Discusses the recent human tragedy, the role of conglomerate media, and the implications for social justice.

The Weapons of Mass Distraction
Yassine Santissi

Time to mourn the individuals affected by the recent human tragedy is over. Time to assess what has occured since the recent human tragedy has come. To overcome this human tragedy, this is a necessary task.

Over the past week, we have witnessed a plethora of alleged terrorist experts in some conglomerate media promoting the most profit-maximizing policy. Yet, these self-proclaimed experts rarely provided a definition of terrorism or the set of assumptions upon which their conclusions were based. Terrorism can be defined as the use of images as weapons. As highlighted by the relatively low level of sophistication of other weapons used by the hijackers, other weapons are only of marginal importance. The theater of operations requires mental, not physical, force. Neither thousands of soldiers nor billions of dollars are necessary to address terrorism.

After the recent human tragedy, confusion turned into frustration. Frustration turned into anger. And anger turned into hate. As reflected by their breadth and depth, acts of bigotry were not committed by individuals who were deranged. As implied by their Friday show, some conglomerate media recognized their share of responsibility. In a bottom-line profit-maximizing approach, some conglomerate media provided crude images rather than critical analysis. In an irresponsible way, images of ecstatic women wearing the hijab were broadcast. Understandably, the anger of individuals turned into hate towards the Muslim community.

Images affect reality. Reality affects images. But images are not identical to reality. If this distinction is not considered, then adverse effects are likely to occur, as the acts against Muslim individuals highlighted. But the attempt of some conglomerate media to control damages by mobilizing their sales representatives blurs distinctions between images and reality. Will Smith evokes images of the West taming the wild and America killing aliens. Sylvester Stallone conjures up images of an entity simultaneously assuming the responsibilities of judge, jury, and executioner. Instead of letting ordinary individuals who committed and were affected by these acts express themselves so that a common understanding of reality may be furthered, the customer service representatives hogged the spotlight to deflect as much criticism as possible away from their conglomerate media companies. If limited to written and verbal abuse, the individuals who committed acts expressing anger should not face the full wrath of the law, as some have advocated. Victims of these acts should discourage judicial institutions from directing their efforts towards individuals. Rather, efforts should be directed towards the constant sources of widespread irrationality.

Conglomerate media must be stopped from the unrestrained promotion of their corporate interests. Instead of giving space to individuals from the public at large to express their emotions and address their emotional problems during such an emotional period, some conglomerate newspapers have dedicated most of the media space to several private corporations which try to exploit emotions. With the broadcast of images of common Muslim rituals and the limited emotional channels, confused and frustrated individuals turned legitimate grievances into illegitimate acts.

To address terrorism, a distinction must be made between acts and motivations. Since the answer relies on considering the motivations, a question asking whether a terrorist act is justified is inadequately framed. To address the act, justice and due process must be applied to the individuals or groups of individuals who committed these acts. In terms of the long term, this highlights the need to ratify and perhaps reinforce the International Criminal Court. To address the motivations, images have an important role to play. Indeed, as highlighted by the inter-faith prayer on Sunday, distinctions between acts and motivations were provided. After recognizing the harmful impact the largely unregulated conglomerate media had with regard to acts against Muslims, images to weaken the motivations for such acts were provided. If distinctions between acts and motivations were made and images provided to American individuals, then a similar approach should be used to address international terrorism. Terrorism must not be defined as a problem by alleged world leaders, but as a solution for individuals and groups of individuals with many problems. As part of an overall strategy to address terrorism, those problems must be addressed.

As a tactic, rallying states and groups of states for retribution against another state can have detrimental consequences. Not making distinctions between the states and individuals gives credence to reprehensible claims, such as America deserves this tragedy, which also do not make distinctions. To claim freedom from fear in an epic way begs the question why individuals inside Afghanistan are not entitled to this freedom. By restricting freedom of movement, the fears of these individuals were only further exacerbated. Other policies based on double standards increase frustration and lead to anger.

As occured in the past, terrorists hijacked planes. As occured in the past, the conglomerate media hijacked debates. Repeatedly, phrases like war against terrorism have been promoted. In contrast, relatively little attention was given to advocates of peace. Moreover, claims of ridding the world of evil are portrayed in a grandiose fashion. If terrorism is bad, the obvious implication is that war is good. Neither war nor terrorism are good. At most, war as well as terrorism are necessary evils. In the case of war, it is sanctioned by states. In the case of terrorism, it is sanctioned by individuals.

Similarly, the globalization debate was hijacked. Most of the conglomerate media have consistently portrayed the protests as anti-globalization. Indeed, globalization has connotations of multi-culturalism and global harmony. These conglomerate media fasten those connotations for themselves, their advertisers, and interlocked directors. Not only are protests negatively classified, but the debate is disabled, thereby increasing the level of frustration of individuals which ultimately leads to violence.

To all those whose first allegiance is to humanity, not any particular nationality
To all those who believe that there is only one civilization – the human cilivization

This is an appeal to address the motivations of terrorism by promoting, with renewed vigor, social justice for individuals throughout the world -- regardless of nationality or religion. Wherever you are, protest and take your cameras with you. Do not let the conglomerate media capture you with their cameras. Share your images. For the short term, protests serve a crucial role to address terrorism.

This is an invitation to participate and help organize the first pro-globalization summit with its own organized media in Marrakesh, North Africa, at the end of the year. The objectives of the summit are to develop an understanding of economic colonization, provide a diverse forum for non-commercial art, and allow organizations which promote social justice to meet each other and efficiently increase their financial resources. The hope is that confusion and frustration will be given outlets to prevent them from turning into something else.

This is a signal. We are not with you. We are not with the terrorists. We choose genuine freedom over narrow conceptions of financial freedom. We choose social justice for all humans in our civilization over disguised national retribution. We choose the forces of peace over sanctioned belligerence.

Currently, we have relatively minimal financial resources. We have relatively minimal media resources. However, we have inspiration. We have determination. Through cooperation, not cooptation; through human civilization, not any particular nation; over time, we will prevail.