Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Where do we go from here?

The entire Middle East remains in chaos. U.S. Marines are deploying to Libya, Syria is detaining a man believed of spying, and Bahrain and other countries are still  trying to cope with the protests. Reading has always been an escape and an inspiration for me. I had been on goodreads.com, I am a reader and I like to share with others the books that I have read and find books that appeal to me, and I discovered a guy named Latif Yahia. Mr. Yahia's book was only available in limited quantities and, supposedly, not sold in Ireland or the U.S.

Mr. Yahia was a body double for Uday Hussein and was being courted by intelligence agencies from around the world but he only wanted to live a normal life and decided against being employed by the agencies. I had never heard of him, but he seemed interesting.

I also found it interesting that the return of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide went uncovered by the major media outlets. Amy Goodman, from Democracynow.org, covered it while he and his family were on the plane from South Africa. I still do not understand how he was removed legally by George W. Bush.



I guess that I am too logical. I also need justifiable reasons why Walmart is permitted to pay women less and not advance them while employed at the company. I think the operative phrase would be, "in theory". . .

From here, hopefully, things get better.      

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Protests

I do not wish to downplay the protests that have arisen in The Middle East. I lived in a very liberal Middle Eastern country and their politics and cultures are complex. However, I do want to demonstrate how hypocritical the media is when framing such news stories. During the George W. Bush years: 2000-2008, the news media would be strategically placed so that protesters would not be visible to the cameras. The protesters were often confined to an area where their numbers could not be approximated and their signs and effigies could not be seen. The aforementioned description doesn't fit a democratic society. The media will edit certain stories to its advantage. The corporate media is particularly of concern because it has the potential to enter new markets. I do not believe that the media is inherently evil. I think that some people go beyond what is normal when demonizing corporate news conglomerates, but one must question why it is not allowable in the society with the most freedoms and why the protests have managed to be extremely successful in the society that has a stronger handle on their society?