Bin Laden And The Wonderful World Of Disney

Professor Bob McChesney wrote in his book The Problem of the Media: US Communication Politics in the 21st Century that Walt Disney and the Disney Corporation has done much harm to the media message. His explanation was that since the 1930s we have all grown up with the idea of good and evil as distinct lines drawn by cartoon characters. Many of the Disney movies portray a simplistic world in which the evildoer is killed at the end and we all live happily ever after. The subtle message of that theme is that we live in a simplistic world where good and evil are easily distinguished.

Seven decades of Disney type propaganda about the evil other has been exploited by the media in the Disney model. The best example is the "cartoon character" Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden is indeed a psychopath and a dangerous criminal. But, the idea that his death would end Al Qaeda and worldwide terrorism is rediculous. The strength of Al Qaeda as a real centralized terror organization has never been proven by any intelligence agency. Do we ever get any details about what the Al Qaeda organization really is? What we get almost every day are pictures of masked men training on horizontal ladders and pictures of Osama's training films that are at least 7 years old. And this centralized network is building its massive power in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This sophisticated organization is supposed to be controlling all this worldwide terrorism in those mountains? Now there's a real stretch. How are they supposed to be able to function in those places?

The 9/11 attack was a well-funded plan that involved money as well as manpower and planning within the U.S. It is my personal belief that they gave credit for 9/11 to Bin Laden the same as cops claiming that they have captured a murderer by pinning it on some already known murderer. It gives the public the belief that there has been some positive response by law enforcement. Bin Laden originally denied that he had anything to do with 9/11. He ultimately took credit for it after we insisted that he was responsible. That was the gift of a lifetime for him.

So what is the responsibility of the MSM when it comes to publicizing videos of this madman? The MSM has already announced that Bin Laden is coming out with a new video soon and this time he has dyed his hair black. And the airwaves will be saturated by a message from this psychopath. What good will this do the American people? Should we now all buy weapons and hide out in our homes? Is it not the responsibility of law enforcement and our intelligence agencies to protect us from terrorism? Perhaps we shoud withdraw all of our troops in Iraq and place them in every airport and soft target in the U.S. I am sure the troops would rather protect us here than in Iraq. This is all a bunch of nonsense that I believe the American people will not take much longer.

Television has for decades avoided publicizing streakers, flag burners, and other types of abnormal behavior when broadcasting sports events and other live shows. Their rationale has been based upon the premise that such abnormal behavior should not to be portrayed to the American people. The latest exploitation by the MSM of the Bin Laden video has no benefit to the public interest. Even our own intelligence agencies do not report an increase in terrorist activity. The rationale for this kind of fear mongering is the same old cheap tabloid news that we have been fed since the days of Ed Morrow and walter Cronkite.

News reporting is supposed to inform us of things that are of public interest and helpful to the common good. It is not the purpose of the news media to inform us daily of all the abnormal behavior occurring in a small minority of our society. But, unfortunately in the wonderful world of Disney if we just kill the bad guy, all of our problems will be solved. As Paul stated in the New Testament: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Comments

[Dap]

Dear Mr. Drobny,

I'm with ya. Can it be that hard to understand the wasted energy and human potential?

Non-sense... Indeed! Agape.

[JustAnotherJoe]

With regards to the Manichean frame the MSM uses and how deeply it pentrates our most prevailing mythos even beyong Disney, check out this article on the "myth of redemptive violence" by Christian theologian Walter Wink.

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/cpt/article_060823wink.shtml

(I found it after reading another excellent essay by frequent Huffposter Bob Kohler.)

[Beaux510]

Actually, intelligence agencies have reported a huge spike in traffic and chatter on Islamist message boards and references to the "Special Gift" which mimic the same spike and references leading up to the weeks and days before 9/11.

You wrote "This sophisticated organization is supposed to be controlling all this worldwide terrorism in those mountains? Now there's a real stretch. How are they supposed to be able to function in those places?"

While AQ does have some direct cell command, the real threat is them being "inspiration" to both individuals and cells, who after being radicalized by AQ's or other Islamist's call to purify their religion, go operational. They function just the way you are functioning, in the virtual world. Their media wing is described by former Reuters correspondent Paul Eadle of OutThereNews: "Al-Qaeda is not the only factor at work, but it is a powerful one. Al-Qaeda is running a masterful media campaign to manage how the world perceives its conflict with the West. If the West does not counter this, its military and intelligence action against al-Qaeda will be wasted: al-Qaeda will succeed in creating a violent "clash of civilisations", a new Cold War, which will condemn us all to terror and bloodshed for years after Osama bin Laden and his current network have passed into history."

In response to your query: "Do we ever get any details about what the Al Qaeda organization really is?" The answer is yes, but not in the MSM. You have to really want to know, and then do the necessary research. Online is fine, there's no shortage of info. What it is? I'll let Osama's own words sum it up.

"For how long is our lot to be fear, death, destruction, expulsion and the creation of orphans and widows while your lot continues to be security, stability and contentment? The time has come to right this unjust division of goods. As you kill, so you shall be killed." (Osama bin Laden, 12 November 2002)

Doesn't sound too Disney to me.

[loslobo]

Did I read this right?

"The 9/11 attack was a well-funded plan that involved money as well as manpower and planning within the U.S. It is my personal belief that they gave credit for 9/11 to Bin Laden the same as cops claiming that they have captured a murderer by pinning it on some already known murderer. It gives the public the belief that there has been some positive response by law enforcement. Bin Laden originally denied that he had anything to do with 9/11. He ultimately took credit for it after we insisted that he was responsible."

Could you plese expand upon this. Because I feel that although many may hold this veiw, nobody has the gonads to say it publicly. Isn"t six years long enough? I think America needs to hear the truth from other voices besides the couragious Dr. David Ray Griffin. Please connect the dots for those afraid or in denial.

[MamaBird62]

I think you are spot on about our media's fear mongering and shallow approach. They are only a mirror of our society. However, the better term for bin Laden is sociopath, not psychopath. By all accounts he is fully aware of what he's doing, and is driven by ideological obsession, not insanity.

[WFB]

While I certainly agree that the media's focus on "Al Qaeda" has blurred over time, I think it is quite clear that there was a sophisticated organization in Afghanistan in the years leading up to 9/11, one led by Osama bin Laden and directly responsible for making 9/11 (and numerous other terrorist attacks) happen.

It's after we went into Afghanistan and flushed that organization out that things become blurry. Still, I think it is quite clear that the ideological movement which Al Qaeda and Bin Laden represent is alive and well. It is equally clear just where that movement is centered:

www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com

Refusing to stand up to the administration and report on this is the true failure of the media.

[larry278]

Disney's imagineers haven't been told that WWII ended in 1945. Updating propaganda cartoons from WWII by substituting a cartoon stereotype of an Arab face for a Japanese or German stereotype face & using the same script won't do in 2007. The propaganda script & images must be fully revised to reflect the real world & the changed threats & dangers of 2007.

[SensibleAmerican]

Brilliant Mr. Drobny! Reminds me of that movie "15 Minutes" and a thought that I have had for a while ... that the Media is our Lord and Shepherd and dictates our very lives!

You hear people in the Media telling us that they give us what we want, but in my mind it is pure hypocrisy and a vicious circle! The Media first changes the way we view and what we view and then gives us more of that under the guise of "giving us what we want"!
How else can you explain a year on Natalie Holloway and Scott Peterson?! How else can you explain paris Hilton getting more coverage than the Iraq war cumulatively speaking! How else can you explain the transition from Humphry Bogart to an Ashton Kucher and/or Marilyn Monroe/Elizabeth Taylor to the Olsen twins and Nicole Richie!

How can stupidity and stubborness be construed as "firm and resolute"?! How can years of public service of a war hero be reduced to "flip flopping"?! Why would the demographics of the Fascist Noise Channel still believe that the Iraq war is a 'good thing'?! But then they are the same percentage that believe that Jesus Christ is coming back this year ... never mind ... that's yet another/different long discourse!

The piece-de-resitance is the way the Media helped this administration spin us all into going into Iraq. Now, the same media is criticizing those elected who voted for going into Iraq!
The papparazzi that killed Princess Diana is now keeping her alive, so they can make even more money by all kinds of BS conspiracy and sleazy stories!

The Media knows how to eat its cake and have it too ... by selling its very soul ...

[CriminallySane]

"You hear people in the Media telling us that they give us what we want, but in my mind it is pure hypocrisy and a vicious circle! The Media first changes the way we view and what we view and then gives us more of that under the guise of "giving us what we want"!"

That is simply an error. With electronic viewership ratings, it's now possible to know what part of a news program viewers switch away from. (Hint: It's not the "sensationalist" stuff.)

As for plotted, dramatic "entertainment", the production lead times for TV - and especially theatrical film - are such that it's a response/trailing indicator, not a leading one. That the truly suggestible are affected by such stuff to a disturbing extent still says more about them than it does what they watched.