islam’ and the Islamic world differ for Westerners from… the rest of the Third World and… the Soviet Union?” (9)

“If it is true that ‘Islam’ is an imprecise and ideologically loaded label, it is also true that ‘the West’ and ‘Christianity’ are just as problematic.” (9)

“…Islam was [not] discussed outside a framework created by passion, prejudice, and political interest.” (24)

“…when Palestinians resist Israeli colonialism such resistance is religious, not political or civil or human.” (41)


Ch 1:
“’Islam’ is unlikely to mean anything one knows either directly or objectively.” (10)

“…since when have the media mattered a great deal on questions of substance, policy, culture?” (17)

“It is only a slight overstatement to say that Muslims and Arabs are covered, discussed, apprehended as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists.” (28)


Ch 2:
“…important consequences:” (44) one-four

“Each of us lives in a world make by human beings, such things as ‘the nation’ or ‘Christianity’ or ‘Islam’ the result of willed human labor to give those things identity…” (45)
- reminds me of -
"All things are subject to interpretation; whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth."
—Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“…mass media constitutes a core of interpretations providing a picture of Islam and reflecting powerful interests in the society served by the media.” (47)

“…’that’s the way it is’…” (48) “Fair & Balanced” – Fox News

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