There’s propaganda and there’s propaganda.
This Washington Post piece by Greg Jaffe and Thomas Gibbons-Neff is cheap and shameless. It’s from the fiction school of non-fiction with obvious villains (Americans upset over Muslim terrorism) and with themselves as the heroes. Front and center is the mother of one of those murdered. Greg Jaffe and Thomas Gibbons-Neff never ask her what she thinks about this, instead they cynically juxtapose her with people upset by Muslim terrorists to make it seem as if they’re harassing her.
Proxmire stood across from the bullet-riddled Armed Forces Recruiting Center, one of two military sites attacked by the gunman last week. She brushed back a strand of sweat-soaked hair and sobbed. Her son had been dead for barely one day. Around her people were screaming.
“I can’t believe these people even come here to this country!” one woman yelled. “Why do they come here?”
This is cheap Pravda-esque stuff and it gets worse. All the Americans “yell”. They’re mean and angry. The Muslims are nice and conciliatory. Greg Jaffe and Thomas Gibbons-Neff excuse the killer as “aimless, depressed”. He seemed to have aimed pretty well, but why quibble.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have launched sweeping initiatives aimed at shoring up their ties to Muslim communities across the country, with special pilot programs underway in major cities such as Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. But in many ways the bureau is working against itself. Arrests of suspects accused of planning travel to Syria, sting operations and expanded surveillance have at times alienated the Muslim communities that security agencies depend on for cooperation.
So fighting Muslim terrorism… alienates Muslims. Clearly the only way we can get their cooperation in fighting terrorism is by not fighting terrorism. It’s working pretty well for Obama.
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