The European myth: From colonial superiority to news media objectivity

To all those who make the horrendously inaccurate assumption that Europe is a notch above on the civilization scale, I say this: you have fallen for the oldest trick in the colonialists' book. First rule of conquering other peoples who outnumber you is nurture in them a healthy fear of your innate superiority and latent strengths so much so that they convince themselves they will never be able to defeat you. That very European maxim holds true today in every sphere of life, in war and in commerce, and it remains as effective as ever apparently.

To those sniggering patronizingly at my naïve belief that colonial imperialism is still alive and well, when they know and are sure that it is long dead, let me say this: you have fallen for the second oldest trick in the colonialists' book. Make a colonized people feel they are gaining some measure of independence, that they now have control over their destiny, let them enjoy the show of throwing you out the front door and make sure they don’t notice you coming through the back door in different garb. No African today can deny that multinational corporations (often with White men at the helm) control most of Africa’s resources for the benefit of their shareholders and their mother countries and not for the benefit of Africa and the Africans.

In Lebanon, proving some attachment to the European demigods is akin to our Greek ancestors’ obsession with the commingling of god and human DNA and the elevation of the resultant mutant half-gods to a status just above the rest of mankind. This image in fact survives almost intact in modern mythology in the form of ‘The Avengers’ movie. Today, everything European, from Thor to the Holy Grail of EU membership, is supposed to be highly desirable, better quality, more refined and a notch above somehow. Ancient colonial affectations have rubbed off on us so completely that many of us in Lebanon deny our own constitutionally-upheld and unbreakable attachment to our greater Arab Nation. Of course, we are Phoenicians, some would claim, although I doubt the Phoenicians would have us!

We have committed the same error in judgment when considering the Western news media as innately truthful and objective while regarding all other news media are totally untrustworthy and unreliable. We have fallen for the third oldest trick in the colonialists' handbook: Before you send your armies to conquer, send you missionaries, your scribes, your poets and authors, your philosophers, pundits and purveyors of news. Today, European and other Western news media weave a compelling narrative about a crisis to the East of the great European homeland. The old stereotypes and comparisons with the USSR are being trotted out before us on millions of television screens to billions of trusting viewers who are unknowingly lapping up the ‘milk of colonial amnesia’ from Europe’s poisoned challis. Of course Putin is evil, it just goes without saying, I mean all he needs is a black hat and trench coat and to utter the words ‘moose and squirrel’ in a thick accent and he'll fits the stereotype perfectly, the stereotype of the sinister Russian plotting to overthrow all that is good about Western civilization. I think that was also Hitler's argument for going to war with Russia.

The shocking bit is that many people swallow the utter twaddle being shoveled at us by news organizations, many of whom I used to respect. The BBC for one has nurtured a hard won reputation over decades as an organization that actually stands on the side of facts, accuracy and oppressed people’s, many of its stands on the Palestinian issue can be deemed fair and balanced when compared to other Western media. But its treatment of the Ukraine crisis and it coverage has been shamelessly slanted in favor of the EU/NATO sponsored uprising in Ukraine that violently overthrew an elected President, albeit a corrupt president, but that’s a matter for political activism not street fights with police. Had what happened in Kiev happened in any Western capital participants in such violent confrontations with officers of the law would have been thrown in jail and tried for rioting, destruction of property and assault.

Russia’s justified military alertness in The Crimea as it faces off with its old cold war foe NATO has been blown way out of proportion by Western media and made to look like an occupation of the peninsula, ignoring the fact that Russia has a right by agreement with Ukraine to station a certain number of its troop on Ukrainian soil. The disbanding of The Crimean Parliament by the government of Thugs in Ukraine was painted by the Western Press as a justified move to prevent Russia from taking over the peninsula. Again here too they forget that Crimea is an autonomous republic within Ukraine and that the authorities in Kiev have no right to disband the elected legislature of The Crimea anymore than they have the right to silence Crimean voices calling for cessation from Ukraine and full independence. The BBC’s John Simpson has already in a recent report cast doubts over the likely fairness of the proposed referendum in Crimea and hinted that the peninsula’s prime minister is a frightened despot by making the seemingly benign observation that the PM wore a bullet proof vest while talking to journalists recently. Hardly a benign observation, more opinion molding I think!

There is no doubt that as a consumer of news I have been let down by much of the Western Press. I am deeply disappointed with how quickly news media with a highly respected and storied past can fall in line with their government’s official line and how easily they zealously guard against any divergent opinion. Recently, Saudi Arabia woke up to the fact that Qatar really wants to hurt it and to do so through media. Saudi Arabia has called on Qatar to stop backing the Muslim Brotherhood and to stop Al Jazeera from broadcasting or face the consequences. The Saudis finally recognized the power of slanted media to shape opinion and motivate action and even revolution, which is not the mission of the Press. The mission of the Press is to convey the truth as it finds it even if that truth is opposed to the interests of the country it is based in, owned by and broadcasts from. From now on I will always have a fresh bowl of sea salt beside me whenever I watch television news coverage to remember to take all they say with a grain or two of salt!