{"id":82,"date":"2018-04-08T11:11:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T15:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/?p=82"},"modified":"2018-04-08T11:12:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T15:12:33","slug":"82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/2018\/04\/08\/82\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 12 Readings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sakr\u2019s article, \u2018Challenger or Lackey? The Politics of News on Al-Jazeera\u201d discussed the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera<\/a> and how it is perceived as a source of \u201ccounter-hegemonic contra-flow.\u201d Sakr discusses three contradictory theses that both support and refute this perception in an attempt to question how this news source has been framed, used as a tool in political agendas, and how it is reflective of both regional and global status quo. Al-Jazeera is often credited for offering coverage alternative to dominate news sources, challenging the news media monopoly held by the global north. It\u2019s aim is to show both \u201copinion and counter-opinion,\u201d but it is clear that this goal has led to conflicting interpretations of whether or not it\u2019s unique footage and coverage of Middle Eastern countries is an assistance or a hindrance to Western dominance. The first thesis argues that Al-Jazeera in fact challenges the west, publishing footage that is perceived as anti-American because of their ethical code requiring them to publish all viewpoints, even terrorists. The second thesis suggests the opposite: that because of the United States close relationship with the Qatar government, the hegemony of the United States is maintained through the Arabic government\u2019s reliance on the U.S. military and preserving political relations. The final thesis argues that Al-Jazeera is an Arab force in Arab politics, and that it serves as a political actor for the Arabic government. This article was edifying in that it demonstrates how the media has the power to frame the perception of the media itself. Reading this reminded me of the prejudices surrounding news stations<\/a> in America, for example Fox News, and how viewers choose to tune into particular channels based on the content expected. It is also telling that much of the media cannot be understood outside of its involvement in global politics, although it is not surprising to me that here is yet another sphere where Western culture is projected and magnified through power relations (albeit one that I had not taken the time to consider).<\/p>\n

Kaufer and Al-Malki\u2019s article \u201cThe War on Terror through Arab-American Eyes: The Arab-American Press as a Rhetorical Counterpublic\u201d centered around the idea of the American Arab media serving as a counterpublic, particularly in the wake of 9\/11, and how this discourse was shaped largely by the prejudices surrounding Muslim people. They analyze news articles published by Arab American News<\/em><\/a> in order to understand the ways the publications worked to create this secondary narrative. They use Squire\u2019s definition of a counterpublic and the three distinctive types, namely, the ability to become enclaved, where discourse is created to serve as a safe space for the marginalized, a satellite, where there is a minimalist relationship with dominant discourse and they seek to maintain the separation, and resistant, where dominant discourse is challenged and confronted. They show how the Arab American News<\/em> served as both enclaved and satellite counterpublic, but refrained from too much resistance because of the unsolicited animosity that already existed in the wake of 9\/11. This news served as the Arab American perspective not often heard on mainstream media, and gave insight to the ways in which Arab Americans were scrutinized for their religious identity<\/a>. I found this article complemented Sakr\u2019s article nicely and identified an implicit issue of racism against Muslim Americans existing in the U.S. since 9\/11. It was interesting to hear how Arabs were deemed either \u201cgood Arabs\u201d or \u201cbad Arabs\u201d depending on the extent to which they demonstrated their patriotism and complied with increased surveillance. I found it representative of what we have previously read about how our status as citizens depends largely on our support of American ideals, and how oppressive this demand can become for those who are already part of a minority.<\/p>\n

Billy Lynn\u2019s Long Halftime Walk<\/em>\u00a0is a fictional story from the perspective of American soldier Billy Lynn. Billy and his squad, called Bravo, performed exceptionally during one battle overseas in Iraq that was caught on camera, deeming them heroes among the eyes of the American public and causing them to be taken on a short hiatus to embark on a victory tour. The plot focuses mainly on one of the last days of the tour where they are the guests of honor at the Dallas Cowboy\u2019s stadium for the Thanksgiving football game, in addition to a long flashback of two days when Billy returned home to see his family for a brief visit. The troop is accompanied by a movie producer who is in the process of trying to secure a movie deal based on the heroic actions of Bravo\u2019s soldiers. The reader is exposed to Billy\u2019s increasingly disappointed, confused, and disenchanted thoughts as he interacts with his troop members, fans at the game, his family, and a Cowboys cheerleader. Billy is at a loss with the current state of his life, and he often thinks of his friend Shroom who died during their infamous battle. His pessimism is reflected in how he weighs his past choices with the anticipation of the unknown future, and a distinct disconnect is evident in the way he thinks and interacts with even his closest friends and family. I thought this book was demonstrative of how the U.S. glorifies war, especially by taking one person\u2019s horrible and scarring experience and turning it into grand demonstrations of heroism, like victory tours or movies. It seems as though Billy\u2019s narrative could be representative of the feeling of disenchantment soldiers must experience upon returning from war, and to me it’s encouraging that this is becoming a movie<\/a>. Perhaps showing a more realistic version of a soldier\u2019s experience will help shift how war continues to be represented in mainstream media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sakr\u2019s article, \u2018Challenger or Lackey? The Politics of News on Al-Jazeera\u201d discussed the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera and how it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2377,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rhetoric-terrorism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}