QATAR AND THE GOLIATHS OF THE GULF.

The fear of the Goliaths is not Qatar, but the ideas Aljazeera has helped to spread.

By Owei Lakemfa

The Goliaths of the Gulf including powerhouse, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates gave tiny Qatar thirteen demands, which they know the latter cannot comply with. Some of them, such as demanding Qatar pay compensation for “its policies” are so outlandish and open-ended that even those making them cannot specify what they want or mean. It is as unreasonable as that. The choice they offer the tiny peninsula is not compliance with their ‘demands’ but the type of lethal poison Qatar wants to be administered on it. To boot, it has until this weekend to comply.

To me, the most outrageous demand is that Aljazeera, the television network and its affiliate stations across the Middle East be shut down. It is an affront on the media worldwide and a bestial attack on the fundamental freedom of speech. The mass media is mass culture, it is one of the primary ways Europe and America, control the world. The fear of the Goliaths is not Qatar, but the ideas Aljazeera has helped to spread.

To me, the most outrageous demand is that Aljazeera, the television network and its affiliate stations across the Middle East be shut down. It is an affront on the media worldwide and a bestial attack on the fundamental freedom of speech. The mass media is mass culture, it is one of the primary ways Europe and America, control the world. The fear of the Goliaths is not Qatar, but the ideas Aljazeera has helped to spread.

To me, the most outrageous demand is that Aljazeera, the television network and its affiliate stations across the Middle East be shut down. It is an affront on the media worldwide and a bestial attack on the fundamental freedom of speech. The mass media is mass culture, it is one of the primary ways Europe and America, control the world. The fear of the Goliaths is not Qatar, but the ideas Aljazeera has helped to spread.

To me, the most outrageous demand is that Aljazeera, the television network and its affiliate stations across the Middle East be shut down. It is an affront on the media worldwide and a bestial attack on the fundamental freedom of speech. The mass media is mass culture, it is one of the primary ways Europe and America, control the world. The fear of the Goliaths is not Qatar, but the ideas Aljazeera has helped to spread.

The Gulf states and their principals are uncomfortable with Aljazeera, the first Third World media that professionally, financially and competently, competes, and challenges the media hegemony of the West. With millions of viewers across the world, Aljazeera joined the ranks of the BBC, VOA, Sky News and CNN in setting the agenda for humanity.

Generally, the mass media is so powerful that in many cases, it can control minds and condition how people think or react. While the gun can control a person temporarily, the media can persuade and convince a person permanently.

The English trite that the pen is mightier than the sword, holds true even with the development of nuclear weapons. This is a major reason why big, powerful countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and their masters, are afraid of tiny Qatar.

To enslave a person, you need to enslave his mind, strip him of his past and convince him that he has no history and that he owes his present and future to you. That was what colonialism did to the colonised peoples. To achieve this, the colonisers depended a lot on the written and spoken word. It is that monopoly, a media like Aljazeera is challenging.

To understand how the West manipulates humanity through the media, listen to its language. For instance, when rebels fight a government, the insurgents are called rebels while the government side is called ‘government troops’. But in Syria, the Western media calls the rebels ‘Free Syria Army’ or troops, while the government troops are referred to as “regime troops’ or ‘Assad forces’ If foreigners are jailed for crimes in the West and America, they are referred to as ‘prisoners’, but if foreigners are jailed for crimes in North Korea, they are called ‘hostages’

Generally, the Gulf Goliaths naked attempt to muzzle the press has gone unchallenged. Those who claim they are champions of free speech and press freedom have mainly kept quiet. In fact, some of them characterise this brutal attack on press freedom as a ‘family affair’

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