General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMedia sure is giving lots and lots of Oxygen to the Anti-Islam Film protests....
Flash back to 2003. Hundreds of thousands of Americans take to the street to protest the then-imminent attack on Iraq. US media hardly notices.
Now, a few thousand of the most extreme, easily offended Muslims protest US installations based on lies fed by extremist satellite TV stations. Wall-to-wall coverage.
Wonder why I think we're being setup?
sasha031
(6,700 posts)show the heart felt signs, they have created.
Throd
(7,208 posts)justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)we wouldn't be seeing much. Plus, Friday's are generally slow news days, so if there's actual news, they'll show it.
I want to see the news on this because, if it's more than letting off steam, we could be in serious trouble here.
get the red out
(13,468 posts)Yea, they were covering what even they admitted were a few hundred demonstrators in Turkey as if the world was coming to an end when I was home for lunch. It's just such a terrible disservice that zero context is ever given.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)at first they were almost 100% astroturf things funded by the Koch Brothers. But as soon as anyone with a grievance saw they were getting lots and lots of TV coverage, they spread to the disenfranchised.
Give these things enough air time and they will grow.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Yes, other attacks have happened - in Yemen and Sudan. but those are expanded to cover all the protests happening. Most of the people being injured are protestors being assaulted by police (As in Egypt today) but to hear the media tell it, embassies everywhere are being lit up by the Durka Durka guys from Team America.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)I don't think Obama is behind it, but it seems Democratic Presidents are particularly open to "Soft On ______" charges, especially just before an election.
sinkingfeeling
(51,473 posts)friends, a couple of thousand people protested the embassy out of a population of 9,120,000.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Hi, Amy.
I just came back from the protests there. Theres continuing clashes with police that have spilled over into Tahrir Square. The U.S. embassy lies just a couple of hundred yards from Tahrir, which was the epicenter of the revolution here in Egypt. And there are continuing tear gas being fired, rocks thrown by the protesters against police. Theres police trucks. The clashes arent exceptionally fierce, but there seems to be no sign of letting up, either. So, the police seem to have moved the protesters last night and theor the early hours of this morning away from the U.S. embassy, maybe a hundred yards away, and are now kind of on the outskirts of Tahrir. Many of these protesters today and last night are really a different crowd than were there on Tuesday night when this first began, when protesters were in front of the embassy and took down the American flag. Many of these are kind of young protesters who you typically see kind of in a lot of these clashes with police. Likeas Iona mentioned in Yemen, I could not find one protester who had actually seen thisyou know, the trailer for this movie, which has incited such anger. Theybut everyone cited the movie as saying their reasons for being there, for being against any kind of insults for the prophet. But really theseI think it was used as a trigger by conservative Muslim groups here in Egypt. For example, Nader Bakkar, whos a spokesperson for the Nour Party, which is the largest Salafi party here in Egypt, and its allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, he said on Al Jazeera Mubasher, a channel here, that the film had been broadcast on U.S. channels, which is a blatant lie. So, thats whats happening right now on the ground.
On the political scene, we had President Mohamed Morsihe waited 24 hours after the initial protest on Tuesday night before releasing any kind of statement. Hes in Brussels today on his first visit as Egyptian president to Europe, and he spoke at a press conference about whats happening. He said he condemned any attacks or any non-peaceful protest and any attacks on embassies, but he also condemned any insults to the prophet. He had a phone call with President Obama this morning, and he said he offered his condolences for the deaths of the four Americans who died in Benghazi, including Ambassador Stevens, and also said heand said he hoped that President Obama would affirm the need for any determined legal measures against those who want to damage relations between Egypt and the United States, I think hinting atyou know, for the United States to take some kind of legal action against the producers of this movie. Theres also been at the same time Morsis movement. He, of course, came from the Muslim Brotherhood and is still a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood has called for protests tomorrow, peaceful protests in front of mosques. But nevertheless, it has called for protests against this movie, against insults to Islam and to the prophet. And this is the same group that last week spent last week wooing American investors to try and invest in Egypt. So, thats really whats happening on the ground here right now.
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http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/13/middle_east_protests_at_us_embassies