Recently I heard a story on NPR discussing the Iraqi insurgents’ use of the internet to rally support for Al Qaeda. Videos that skew American film and TV logos depict insurgents, “restoring the honor of a nation brought low by foreign occupation”.  
These videos glorify Al Qaeda members, such as ‘The Baghdad Sniper” who is well-known because he only has to take one shot, and only American soldiers die. In every video, American soldiers are killed but the hundreds of innocent people who have been injured or killed by suicide bombers and other attacks are never mentioned.

With English titles and American references, experts question whether these videos were in fact produced in America. Perhaps these videos were even made for American audiences.

The Iraqi’s call this taqiyya, or “the intentional misleading of non-Muslim society”. It is mentioned in both the Koran and the Hadiths. One thing’s for sure though, jihad propaganda is now just a click away.

Just as Americans transcended from the daily newspaper to interactive blogs and immediate updates from all over the world, Iraqi’s can now view jihad news within hours of an event, and post propaganda on public sites. They can even learn how to build roadside bombs and use PayPal to fund their endeavors. Iraqi insurgents have spanned the generational gap just as we did.

And why shouldn’t they? We, who are so anxious to “impart upon a country in turmoil our moral values and democratic society”, cannot do so without exemplifying how crucial a role the media has in molding the perception and opinion of our citizens.

As Americans, we have long since become numb to the media’s influence on our perception of not only world events, but the major and minor occurrences within our very borders. And while we may become outraged at events like the mishandling of Katrina relief efforts, the fingers will continue to point in all directions, and our conclusions will be based upon what the media portrays. Which is to say, what the White House puts in their press release.

Propaganda is so commonplace in everything from political news to consumer goods that we often find it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsity. Far worse, we cease to even attempt a distinction. With globalization of technology, comes the increasing availability of the tools to impose such standards on the social orders of countries around the world.

Let me draw you a picture. While searching for sites containing the said cyber jihads, I found myself politely redirected to an American owned news source that served up cold slices of Iraqi news, with ‘related links’ containing “Popular Arabic Music Sites” and “Iraqi Museums”.

Now that I’ve successfully put myself on the Homeland Security watch list, I would like to know, are we going to help the Iraq’s sensor their news as well?  Will Iraqi search engines deliver censored, palatable news and information to Iraq’s just as they do Americans? If so, one could say that they learned from the best.

For feedback, Megan Gordon can be contacted at gordon.meg@gmail.com

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