CDN, by Bob Taylor
CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 21, 2014 – Coverage of the persecution of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries is an ongoing problem that remains under-reported in the western media. The truth of this persecution is damaging to the media’s narrative on the Middle East.
Consider the Obama Administration’s narrative: Israel is intransigent and the villain in its dealings with the underdog Palestinians.
A recent article in The Torch, which was reprinted in a blog by Raymond Ibrahim, takes a closer look at why the American press does not cover Christian persecution in the Middle East. The grim picture it presents explains much about media bias and, indirectly, the Obama administration’s mishandling of the Palestinian/Israel peace process under Secretary of State John Kerry
The article calls it the “greatest human rights tragedy of our times,” beginning with a couple of dramatic facts. “Reliable estimates indicate that anywhere from 100-200 million Christians are persecuted every year…approximately 85% of this persecution occurs in Muslim majority nations. In 1900, 20% of the Middle East was Christian. Today, less than 2% is.”
“Far from helping these Christian victims, U.S. policies are actually exacerbating their sufferings. Whether in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, or Syria, and under the guise of the U.S.-supported ‘Arab Spring,’ things have gotten dramatically worse for Christians.”
The Torch piece points out that since Israel is stronger than its Muslim adversary, the media gives the Palestinians a “pass” as the underdog in the dispute. The press fails to report that victimization is standard operating procedure in the Muslim world. It is a primary tactic to win global sympathy. Israel rejects that concept because they know better.
The counter argument is simple: “If radical Muslims get a free pass when their violence is directed against those stronger than them, how does one rationalize away their violence when it is directed against those weaker than them—in this case, millions of indigenous Christians?”
The media cannot have it both ways.
The article concludes, “There, is of course, a very important reason why the mainstream media ignores radical Muslim persecution of Christians: if the full magnitude of this phenomenon [were] ever known, many cornerstones of the mainstream media — most prominent among them, that Israel is oppressive to Palestinians — would immediately crumble.
“Why? Because radical Muslim persecution of Christians throws a wrench in the media’s otherwise well-oiled narrative that ‘radical-Muslim-violence-is-a-product-of-Muslim-grievance’ — chief among them Israel.”
The argument is not significantly different than it was ten centuries ago when Christians attempted to regain territory lost to Islamic expansion by undertaking the Crusades. That movement, much like the Palestine/Israel conflict today, would have been just as misunderstood, or misreported, if the media had existed during that time. In fact, the Crusades have been so misinterpreted in modern times, even by Christians, that Muslims now use them as an example that justifies their own cause.
“In short, Christian persecution is the clearest reflection of radical Islamic supremacism. The problem is that … Islamists believe according to their scriptural exegesis, (that Christians) must be subjugated,” says The Torch article.
Therein lies one of the great conundrums of attempting to negotiate with rogue Islamic nations: Supremacy lies at the very core of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, not only supremacy over Christians, but over all other non-believers as well. Until that is understood by the press, no amount of rationalization by them will alter the outcome, and Christians throughout the Muslim world will continue to be slaughtered with barely a notice.
Bob Taylor has been traveling the world for more than 30 years as a writer and award winning television producer focusing on international events, people and cultures around the globe. Taylor is founder of The Magellan Travel Club (www.MagellanTravelClub.com).
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