Imagine a foreigner or a traveller transiting through the UK to continue their onward journey. Imagine this traveller perusing the Duty Free section and generally killing time as he awaits his connecting flight. Imagine this man passing by a newspaper stand, perhaps a WHSmith. Imagine him picking up a newspaper, any newspaper. What would he see? What impressions would he form? What would he think of our country? What would he think of the people? What would he think of the state that we are in?
***
The media in this country is perhaps the same in many, if not in all countries. And, in this ever smaller world of ours, it is everywhere, in our homes, on our streets, at work, in town and of course online. The media serves many purposes and constructs for us a picture of the world, a framework within which we can then see ourselves. Some purposes may be noble; freedom of speech, freedom of information, conveying of factual content and opinion. Some purposes maybe ignoble. What strikes me is that given all the recent negative media attention on the media itself; phone hacking, tapping up, snooping, Leveson, News of the World, I could go on, there seems to be an almost intentional zeal, a blind hatred that the media has when it comes to reporting on Islam, Muslims or indeed anything east of Athens. The more one delves into this idea the more obvious it becomes that loaded in every article that is written or printed and in every nuance of an interview, the inherent fear of the Other is a day to day reality. Historically, the Other has manifested itself most overtly when Western ‘world powers’ embarked upon conquest, invasion and subjugation. The Other and Otherness as a concept can be defined as a preconceived perception of a hegemonic master to maintain an unequal relationship with the subject, whether economical, political or social and thus heighten their own self worth and weaken, subjugate and ultimately govern the subject. The Other is constantly reminded of his insignificance through literature and the media, and consequently becomes subordinate. This is the key aim of this ruthless relationship as now the occupier can exploit the land and plunder its resources. The docility of the occupied Other is further embedded by the justification of the occupier who is able to allude to his alleged strength by using the various tools at his disposal, thus, naturalizing his subjugation. The occupied population start to perceive their pitiful situation as normal and natural and begin to look to the occupiers; for stability, for rationality, for civility, for governance and for social leadership. This only heightens the disparity of this discriminatory alliance. Now that we understand what the Other and Otherness as a concept is, we are able to understand how this idea has been, and continues to be, used, metamorphosised and implemented by self declared guardians of freedom, democracy and civilization. This has been done historically by occupiers using the aforementioned righteous objectives, but this guise was in fact the basis for infraction, exploitation and oppression, in short, it was colonialism. Colonialism has reared itself right from the outset of human history with the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all building empires and proliferating their supremacy over vast lands, peoples and territories. And, it was in the 15th Century with the dawn of the Age of Discovery that led to modern colonialism, initialized by the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. The European powerhouses, in search of magnanimity, establishment and prosperity, competed and sailed across the seas to far flung corners of the earth to undertake this task. The French and Dutch Empires saw an advancement in mainly North Africa and Africa as a whole respectively, where today the hallmarks of the colonial masters is still visible; be it the assimilation of the language, the railways and decrepit infrastructure or the allusions and discussions of the past, which are on the whole, replete with negative connotations of past miseries, shame and helplessness ensconced on the conscience. However, the masters of the colonial era I would argue were none other than the British. This tiny windswept island in the north-western corner of Europe, at its height sat across a vast Empire, ‘upon which the Sun never set’, with the Raj in India as its Jewel in the Crown. It skillfully used all the tricks at its disposal to build a formidable Empire where its colonies were plundered for gold, minerals, resources, slaves, labour, and so on. This in turn fueled the Industrial Revolution and ensured the dominance of the British Pound. The effects of this were not only economical but due to the great skill at which the British played the game with their intentional and also inadvertent treatment of the Other, they ensured that the consequences of the colonized mindset still fervently exist today on the psyche of the minions. to be continued…
myconversation
Media, Colonialism and the Fear of the Other (Part 1)
06 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
by kafka2014 in English, History, Media, Uncategorized Tags: british, colonialism, comment, empire, guardian, history, Islam, Israel, media, muslim, opinion, orientalism, other, palestine, reflection
Imagine a foreigner or a traveller transiting through the UK to continue their onward journey. Imagine this traveller perusing the Duty Free section and generally killing time as he awaits his connecting flight. Imagine this man passing by a newspaper stand, perhaps a WHSmith. Imagine him picking up a newspaper, any newspaper. What would he see? What impressions would he form? What would he think of our country? What would he think of the people? What would he think of the state that we are in?
***
The media in this country is perhaps the same in many, if not in all countries. And, in this ever smaller world of ours, it is everywhere, in our homes, on our streets, at work, in town and of course online. The media serves many purposes and constructs for us a picture of the world, a framework within which we can then see ourselves. Some purposes may be noble; freedom of speech, freedom of information, conveying of factual content and opinion. Some purposes maybe ignoble. What strikes me is that given all the recent negative media attention on the media itself; phone hacking, tapping up, snooping, Leveson, News of the World, I could go on, there seems to be an almost intentional zeal, a blind hatred that the media has when it comes to reporting on Islam, Muslims or indeed anything east of Athens. The more one delves into this idea the more obvious it becomes that loaded in every article that is written or printed and in every nuance of an interview, the inherent fear of the Other is a day to day reality. Historically, the Other has manifested itself most overtly when Western ‘world powers’ embarked upon conquest, invasion and subjugation. The Other and Otherness as a concept can be defined as a preconceived perception of a hegemonic master to maintain an unequal relationship with the subject, whether economical, political or social and thus heighten their own self worth and weaken, subjugate and ultimately govern the subject. The Other is constantly reminded of his insignificance through literature and the media, and consequently becomes subordinate. This is the key aim of this ruthless relationship as now the occupier can exploit the land and plunder its resources. The docility of the occupied Other is further embedded by the justification of the occupier who is able to allude to his alleged strength by using the various tools at his disposal, thus, naturalizing his subjugation. The occupied population start to perceive their pitiful situation as normal and natural and begin to look to the occupiers; for stability, for rationality, for civility, for governance and for social leadership. This only heightens the disparity of this discriminatory alliance. Now that we understand what the Other and Otherness as a concept is, we are able to understand how this idea has been, and continues to be, used, metamorphosised and implemented by self declared guardians of freedom, democracy and civilization. This has been done historically by occupiers using the aforementioned righteous objectives, but this guise was in fact the basis for infraction, exploitation and oppression, in short, it was colonialism. Colonialism has reared itself right from the outset of human history with the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all building empires and proliferating their supremacy over vast lands, peoples and territories. And, it was in the 15th Century with the dawn of the Age of Discovery that led to modern colonialism, initialized by the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. The European powerhouses, in search of magnanimity, establishment and prosperity, competed and sailed across the seas to far flung corners of the earth to undertake this task. The French and Dutch Empires saw an advancement in mainly North Africa and Africa as a whole respectively, where today the hallmarks of the colonial masters is still visible; be it the assimilation of the language, the railways and decrepit infrastructure or the allusions and discussions of the past, which are on the whole, replete with negative connotations of past miseries, shame and helplessness ensconced on the conscience. However, the masters of the colonial era I would argue were none other than the British. This tiny windswept island in the north-western corner of Europe, at its height sat across a vast Empire, ‘upon which the Sun never set’, with the Raj in India as its Jewel in the Crown. It skillfully used all the tricks at its disposal to build a formidable Empire where its colonies were plundered for gold, minerals, resources, slaves, labour, and so on. This in turn fueled the Industrial Revolution and ensured the dominance of the British Pound. The effects of this were not only economical but due to the great skill at which the British played the game with their intentional and also inadvertent treatment of the Other, they ensured that the consequences of the colonized mindset still fervently exist today on the psyche of the minions. to be continued…
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