Lately , through doing research I have been getting really interested in what is going on in the Middle East, and what the Americans are doing there. The more I research, the more I am changing my views to say that America should be in the Middle East. I am worried though, that my views are being overshadowed by the lack of independent media in the world. Also, New Zealand has a lot of American viewed Television, websites and radio programmes. I feel as if I am getting swayed to the American way the more I learn, but am still skeptical to keeping an open mind and not knowing what to believe.
Any thoughts?
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who considers myself Middle Eastern but also British and Kiwi even I can identify with your sentiment. We know that our views are being affected by a biased media, but it’s what is most readily available to us so it is hard not to absorb some of the rhetoric that we hear so often on our TV screens. Actually realising that the power that the media has on our opinions, even when we consider ourselves skeptical and critical of it is so important. I try to watch and read a lot of Al Jazeera news when I can. Its very balanced and has a lot of interesting insights, not just into the Arab world, but a lot of developing countries too. I watched a really really good documentary called ‘Reel Bad Arabs’ http://www.reelbadarabs.com/ “How Hollywood vilifies a people” a while ago and it reminds me not just how much our news media can warp our views but how much supposedly harmless entertainment can too.