Thought-control, 9-11 and Racist Manipulations
by Diane V. McLoughlin
September 24, 2010: Turning on my television a week ago, the Imam of the much-maligned future New York City-
based Islamic cultural center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, was speaking into a bank of microphones. There was a Council on
Foreign Relations logo on the wall behind him. (1)
I was impressed with how generous the BBC was with the time given over to the Imam's speech, at least a good thirty
minutes of it, before they went back to their regular programming. It is important to try to defuse what appears to be a
rising anti-Muslim hysteria; clearly, some people get this. The Imam had an opportunity to reach out to Americans in
his own way, in his own time. CNN...FOX...MSNBC... CBC...not one station in North America ran with it, so far as
I could see. The CFR, an American foreign affairs
think tank, had to go overseas to get Imam Rauf's speech picked up,
apparently.
While it is true that CNN had had Rauf on* for an interview with
Soledad O'Brien days before, O'Brien was as combative as her bias
was obvious. Her aggressive attempts to get the Imam to say that the
cultural center was a mistake, an offense, and that it should be
moved - with a swift wave of her hand dismissing his point that there
are other things such as a strip club in the immediate vicinity
but nobody was protesting that - was a very depressing
journalistic low even by 9/11 standards. Coming from O'Brien,
who earlier in the year was highly praised for
her series, 'Black in America', it was just stunning to observe her as
she stoked the fires of anti-Muslim bigotry like a cannibal hooting it up
in anticipation around a fresh victim put to the boil.
Ms. O'Brien certainly wasn't alone in this. One fears just how much of the country is so infused. The bias against the
proposed Muslim cultural center reeked throughout that evening's broadcast, both during the O'Brien/Rauf interview,
and during a post-interview discussion. It had all the elements of a cartoon:
There was the 9/11 New York firefighter scrapping for a match with a Muslim, so riled up was he that he completely
misinterpreted Rauf's words on the center as being some kind of 'threat' - which the firefighter ominously describes as
a 'gift'. [***Given the government cover-up and lies, understandable. Update, Sept. 27, 2010, below.]
The piece de resistance though, is the only female on the CNN post-interview roundup panel of six: a fragile and, dare
I say blindingly white beauty, whose brother was one of the murdered on 9/11 - which, obviously, is a terrible tragedy,
should never have happened, and should there be any murderous criminals involved still living, they
should face the full wrath of the law. But that is not what she is there to discuss. She is there to diss the cultural
center. Her performance is impressive. It begged for a hooped skirt, crocheted shawl and fringed parasol. If she had
fiddle-dee-deed something like, 'Ohh, Anderson Cooper!, I just don't know what ah'll DO if that nasty ol' Muslim
community center goes up...'. Frankly, my dear, I'm not sure anyone would have noticed any difference between that
and what she actually said; pretty much, it came out to the same racist thing.
The fundamental problem: Americans have been led to believe that 9/11 was perpetrated by Muslims - because they
were Muslims - who 'hate us for our freedoms'. So it is hardly surprising to witness the above. It's a lot of other
things - wrong, shocking - but surprising? No. Nor is it at all surprising the discriminatory fallout being experienced by
Muslims nation-wide, as a result. (1a)
Many, if not most, American journalists adhere to the view that those victimized by 9/11 are 'sensitive' to the truth. In
polite society, as well as in the nation's newsrooms, we must watch what we say. Personally, I just cannot think of
anything that could, would, or should offend Americans more.
The truth is that the fireman, 'Scarlett', and the rest of us, are victims not once, but many times: both by what
happened and, subsequently, by the lies told by the government and media; lies over who exactly was involved, and
precisely why they did what they did. In these times, anything mocked excessively by the powers-that-be, as in the
case of 9/11, well, I think that should give us pause to think twice. (2) (3)
...So...that's interesting - from U.S. Congressman Ron Paul:
'Amazingly, Ledeen calls Pearl Harbor a “lucky” event. The Project for a New American Century, as recently as
September 2000, likewise, foresaw the need for “a Pearl Harbor event” that would galvanize the American people to
support their ambitious plans to ensure political and economic domination of the world, while strangling any potential
“rival.” ' (4)
There is no time when Americans should be too sensitive to be exposed to full debate on the truth. In times of crisis
in particular, that is exactly the time when Americans should demand it most.
Denial is a powerful force. I am reminded of a pivotal scene (in this clip, at 6:30 secs.) in the movie, 'Born on the
Fourth of July'. Tom Cruise's character, weeping, yells at his mother, 'We went to Vietnam to stop 'Communism'...
we shot women and children!' She yells back, 'You didn't shoot women and children! What are you saying?!' (5)
Lives depend on our getting things right. That the Imam's speech seemed only to be picked up overseas, holds all the
earmarks of a closed society. The question is: Who's guarding the doors?
You are welcome to comment on the above article
on my blog. Comments are fully moderated and
may take time before they appear.
-----------------------
***Updated Sept. 27, 2010: A staggering 343 of some
of the bravest firefighters who ever lived charged
into the burning twin towers,
risking themselves to save others.
The firefighters raced up the stairs carrying
heavy rescue equipment while everyone who
could, raced past them
going down. They perished that fateful day, when one,
and then the other of the towers inexplicably fell and
crumpled to the ground in shocking ruin.
Muslims didn't do it. 9/11 was not a religious act.
9/11 was retaliation for, amongst other things, the
utter devastation wrought against the innocent people
of Iraq before September 11th, 2001. We occupied
and bombed Iraq, we starved Iraq and spread lethal
disease in Iraq for eight years prior to 9/11.
What the U.S. government did to Iraq is a war
crime of the highest magnitude - a crime against humanity.
U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Tony Blair
and others should be indicted in the International Criminal Court.
The 9/11 perpetrators were men who happened to be Muslim. Muslims
died in the twin towers. Some of the first-responders were Muslim.
Notes
*Actually, I think Larry King also had Imam Rauf on in recent days.
I do not recall how that interview went, beyond King asking Rauf the same
loaded-for-bear question, 'in hindsight...;'.
(1) A Conversation with Feisal Abdul Rauf; Council on Foreign Relations; September 13, 2010;
http://www.cfr.org/publication/22926/conversation_with_feisal_abdul_rauf_video.html ;
(1a) 'Muslims say they face more discrimination at work'; Steven Greenhouse; NYT; Sept. 23, 2010;
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/business/24muslim.html?_r=1&hp ;
(2) 'Letter to America'; Osama bin Laden; as published in observer.co.uk, November 24th, 2002;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver ;
(3) The 9/11 Truth Movement;
http://www.911truth.org/ ;
(4) Brilliant: 'We've Been Neo-Conned'; Ron Paul; Lew Rockwell; July 10, 2003;
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul110.html ;
(5) Youtube: 'Born on the Fourth of July'; Part 10; directed by Oliver Stone; channel Gunner21101;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUB-ojX48rg ;
Youtube: The Human Herding Process;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6ZONL1guA&feature=player_embedded
top
home
Copyright 2010 Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
by Diane V. McLoughlin
September 24, 2010: Turning on my television a week ago, the Imam of the much-maligned future New York City-
based Islamic cultural center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, was speaking into a bank of microphones. There was a Council on
Foreign Relations logo on the wall behind him. (1)
I was impressed with how generous the BBC was with the time given over to the Imam's speech, at least a good thirty
minutes of it, before they went back to their regular programming. It is important to try to defuse what appears to be a
rising anti-Muslim hysteria; clearly, some people get this. The Imam had an opportunity to reach out to Americans in
his own way, in his own time. CNN...FOX...MSNBC... CBC...not one station in North America ran with it, so far as
I could see. The CFR, an American foreign affairs
think tank, had to go overseas to get Imam Rauf's speech picked up,
apparently.
While it is true that CNN had had Rauf on* for an interview with
Soledad O'Brien days before, O'Brien was as combative as her bias
was obvious. Her aggressive attempts to get the Imam to say that the
cultural center was a mistake, an offense, and that it should be
moved - with a swift wave of her hand dismissing his point that there
are other things such as a strip club in the immediate vicinity
but nobody was protesting that - was a very depressing
journalistic low even by 9/11 standards. Coming from O'Brien,
who earlier in the year was highly praised for
her series, 'Black in America', it was just stunning to observe her as
she stoked the fires of anti-Muslim bigotry like a cannibal hooting it up
in anticipation around a fresh victim put to the boil.
Ms. O'Brien certainly wasn't alone in this. One fears just how much of the country is so infused. The bias against the
proposed Muslim cultural center reeked throughout that evening's broadcast, both during the O'Brien/Rauf interview,
and during a post-interview discussion. It had all the elements of a cartoon:
There was the 9/11 New York firefighter scrapping for a match with a Muslim, so riled up was he that he completely
misinterpreted Rauf's words on the center as being some kind of 'threat' - which the firefighter ominously describes as
a 'gift'. [***Given the government cover-up and lies, understandable. Update, Sept. 27, 2010, below.]
The piece de resistance though, is the only female on the CNN post-interview roundup panel of six: a fragile and, dare
I say blindingly white beauty, whose brother was one of the murdered on 9/11 - which, obviously, is a terrible tragedy,
should never have happened, and should there be any murderous criminals involved still living, they
should face the full wrath of the law. But that is not what she is there to discuss. She is there to diss the cultural
center. Her performance is impressive. It begged for a hooped skirt, crocheted shawl and fringed parasol. If she had
fiddle-dee-deed something like, 'Ohh, Anderson Cooper!, I just don't know what ah'll DO if that nasty ol' Muslim
community center goes up...'. Frankly, my dear, I'm not sure anyone would have noticed any difference between that
and what she actually said; pretty much, it came out to the same racist thing.
The fundamental problem: Americans have been led to believe that 9/11 was perpetrated by Muslims - because they
were Muslims - who 'hate us for our freedoms'. So it is hardly surprising to witness the above. It's a lot of other
things - wrong, shocking - but surprising? No. Nor is it at all surprising the discriminatory fallout being experienced by
Muslims nation-wide, as a result. (1a)
Many, if not most, American journalists adhere to the view that those victimized by 9/11 are 'sensitive' to the truth. In
polite society, as well as in the nation's newsrooms, we must watch what we say. Personally, I just cannot think of
anything that could, would, or should offend Americans more.
The truth is that the fireman, 'Scarlett', and the rest of us, are victims not once, but many times: both by what
happened and, subsequently, by the lies told by the government and media; lies over who exactly was involved, and
precisely why they did what they did. In these times, anything mocked excessively by the powers-that-be, as in the
case of 9/11, well, I think that should give us pause to think twice. (2) (3)
...So...that's interesting - from U.S. Congressman Ron Paul:
'Amazingly, Ledeen calls Pearl Harbor a “lucky” event. The Project for a New American Century, as recently as
September 2000, likewise, foresaw the need for “a Pearl Harbor event” that would galvanize the American people to
support their ambitious plans to ensure political and economic domination of the world, while strangling any potential
“rival.” ' (4)
There is no time when Americans should be too sensitive to be exposed to full debate on the truth. In times of crisis
in particular, that is exactly the time when Americans should demand it most.
Denial is a powerful force. I am reminded of a pivotal scene (in this clip, at 6:30 secs.) in the movie, 'Born on the
Fourth of July'. Tom Cruise's character, weeping, yells at his mother, 'We went to Vietnam to stop 'Communism'...
we shot women and children!' She yells back, 'You didn't shoot women and children! What are you saying?!' (5)
Lives depend on our getting things right. That the Imam's speech seemed only to be picked up overseas, holds all the
earmarks of a closed society. The question is: Who's guarding the doors?
You are welcome to comment on the above article
on my blog. Comments are fully moderated and
may take time before they appear.
-----------------------
***Updated Sept. 27, 2010: A staggering 343 of some
of the bravest firefighters who ever lived charged
into the burning twin towers,
risking themselves to save others.
The firefighters raced up the stairs carrying
heavy rescue equipment while everyone who
could, raced past them
going down. They perished that fateful day, when one,
and then the other of the towers inexplicably fell and
crumpled to the ground in shocking ruin.
Muslims didn't do it. 9/11 was not a religious act.
9/11 was retaliation for, amongst other things, the
utter devastation wrought against the innocent people
of Iraq before September 11th, 2001. We occupied
and bombed Iraq, we starved Iraq and spread lethal
disease in Iraq for eight years prior to 9/11.
What the U.S. government did to Iraq is a war
crime of the highest magnitude - a crime against humanity.
U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Tony Blair
and others should be indicted in the International Criminal Court.
The 9/11 perpetrators were men who happened to be Muslim. Muslims
died in the twin towers. Some of the first-responders were Muslim.
Notes
*Actually, I think Larry King also had Imam Rauf on in recent days.
I do not recall how that interview went, beyond King asking Rauf the same
loaded-for-bear question, 'in hindsight...;'.
(1) A Conversation with Feisal Abdul Rauf; Council on Foreign Relations; September 13, 2010;
http://www.cfr.org/publication/22926/conversation_with_feisal_abdul_rauf_video.html ;
(1a) 'Muslims say they face more discrimination at work'; Steven Greenhouse; NYT; Sept. 23, 2010;
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/business/24muslim.html?_r=1&hp ;
(2) 'Letter to America'; Osama bin Laden; as published in observer.co.uk, November 24th, 2002;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver ;
(3) The 9/11 Truth Movement;
http://www.911truth.org/ ;
(4) Brilliant: 'We've Been Neo-Conned'; Ron Paul; Lew Rockwell; July 10, 2003;
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul110.html ;
(5) Youtube: 'Born on the Fourth of July'; Part 10; directed by Oliver Stone; channel Gunner21101;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUB-ojX48rg ;
Youtube: The Human Herding Process;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6ZONL1guA&feature=player_embedded
top
home
Copyright 2010 Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
