In the name of ideology
We use
our fists
more readily than our heads
September 30, 2004
iranian.com
Introduction to Yahya R. Kamalipour's War,
Media, and Propaganda: A Global Perspective.
Human beings are parts of a body, created from the same essence.
When one part is hurt and in pain, the other parts remain
restless.
If the misery of others leaves you indifferent,
you cannot be called a human being...
-- Persian poet-philosopher
Sa'adi Shirazi
(1204-1292)
December 2003-As the manuscript for this book was nearing
completion, people throughout the world were witnessing, on their
television screens, the video footage of the once powerful Iraqi
president‚s arrest by the U.S. soldiers. Saddam Hussein (a.k.a.,
the Butcher of Baghdad) was reportedly dragged out of a "rat
hole" where he was hiding and was subsequently videotaped.
The footage, repeatedly broadcast on every TV channel, showed
Hussein being examined, in total humiliation, by an American
military physician
who is looking into Hussein‚s mouth and searching through
his unkempt hair-perhaps for bugs. This prompted a senior
Vatican official, Cardinal Renato Martino, to criticize the United
States for releasing the video footage in which the former Iraqi
president was, as he put it, "handled like a cow" (The
New York Times, December 16, 2003). On the other hand, president
George W. Bush, Jr. and his cohorts were shown in a celebratory
mood as they gleefully claimed a major victory against terrorism
and for democracy and freedom in Iraq.
Significantly, the premise for the war on Iraq-articulated
repeatedly by George W. Bush and Tony Blair-was that Hussein
was pursuing a program of weapon of mass destruction (WMD). Not
only the falsity of that premise but, in the midst of continuous
and highly orchestrated propaganda techniques, the death of thousands
of innocent Iraqis, hundreds of American/Allied forces, and the
destruction of the infra-structures of Iraq were seemingly forgotten.
Furthermore, the main perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, attacks
on America, Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, were pushed out of the
arena of public opinion.
It was against that backdrop that the manuscript for War,
Media, and Propaganda: A Global Perspective was being
prepared for publication. At a juncture in the history of the
civilized world when breakdown
in communication, civility, international law, human rights, freedom,
lack of progress in terms of humanity, and global/social justice
indelibly marked the dawn of the third millennium.
And at a time
when such concepts as "human rights," "dialogue
of civilizations" and "clash of civilizations" were
being debated side by side with "global terrorism," "unilateralism," "globalism," "imperialism," and "pre-emptive
strike." Indeed, the looming turmoil in the global village
and difficulties posed in intercultural communication, international
communication, and international relations render this book an
essential platform for discussing, debating, and understanding
the complexities of our global affairs.
Undoubtedly, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon will be forever etched into
the memories of the people who personally experienced, witnessed,
or viewed the images of that unimaginable tragedy on television
screens throughout the world.
At the dawn of the third millennium,
it has become quite apparent that we, as human beings, have made
no progress toward elevating humanity to its potential level of
civility. Rather, we have marched backward into the savageries
of the Stone Age and succumbed to a vicious circle of violence
that continues to plague our lives, curtail our freedoms, alter
our way of life, damage our relationships, and distort our perceptions
of one another.
 In the name of an ideology of one kind or another, we do anything
imaginable, including suicide bombings to ourselves, and to our
fellow human beings. A Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia murders,
tortures, and buries thousands of Muslims alive while the world
watches. A General Augusto Pinochet of Chile kills his own people
and builds mountains by pilling up human skulls. A Hitler burns
thousands of Jews alive for just being Jews. A Hutu tribe murders
millions of Tutsis in Rwanda. A Saddam Hussein kills and even poisons
his own people and thousands of Iranians with chemical weapons
and subsequently erects victory monuments, in Baghdad, to display
his savagery. An Osama bin Laden masterminds terrorist acts against
America and American installations around the world.
The American
forces rain missiles and bombs on the millions of innocent peoples
in Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Tanzania, Japan, and Vietnam. For the
past 50 years, The Israelis and Palestinians have been killing
one another,
almost daily, in a land where the three monolithic religions
of the world-Christianity, Islam, and Judaism-have historically
and physically converged and are destined to coexist.
We are
caught
up in a complex web of our own making. We have lost our common
sense and our perspectives on what this short journey, called
life, is all about. We have become beasts and evildoers. We use
our fists
more readily than our heads. We destroy one another by thousands
and even millions without blinking an eye!
In a message to the World Summit on the Information Society,
the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said: "A
technological revolution is transforming society in a profound
way. If harnessed and directed properly, Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to improve all aspects of
our social, economic and cultural life" (World
Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, December 10-12,
2003). Accordingly, this book is intended to promote a constructive
dialogue and, hopefully, solutions about issues related to war,
media and propaganda as they impact our lives throughout the world.
Globalism is upon us and so is terrorism-an evil and destructive
force to be reckoned with. Reckon, we must. But to do so, we must
first focus on establishing a relative state of stability, peace,
freedom, and humanity throughout the world. Nations of the world
must put their differences aside and cooperate with one another
on denouncing, condemning, and eradicating terrorism in any form
or shape, regardless of where it takes place.
This is a prime opportunity
for the United Nations, NATO, European Union, and other regional
and global bodies to respond to the cries of help from the survivors
of the victims of terrorism by devising and implementing a brand
new approach toward eradicating this global cancer. This eradication
can be achieved only through international cooperation, not by
military might and war.
 The ultimate goal of this book is to provide a reasonable and
sufficient platform for generating meaningful discussions that
would result in increased awareness and understanding of the myriad
of global problems that face humanity. It is hoped that such discussions
would ultimately lead to action and positive change-peaceful
coexistence, mutual respect, less conflict, increased cultural
sensitivity, and better cooperation among the peoples and nations
of the world. As the American Indian Chief Seattle once said, "Man
did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever
he does to the web, he does to himself."
About
Yahya R. Kamalipour (PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia) is professor and
head of the Department of Communication and Creative Arts, Purdue University
Calumet, Hammond, Indiana, USA. A noted international scholar, he has taught
at universities in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Oxford (England), and
Tehran. Other than his most recent War,
Media, and Propaganda: A Global Perspective (2004), his other
books include Globalization
of Corporate Media Hegemony (2003),
and Global
Communication (2002). He is managing editor of Global
Media Journal (globalmediajournal.com)
and editor of Global Media Monitor (globalmediamonitor.com).
In addition to several significant awards, numerous media interviews, invited
speeches, professor Kamalipour has published articles in professional and
mainstream publications in the United States and abroad. For further details,
visit his personal web site at kamalipour.com.
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