It is hardly surprising to anyone in this region watching or reading reports from the US media that they have taken on a discerning policy of portraying us wholly as a bunch of extremists, hell bent on the destruction of the United States and its interests. And it is generally presented in TV programs or columns as a true reflection on the “truth”.
And if I were one of their denizens and subjected to this kind of “truth”, I would unquestionably raise my guard against anything that smacks of the lot of us. But that makes me wonder? Are we really that bad? Or have an insignificant number of extremists grabbed on to the controls and are leading us all astray against the “Great Satan”?
And in search of the truth, the corporate offices of US media have been regularly dispatching their personalities to determine what we are all about. Do Saudis really deserve the bad rap they’re getting, or is it an overreaction to events of Sept. 11? Get to the truth, they are told, or so is their supposed agenda. Two recent encounters with US media personalities gave me reason to indeed wonder.
In the first encounter, Barbara Walters of the ABC television network was in town just before this past summer. Amidst a random gathering of Saudi men and women, and accompanied by her producers and camera people, Ms. Walters stressed that her aim was to portray reality as it really exists. She wanted to capture our true feelings and emotions on the existing state of affairs between our countries.
In voices like one, there was universal condemnation of the events of Sept. 11. There was real emotion and compassion expressed towards the victims and their families. There was real anger directed towards the extremists, and questions were also raised. Why for instance was the US media so quick to generalize about Saudis and defer its objectivity to factual reporting?
Ms. Walters explained that her true purpose was indeed to break away at those myths and get to the truth. To find out whom we were, and what we are all about. Whether indeed there is hatred in our hearts for America. And she added that during her brief stay she was taken aback by the lack of such emotions. She had been indeed surprised.
If there was indeed anger towards the US, some in the group added, it was directed at their one-sided policy towards the Middle East situation. On the issue of Israel, Ms. Walters questioned why we were not so gracious to allow our borders to open up, why the Arab world had embargoes and a throttled diplomacy towards that country.
I politely explained to her that Israel’s recent policy since Sharon came to power had promoted the aggressive and unlawful displacement of the Palestinian people and the violations of their rights. It must be understood that peace in the region is what we all desire, but not dictated by looking down the barrel of a gun.
And besides, I wanted to know, “Ms. Walters, could you please explain why the US government has an embargo against the little country of Cuba? What are you afraid of? An influx of Cuban cigars?”
She looked at her producers for help in answering the question, but there was none forthcoming.
A couple of months later, Leslie Stahl of CBS 60 Minutes was in town. In a similar environment and in similar fashion, she strode in accompanied by her TV staff. The first comments to come out of her in that gathering was her surprise at the lack of anti-Americanism. She went on to illustrate this by relating an event in a shopping mall here in Jeddah. She had stopped a Saudi lady and wanted to question her on her feelings towards the US. The lady politely demurred.
Later on, Ms. Stahl was surprised by the presence of this same lady in the restroom. The lady explained that her religious convictions did not allow her to be filmed and that was the reason for her refusal. She also added that she admired the US and harbored no ill feelings. Ms. Stahl went on to say that this was generally the karma she felt during her visit, and she would indeed carry back these feelings back to her network. And even amongst us, she could not help but be taken aback by our lack of hatred.
I watched both shows when they aired on the US networks. Ms. Walter’s 20/20 program devoted itself to an interview with the father of one of the alleged terrorists. Clips were shown of the region of Asir, a region of extremism in the minds of US corporate media. There were no clips of our meeting, no mention of our condemnation of those events, or the sympathy that was expressed.
On 60 Minutes, Ms. Stahl was strangely mute on her “karmic” adventure in the mall. What was actually shown was a shot of a couple of technicians taking in a Coke dispensing machine for repair, then the clip went on about the Arab boycott of US products.
The end product of that particular program would have led me to believe that I was indeed guilty of participating in the plot of Sept. 11, and my existence on this earth was the pursuit of violence against all things American.
In the quest for sensationalism in US media, good “karma”‚ is often buried amidst the clips on the editing floor. I know, for I have witnessed it for myself.
— Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]
16 November 2002
