[Handout used at a display of a bombed Israeli bus in Bergen. Written by Kevin McDonnell. Back to blog entry. -bs]

PSSST! Noen spørsmål, stilt i et fritt land, om saker som er av stor betydning for oss alle:

How much do you REALLY know about the Middle East? Do all your “insights” come directly or indirectly from the mainstream Media? Are you sure you have been exposed to all the important facts that would allow you to fairly consider what is true… and right?

We say you have not, and that the reasons you have not are due to the agenda of those of those who dominate the public discussion. We believe that from within the media as an institution, it is more likely that the news will be “shaped” to ensure you have the “right” opinions, rather than impartially reported as is its duty. Does that concept make you angry? If what we say here is false, feel free to be angry at us… but if what we say is true, should you not be angry at those who are relentlessly distorting what you see, in order to impose contrived views upon you? Find out more! You are a free human being and have the right to judge for yourself.

Do you believe you are defending the “rights” of the Palestinians by condoning and supporting the Palestinian Authority? If you are sure, can you explain why?

We say that you should know first what it is like to be “governed” by the PA before you make a judgement as to whether it is a “good” thing to support them. We say that this regime is odious almost to the point of surreal, and that the kind of nihilism and naked hatred that can send teenagers with bombs strapped to their bodies purely with the intent to commit mass murder… is NOT spontaneous, or a function of “Culture”. NOR is it the result of the occupation or Israeli “oppression”. It is the result of a ruthless and despotic regime that has used most of the “aid” money since the Oslo agreements (which is funded by your tax money) in order to control EVERY instrument of propaganda from media to schools to mosques. Much of the rest is used for “security”…which is an apparatus that terrorizes the local population almost as much as they aid terror against Israel. It is a regime that relentlessly preaches a message so murderous and hateful that the only comparison one can make to it is the fascist social controls put in place in Germany in the 1930s. Looking back that result seems obvious. This is just as obvious, and sits in plain sight for us all to see. But we do not see… nor do we speak of it in our discussion. How can this be? Here is a Nazi reference… which unlike the many meaningless and casually tossed references to “Nazism” that saturate the media today… is a true comparison based on substance… not a contrived one based on the “nuanced” and intellectually sophisticated images of our “experts”.

Do you think that groups who openly support Israel’s struggle against terrorism are usually attached to Jewish interests? Do you think it likely that the organizers of this meeting are part of a “Zionist” network?

Where did this image come from? Are there facts to support it? Has even the mere idea that there may be merit to Israel’s efforts to reach a sane resolution to thew madness that engulfs her, become part of a conspiracy? Is ANY thoughtful consideration that allows for the perspective of an Israeli somehow unacceptable? We say that this kind of emotional hatred masking as intelligent “reason” is reminiscent of a time in the not so distant past in which should always be remembered well, so that nothing like it can ever happen again. We say that this odious concept is absurd on its face, and could only be argued in a closed discussion. We say that it is obvious that this is why it is done, because an open discussion is intolerable to those who have a stranglehold on the public discourse.

Do you care to argue these points? We would be happy to have the discussion, and it should be easy in a society that imagines itself home to free speech... but it is not. If you believe that freedom of thought and open discourse are the most important aspects of a Free society… then you should be concerned. We think that most of those whose duty it is to relay an accurate and impartial view of the world as possible, place their own views above your right to know what is… and decide for yourself. We think, that this is a very, very bad thing…for us all.