The Taliban Times was the comedic highlight Tuesday night on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” during his monologue.
In this bit, Leno basically mocked the culture and nature of the Arab world.
Now you might think that the Arab world has more to think about than what Jay Leno has to say, and this is very true. However, this kind of mocking attitude toward the Arab world is the same one that many Americans carry with them. This then reflects to the rest of the world.
Isn’t it funny how news coverage has dwindled ever since we turned the attacks around? Well I guess nobody wants to see the U.S. drop food AND bombs. (Boom!! courtesy of the U.S.A.)
It is very convenient that TV airs and promotes such anti-Taliban rhetoric, yet we do not air and reveal what is going on overseas in the war on terrorism. Could it be that the United States would lose support if people saw images of people dying because of our bombings?
How do you define terrorism? What the United States is doing right now to innocent Afghans could be called terrorism by someone on the other side.
That is just something to think about.
Why do we waste so much energy on trashing the enemy rather than analyzing the reasons why we have enemies?
While it might seem like your patriotic duty to go out, buy a flag and rally for your country, my problem is that people try to avoid finding the cold hard facts.
But what are the cold hard facts about these events? Where is the rock solid evidence that the American people deserve to see that makes this war justified?
This war is not solely based on jealousy and resentment from the Arab world. Its roots are deeper than that.
For Osama bin Laden, this is a holy war between Islam and what the Western world idealizes. He threatens not to stop.
His logic is completely irrational. His reasons behind his actions are bogus.
However, it seems ironic that the United States is a former supporter of bin Laden when it was in the best interest of the United States during the Soviet Invasion in the 1980s, and that the United States trained him and supplied him with weapons they will now use against us.
Have we forgotten about the oil driven actions that the United States took when it went into Iraq in 1990 and then left once it felt its oil was safe? Saddam Hussein, who we also trained, is still the same oppressor he was 10 years ago. This shows that the U.S. acts in its own interests and in those interests only.
The good people of the United States have made it clear through TV mockery of Islamic people and patriotic propaganda that the United States represents the good guys in the war and the so-called terrorists are the bad guys. Now, while I do not think Americans are wrong in supporting their country, I do think that making fun of the Arab world is counterproductive.
It is not about good versus evil. There is no clear cut black and white in this sick, sad world, and clearly not in this matter.
I will never say that the United States deserved what happened on Sept. 11, and that is not the message I am trying to convey. Nor am I siding against my own country.
However, I will ask that people evaluate this ‘war on terrorism.’ Can you even win a war on terrorism? Is that really feasible?
Is this war justified or just reactionary? This is something that you can figure out on your own, but I just ask that you sift through the irony.
Jennifer Contreras, a junior photojournalism major, is editorial director of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at kinipela_peace@yahoo.com.
