Kafir Watch?

Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch must be hooting with joy at some of the Muslim website names. In fact, when I googled 'kafir watch', the first result was from Jihad Watch titled Islamist Barbarism and the Western Media. I didn't click on it, so it may well have been noted in the comment section; and the comment section of Jihad Watch is polluted by racists and hate-mongers in a similar vein as the great bigot Robert Spencer himself. Speaking of media, check out Framing Conflict's Media Tenor Releases Report Comparing Al Jazeera, European, and American Television News Content: Must Read!

Al Jazeera is considerably doing a better job than Western news channels as I always suspected though I have never watched it. I remember in the media class, I was shaken when a girl got up and said that news in the West was 'balanced' because 'we love freedom' or 'we are free', and the tutor agreed. That is not quite the case as we know. As the great journalist Amirah Hass wrote:

Journalists are not neutral, cannot be ‘objective’...The more closely I came to know Palestinians (and Israeli occupation methods)… the less and less neutral I could be.

In an interview with Robert Fisk, she said:

There is a misconception that journalists can be objective. Palestinians tell me I'm objective. I think this is important because I'm an Israeli. But being fair and being objective are not the same thing. What journalism is really about – it's to monitor power and the centers of power.

In my view, this is the truth. Journalists either work for the people or the common man or the rulers. They DO have a moral obligation toward the victims and the oppressed. Not reporting on the real issues faced by the downtrodden does not make them 'free people', however much they may invoke the Enlightenment period which as the Muslim commentator Amir Butler pointed out was a result of conflicts within Europe and its religions. Muslims, on the other hand, have no need of an Enlightnment. No thank-you, Mr Tariq Ali. You may continue to rail against the capitalists who hover around the other end of your system and preach to Muslims and the capitalists may continue to dominate and slaughter Muslims outside the system. Yes, I think we Muslims have a lot to do. We have a lot to work on. We have a lot to think. We have a lot to study. We have a lot to introspect about. But no, we won't be like you. We won't talk about socialism and honour Fidel Castro who definitely has several millions in his back account. Islam has always been a religion that preaches egalitarianism, and it doesn't need the broken pieces of Enlgihtenment or Marx. We are a religion of One God and truth and charity and science. And we did it all without your Enlightenment.