In the wake of 11-9, did anyone else wonder to themselves why the media and the government chose to target Islamic and Middle Eastern culture almost immediately? No sooner had the dust settled than the news agencies began speculating that it was "Islamic extremists" and stating that "mass murder was an Arab trait". One would think the media would not be so quick to point fingers, considering that they had said the same thing about the Oklahoma City bombing only later to be humilated when the true terrorists turned out to be white supremacists affiliated with the "Christian Idenity movment". Then again, in the wake of 11-9, some news reporters tried to revive the non-existant link between Islam and Oklahoma City. One station even played alleged clips of Palestineans "dancing in the streets". This turned out to be faked, but several news agencies ran with it anyway.

All of these messages by the media resulted in the most shocking rise of racially and religiously motivated violent hate crimes towards a specific minority in US history. Americans vandalized mosques, stole property, harassed businesses, assaulted people (including women and children) and committed many other crimes to "proove their patriotism". A few people committed murder, in cold blood. These crimes were often directed at those who "looked" Middle Eastern/Muslim, and perhaps telling of the low intelligence typical of criminals, many of the victims were Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews and atheists. Certainly the media knew it was causing these hate crimes, and even made a show of saying "Islam's not even, just factions of it". Yet it gave mixed messages, portraying Mecca, the Hajj, Jerusalem and Middle Eastern music or food alongside stories of "honor killings", suicide bombings and people having their hands chopped off. All of these things were precisely intended to make Islam look violent and backwards.

Equally disturbing are attempts to link Saddam Hussein to radical Islam. He is depicted as being a fanatical Muslim, and every attempt is made to link him with al-Qaeda or even Iran. Never mind the fact that he was just as brutal with the Iranians as he was the Kurds, or the fact that he was a purely secular leader with a pan-Arabist agenda. The media wants Americans to think of the war in Iraq as being connected to Islam and terrorism when it isn't. Yet how many people believe that Saddam Hussein was a Muslim? He wasn't. He was a secular pan-Arabist leader who believed in re-incarnation and consulted with "magicians".

So why does the media hate Islam? The answer is that Islam represents the biggest stumbling block to media homogeny. They aren't drinking Coke and Pepsi. They aren't wearing Abercrombie & Fitch or Nike. They aren't listening to Justin Timberlake and Brittney Spears. They aren't eating at McDonalds or watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster. And because of that, the media isn't making money off of them. Don't believe me? Consider that the American movie/news/music/whatever industries make quite a bit of money selling their products in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Even in "third world" areas like Africa, Asia and Latin America, U.S. companies can sell their products with little local competition. American "culture" is seen as a sign of affluence. But in the Middle East (and North Africa, Afghanistan, Central Asia, etc) Islamic values have kept such things marginal at best. Cairo alone produces more movies, music and literature annually than the U.S. More importantly, it relates to the local culture. Something the US can't compete with.

The wealthy people in business, the media and politics see this as a threat to their own power and wealth. Generally speaking, they want to create homogeny, a sort of "mono-culture" as it were. They want the masses to live in suburbs, drive SUVs, watch the same things, eat the same things, dress the same way, etc. They want culture to be the same in Venice, Baghdad or Beijing as it would be in the suburbs of the Midwest. To them, the only people deserving of variety are those with the money and affluence to have it. To them, the thought that "average" people would eat hummus, kibbez and falafel instead of McDonalds or Taco Bell is threatening. That people might wear a thawb or salwar-kameez instead of a suit or t-shirt and jeans is threatening. That people might travel to Beirut, Istanbul or on the Hajj instead of Cancun or Colorado is threatening. And the concept that people might want to listen to Hakim, Khaled, Umm Kalsoum or Fairouz instead of the generic crappy pop played on the radio is truely horrifying. Why? Because it threatens the conformity.

I know that what I'm saying here sounds pretty hard to swallow, like pretty much every other insane conspiracy theory out there. However, if you don't believe me, hear this out. Remember the Superbowl Halftime scandal involving Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson? Notice that Janet Jackson took all the blame for that, was banned from things for that and so forth. Justin Timberlake was not blamed for it, was not apologetic for it, and still went to awards shows and got alot of fame. Why? Because the media wants him to be their darling. They've tried to create a "bad boy" image for him, putting him besides Evanesence and Ozzy to make him look "cool". Heck, even consider his stardom, or Brittney Spears'. Nobody I know listens to either, and I know many people (including local musicians and artists). They don't have any talent, they lip sync, and yet they are popular.... Why? Because the media wants them to be. They've created stars out of people nobody likes. That is how powerful, and dangerous, the media is.

But there is also an unspoken religious conflict going on here, and one that people are trying to keep hidden. Consider for a minute that the president is a born-again Christian, and a big supporter of faith based initiatives. I have no problem with a person having their own religion, but in my own experience converts and born-agains tend to be especially zealous in their practices. Certain charismatic denominations tend to take a dim view of other religions and foreign cultures (certainly the Baptists do, if anyone remembers their campaigns to "convert the heathen" Muslims, Hindus and Jews). Theres also a special significance attached to the Middle East, in particular because they need the Temple to exist in order for their apocalyptic scenarios to come to pass. That (and that alone) is why they support Israel. They feel they need it, and that afterwards all but a handful of Jews will be gone. Whether or not you believe in such things as in the Book of Revelations, you must admit that trying to force such events to happen is blasphemous.

So why Iraq? Why Afghanistan? Because, aside from bringing American ("Christian") power into the region, it also allows the U.S. closer proxemiety to Iran, one of the only Muslim theocracies, and Saudi Arabia, the home of the holiest site in Islam. To the Christian fundamentalists, Islam is a threat. It is the fastest growing religion, the only one that stands up against their conversions, and (more terrifying for them) the only one that is "taking people away from Christianity". After all, they place a great emphasis on making America "white", "Christian" and "western".... the thought that average Americans might abandon Christianity and "western culture" is threatening. So they want to gain religious converts in the Middle East. How many missionaries have there been in Iraq and Afghanistan? My point exactly. And is it any coincidence that the attack on Afghanistan happened shortly after they captured two Christian missionaries? Or that Iran and Saudi Arabia (two surrounded countries) doesn't allow missionaries?

Also, the fact that 11-9 benefited Bush and his personal vendettas too. Allegedly he was planning to go into Afghanistan anyway.... what a coincidence then that the head of a terrorist group was hiding there and made an attack on the U.S.... and what a coincidence that Bush's support rose afterwards, as did support for a war in Iraq. Also, isn't it a coincidence that the found Saddam just as support was waning. And another coincidence that Spain was attacked just as people started to question the "war on terrorism". Makes you wonder if maybe a U.S. agent placed the bomb. After all, the U.S. claimed al-Qaeda was responsable from day one. And the U.S. did send FBI to investigate, which was even creepier as the media "uncovered" terrorists. Even worse was how these terrorists seemed to change ethnicitites, shifting from Pakistanis to Algerians to Moroccans.

Also notice the anger the media stirred up by mentioning the four businessmen killed like hogs in Iraq. They never mentioned how many Iraqis were killed, or anything about American soldiers who lost their lives or even that the businessmen in Iraq were making more money than you would ever see. No, because those things might disturb you, and instead they wanted to stir up your anger against the Iraqis. The American media considers a few Iraqi civilians to be acceptable casualties, but rich American businessmen are enough to provoke massive combat. Ask yourself, would the government care that much about saving your ass? The funniest part though is that those four were actually mercenaries, former military turned "security consultants". Yet they still got ambushed and killed without putting up a fight. Goes to show how much a cowardly little mercenary is worth when true combat begins.

Oil too plays a part, but not so much as you think. There are large oil reserves in the Middle East and Central Asia, but eventually they will be depleted, and theres still oil in the Americas, Russia and West Africa. The big deal isn't that oil is there, but that the Americans want "western" control over the oil fields, rather than local control. Think of the rising oil prices and how the American companies want to paint OPEC and the Middle Eastern oil companies as being evil. Of course, they don't mention that the American gas stations set their own prices, prices not dictated by some foreign sheikh but by an American CEO in his office building. They don't want you to know that when gas prices go up, you could be taking it out by boycotting a local station, or by taking out your anger against the CEOs.

Theres more to be said, both on this and related issues, but the fact remains that there are things are real, and scary. Hopefully the Media, Big Business and Religious Right will turn against each other and destroy themselves before they drag this country down. Otherwise, we're screwed. The world is screwed.