Political Pornography and The Electronic Intifada

First, some perspective. Epidemics of disease and natural disasters kill far more people than terrorists do. Psychologically, we take the first as a “given” and react in over-sized horror to man-wrought cruelties.

And, what most characterizes Islamic terrorism is not the body count, (gruesome and heartbreaking as that might be), but rather the sophisticated way in which jihadists use videos, are brainwashed through the use of propaganda films, and are then controlled through the use of the internet and cell phones.

In addition to expert combat training and isolation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, (LeT), brainwashed the Mumbai Ten by having them watch video footage of “Hindu extremists demolishing the Babri Masjid (mosque) and Hindu mobs killing Muslims in the aftermath of the burning of a train full of Hindu pilgrims passing through Godhra (Gujarat) in 2002.” A former LeT recruit said he had been shown photos of Muslim women raped and killed and dumped in mass graves in Bosnia.

Why do I describe the footage of real events as “propaganda” films?

Unlike the Palestinian faux-tography which depicts fake massacres in Jenin and the fake murder of children, these are, presumably, true depictions of anti-Muslim atrocities. But, they may still be viewed as "propaganda" because the footage is not presented right alongside other, opposite, horrific photos in which Muslims commit atrocities nor are the terrorist recruits guided to more ethical and less barbaric responses to barbarism. On the contrary, these films and photos are used to inflame and incite soldiers to hate as well as to kill. The films and photos indoctrinate terrorists-in-training to believe that Islam is in great danger and that their own, often lost lives, will have meaning if they defend Islam from shame and loss.

For years, some feminists viewed pornography as propaganda which teaches viewers, especially young men, to hate and plunder what they both desire and yet find disgusting: naked women.

The genie has escaped Aladdin’s lamp. Just as we have found how difficult it is to stop the production of pornography and its attendant evil, prostitution and the trafficking in sexual slaves, how, now, are we to stop the Islamist use of video footage, the internet, cell phones–or modern weaponry in their battle against western modernity?

I have wonderful readers. One reader posted this comment in response to my interview with Dr. Nancy H. Kobrin and to my blog titled Take Them At Their Word Before It Is Too Late.

"Drs. Chesler and Kobrin,

Over the years, your individual and collective efforts have provided so much enlightenment to me, imagine my surprise when I read this morning in the free METRO NY newspaper an article about "The Social Terrorists." You two are so cutting edge, it blows my mind! According to the article:

"Ten years ago, when Dr. Gabriel Weismann, a communications professor at the University of Haifa, started monitoring terrorist Web sites, there were 12. Today they are at least 6,850."

Bull's eye, you hit the nail on the head, and guess what, the "social" in the article's title, does not mean "social" in a healthy way as Dr. Kobrin pointed out. It means "social" in the KKK way. You can get answers to your questions about how to be an unhealthy, disconnected, sociopathetic pycho-bomber from real life "terrorists," online. Access plans on how to hold a "terrorist" attack in your community, ad nausea!"

My reader is right. I read the article which tells us terrorists post messages on YouTube and MySpace and run their own very sophisticated websites. The Muslim Brotherhood, Tamil Tigers, and the Sudan Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) all have their own websites, replete with chat rooms. Please note: The JEM are battling the ruthless Muslim government in Darfur. Interestingly, the JEM spokesmen, Gibriel Ibrahim, said that this movement is “not in a position to do what President-Elect Obama did with the Internet because we don’t have the resources.”

While Ibrahim might be speaking for JEM, Islamist terrorists, alas, have the funding to more than match President-Elect Obama’s use of the internet to win an election. In fact, this is precisely what they have been doing in their funding of international bodies, including the United Nations, and in their funding of Middle East Institutes in the West. Islamists have been winning the hearts and minds, not only of their own terrorist-recruits, but of westerners as well who now view reactionary Muslims as “victims,” and pro-democracy Americans and Israelis as “aggressors.”