I had better not hear of anyone getting their information from the American news media after having read this article. The American news media is feeding you lies upon lies...and a Muslim does not succumb to falsehood.

If Capitalism could build a factory to churn out the perfect consumer, the media would be its managing supervisor. Its job is to keep the American ‘consumer’ in check. Why? Because people don’t want to buy and spend on the economy if they know that the nation is bankrupt and running on loans. People won’t be so anxious to go to war if they knew how many of their sons and daughters were really being sent home in coffins. People wouldn’t be so anxious to scream “The economy is getting better” if they knew that when a major U.S. company says it has just hired 10,000 new employees it really means it has hired them from India.

So how do they do it?

The people…
The masses of American citizens who are concerned with work and school, the economy, and their weight.

I know you know that the war in Iraq is about oil, that Bush’s speeches were not written by him and that the Vice President has dirty dealings with corporate America. I also know that your most average concern is work or school, money, and your weight (which we will get to in a moment). But let us analyze for a second…every six months or so We, the American taxpayer are asked to fork over $60 billion, $79 billion, and soon to be $100 billion after the elections to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan (remember Afghanistan?) But still…we somehow end up wondering more about how much our next job will pay or about getting a raise then the 30 percent being taken out of our paychecks every week. Thirty percent of your money, 12 hours of your workweek that’s going to fund a phony war on terrorism. Some countries tax their people to provide them with better schools, better healthcare…we use ours to kill. Have you ever thought of it that way?

But we know what’s going on. You read the newspaper every day or keep up with the news, you see the soldiers being killed, you know the body count, it is conveniently calculated for you. But did they bother to tell you the mortality rate of soldiers from suicide?…Or the number of soldiers who died from wounds? These figure are not recorded in newspapers…these are things you will never find in American media outlets. Because really…why do you need to know how many body bags come home? All you need to know are how many soldiers died from direct enemy fire. They’re not telling you the truth about Iraq. They’re lying to you about the lives of our sons and daughters. It’s all just a system of control.

Let me tell you something: keep watching American news media and this will be your fate…because you will get your news from the mouth of the biggest liar this world has seen.

The President…

How does he do it? How does George W. Bush not only get to do everything he desires…but also get away with it? His father was much smarter than he….and yet even he did not have half as much ease in committing the atrocities his son has. Times have changed, and so has the media. Today it has become one of the most carefully orchestrated methods of manufacturing falsehood that man might ever see. So how is it done?

Perfected Timing: The most skillful thing the president’s media team has done is to be extremely acute in the timing of events. It puts emotion over logic…help to break down the walls of division…it gives the people a sense of trust rather than any concrete reasons. Things like standing amidst the rubble of the WTC, flags waving in the background. This is nothing but a pitiful act; using the broken hearts and uncertainty of a mourning people to win a higher approval rating and put more oil money in his family’ pocket. The president can ride a jet onto as many aircraft carriers he likes…but the war is not over…and the ruler must pay for the lives of those he gets sent to die.

The President’s laugh track: When someone makes a joke that is not particularly funny and everyone around you laughs…you can’t help but to mildly laugh as well. The same comes in terms of fear. When the media constantly feeds you scary news of this new threat and that new threat, it leaves the people in an atmosphere of fear. That atmosphere of fear is what makes people pass stupid bills like the Patriot Act…or inclines them to give away more of their civil rights…or to keep the leadership as it is, which has always been the conventional method in times of war(you don’t change presidents). . So the threat-o-meter s moved up to orange…you are told that this war on terror will never end…that the terror will never cease. It is pure and simply, perpetual fear.

A carefully written script: Purely and simply; the President doesn’t write his speeches and he very rarely answers questions.

Back to the people…

I want you to take something into consideration: before the first soldier ever sets foot on the battlefield, a psychological campaign is first put to play. Whether it be twelve years of sanctions, leaflets dropped from planes, or food packets meant to show the nation’s caring, loving side…psy-ops are the first step towards pacifying a people.

One of the biggest diseases of the American media today is its influence on people’s self-esteem. In the midst of all that crap your being fed in the news and in the newspaper you are, every 7 minutes, being flashed with advertisements conditioning you to believe that you are fat when in actuality you are NOT. You are made to believe you are not good enough if your skin is too dark. You are made to believe you are not beautiful when you are.
One second you’re being flashed advertisements of inhumanly perfect looking people…the next second you are flashed with a 99 cent Whopper advertisement and told to drink Pepsi. People are depressed and they don’t even know why. People are convinced that they are overweight because the scale says they weigh 95 lbs. Why is it that people in the rest of the world don’t have such problems with beauty and their weight? Why is it only in America?

The analysis…
Is this all a form of psychological breakdown…or urban pacification?

Your mind is so busy thinking about your job and your grades, the economy, the war in Iraq, and your perpetual fear of the government…not to mention that any ounce of free time or self respect is dedicated to thinking about your weight…that their really is no time to think about what’s going on. As far as politics are concerned you really don’t care who it is that runs against Bush…just as long as he screams anti-war and has a chance of winning. We remind ourselves to call our Senators and complain about the issues…do that democracy thing; but by the time you remember the offices have already closed and you end up doing nothing. Not to mention, who the heck has the time to go travel these days…see the world…the different cultures…the alternative thinking…and what’s that…the hips?! Yes, in many countries hips are not deformities to be removed by plastic surgery, the actors on tv are not perfect, and size zero is considered just plain old skinny.

Wow, what a culture shock you would have. If that is…you could do any of that. Or should I say…would do any of that. But who has time? And whose going to pay the bills? And how are you going to keep up with your workout at the gym?

The system keeps moving and the people can do nothing.

Perhaps a good old reading of 1984 or Oliver Twist would do us some good. You would see then that the most effective and effortless way to pacify people is to weaken and depress. The strength to fight and the will to fight go hand in hand; take away one of them and the other one is useless.

The Solution…

First…Stop getting your news from American news media! You’re being fed lies upon lies.

Your primary weapons in the search for knowledge are the internet and books. Open yourself up to a treasure chest of information, updated round the clock. You can take what you like and leave what you want. Every Muslim must know what is going on in the world around him. Islam did not teach s to be an ignorant people. Take a lesson from the past; from the Muslims before us who spent so much time discussing the tidbits of the Deen that they failed to see the Mongolian threat driving steadily towards them. Please let us not repeat the same mistakes again.

There are so many ways to find out information. My personal favorite: whatreallyhappened.com…for the conspiracy theorist in everyone. I welcome and encourage everyone to choose their own. There is indymedia.org, guardian.co.uk. antiwar.com, euronews.net, bbcworld.com…a plethora of websites and information that you can go to. There is no excuse to not be informed.

Finally, as two recommendations of my own: talk to old timers and try to see the world from your own perspective. Old timers will give you the facts first hand, and I have yet to meet an old man who didn’t love to talk about the past (and the past seems to always repeats itself). As for traveling…from firsthand experience, having had the opportunity to temporarily downshift my life and spend time in another hemisphere I have been able to gain a very different perspective on the world and on life. Because different countries have different people, and the less we know about other countries the less we know about ourselves as humanity and as people.

May Allah grant us Guidance.
May he help us distinguish Truth from Falsehood.