Re: replying to Juan was Re: CNN's web site today Sunday 14.10.01

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Gary MacLennan wrote:

> Depressing as you say but I would insist that the intended meaning of the
> essays is as you say one of a society of lawlessness where the order that
> the  American military can bring is sorely needed.  That comes across I
> think if we look at one of the companion essays on the same site.

I think that it comes accross quite clearly also in the cover of the
current issue of Time, visible on the right hand side of
http://www.time.com/time/ with the visage of the screaming,
enraged-looking Arab(?).  Follow the link to the cover story --notice
also that under the visage of the angry Arab/Muslim are two very telling
hyperlinked captions: "War on All Fronts" and "Search and Destroy"-- and
one is taken to an index page with the caption "Facing the Fury" with an
image of a group of angry Muslim men, one of whom appears to be striking
at the camera, and by extension to the explicitly American reader.  One
of the links off of that page depicting angry, emotional Muslims is the
one leading to the photo essay on "Pakistan's Wild West."

Now, isn't anger often regarded as a "primitive" emotion?  In the west
we certainly value intellect over emotion, or at least strong, overt
displays of anger or rejection.

Well, if we continue following the link to the cover story "War on All
Fronts" http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101011015/cover.html we view,
under a banner showing the same crowd of Muslims striking at the camera,
the article's subheading "With a mix of firepower, food aid and
diplomacy, Bush tries to take out bin Laden yet keep the Muslim world
from exploding".    Thus after a series of no less than three images of
Muslims as enraged, violent people imbued with, and succeptible, to
primitive emotionalism we are informed that the West with a "mix of
firepower [superior achievement/intellect], food aid [superior morals],
and diplomacy [superior self-restraint]" is trying to those self-same
Muslims from flying into another one of their emotional fits.  I don't
think Time has done a more racist montage since their OJ Simpson
coverage.


>  "Fighting Back".

The use of the notion of "fighting back" in conjunction with the "Wild
West" calls to mind one of the archetypes of the movie Western, that of
a town fallen into lawlessness and degeneracy until the good people of
the town gather strength and take on the band of evildoers (Hey, there's
that term again! Hm, where'd I hear before?...), runs them out of town,
and cleans up the place.  Think, for example, of "The Magnificent
Seven", but instead of Yul gathering the team, we've got George building
a multinational coalition (which oddly seems to have only two
members--the USA and its dowager mother, the UK).

- Juan
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