The U.S. propaganda machine has shot out yet another misshapen degenerate. Combining the sleazy late-night infomercial, the fast-talking of a used-car salesman and the thunderous patriotism of a U.S. Army ad, this neat little collection of videos seems like such a tough pill to swallow that it should be packaged in suppository form.
I'm referring to the bastard brainchild of one Charlotte Beers, a former Madison Avenue advertising executive conscripted by the U.S. government to produce a video intended to convince the Muslim world that this country is a veritable funhouse of peace and acceptance.
First and foremost, the set of four videos demonstrates that the common Muslim's existence in the United States is more similar to an all-expense-paid birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's than it is to a trip to the jailhouse shower rooms.
To this effect, Beers rounded up a cadre of Muslims enjoying all the perks of American life to the fullest. From the Algerian director of the National Institutes of Health to an Islamic member of the New York Fire Department, all of them are more than eager to testify to their safe, racism-free lives in America. If the Islamic population at large would only emulate these exemplary Muslims, perhaps it would also understand the truly beneficent nature of the United States.
I suppose that the Bush administration thinks its success in continually fleecing the American public has more to do with the populace's innate stupidity than any sort of artificially created media environment. The Muslim world, operating on an education budget that I could double by liberating the contents of my little sister's piggy bank, might be way smarter than the United States.
On the other (more likely) hand, Muslims informed by a lifetime of skeptical media and then exposed to an isolated piece of thinly veiled U.S. propaganda will be left feeling emptier than after a lunch break during Ramadan. And well they should.
The U.S. government's expectation that a cheesy video will sway public opinion demonstrates as much arrogance and patronizing optimism as a parent showing his kids "Reefer Madness" in an attempt to dissuade marijuana use. I'm sure Bush watched "Scarface" a time or two, but that sure didn't stop him from powdering his nose harder than a drag queen.
In constructing an accurate and functional "globalized" reality, one must mediate between his or her own reality and the dominant media images he or she is continually subjected to. Placing a pro-American video on a network filled with American-bashing carries the same effectiveness of an ad touting the supremacy of soccer broadcast during the Super Bowl.
Assuming that the videos would not be lost in the larger media rush, their content is still irrelevant. Anti-American Muslim opinion would likely view any Muslim heading a large American bureau or working for the NYFD as a sellout at best and an outright heretic at worst.
I'm sure the Muslim world believes that if individual Muslims are willing to accept enough American cultural traits, they can find a niche in America. Pretending this is the cause of Muslim hostility insults the intelligence of the entire Muslim and Western worlds.
Obviously, the testimonials of four Muslims who love America carries little weight in the face of 1,000 Muslims interned in Guantanamo Bay, the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians at the hands of U.S.-made weapons, or the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq thanks to U.S. sanctions. The "Crusade," real or imagined, is going on in Baghdad, Kabul and Jenin, not in Omaha, Neb.
Solomon Rotstein is a humanities sophomore. Reach him at solomon.rotstein@asu.edu.
