Monday, June 9, 2008

Glorifying terrorism...???

The front page headline in Times of India this morning saya 'Jehadis may get nukes, warns PM'....it caught my attention no doubt! So, I read the report very carefully word by word, thrice! And I did not find the mention of the word Jehadi even once in the story....yes there was mention of how the PM was worried about the country's nukes falling to the wrong hands, read terrorists. The report says that the PM 'sounded a chilling warning about the dangers of nuclear technology falling into the "dangerous hands" of terrorists and called for greater vigil'.......

I very much endorse the PMs view and ya if it falls into wrong hands, the consequences will be disastrous, no doubt. But I have certain issues about the headline and the story. Jehad is an Arabic word that means Holy War and jehadis are those who wage the war. So, is Times of India trying to say that terrorism is a holy war, by calling the terrorists jehadis?? Did the PM actually use the word Jehadis in his speech.....I was not present there nor did I see it on TV, so I do not know what exactly was said by the PM (I have a feeling that the word was not used...) Or did the reporter think that the word Jehadi will aptly describe terrorists??

Just because some morons use the name of religion to justify their evil acts does not mean that the entire world should accept that!! Those morons can name their act as Jihad, Honour Killing and such other names, but at the end of the day if the media and the public endorse the terms used, is it not showing acceptance about the whole thing at some levels?? I really do not understand the why that word was used in the first place. Terrorism has no religion....thats what everybody says....but the use of this word in the front page of the leading English daily of the country certainly does not reflect so!!


25 comments:

insanely~positive said...

okay, you have a point there. islam, which means peace, is now synonym to terrorism. Thanks to the media and a bunch of idiots.

paps sapa said...

when i read such news abt terrorism.. i just feel like ...........

neways.. nice post..
and lemmi tel u.. one thing..
this is one of the best blogs i have ever seen... well presented.. keep it up...

CRD said...

hmm, wat u wrote made sense.

mebbe islamic fundamentalists or extremists is the right word.

the media isnt helping matters by giving them a glorifying name.

btw read ur comment on my blog...u realy cant read hindi? [:P]

Pensativo said...

Your new theme is cool. Good change :).

you know what I also had misconception that Jehad had something to do with terrorism as media has always presented this term that way only.

Thanks for your post :).

About media: what to say, you know it all :P.

Anonymous said...

good point..and jehad and terrorism ..both are entirely different

Unknown said...

i fully agree with your view. The reporters/journalists must use the correct wording no matter whether it is "quote" or "unquote". Thanks so much! Good pick up again.

Ruhul

Anonymous said...

Dear i like your blogs coz they are very touching and related to personal life.....
i wl not give any comments on your recent blog on terrorism. coz its first (political) blog which i dont like.

Ayesha said...

@:)
Thanks for stopping by, ya they are a real bunch of idiots!!

@paps sapa
thanks a ton...

@CRD

It could just be terrorists instead of Islamic/Christian/Hindu fundamentalists....
Hmmm I can read Hindi to save my life...:)

@pensativo
media is responsible for many of the wrong ideas that we form about people and places

@saif
thanks for the appreciation

@ruhul
thanks a lot fro dropping by

@anonymous
its ok, you do not have to like everything, its an individual choice, thanks for dropping by though!!!

Bookworm said...

hey... im really impressed with your blog... great job keep it up...

Saif Farooqi said...

yeah, you're right ... the media at times is very irresponsible when it comes to news of this kind. Jehad has nothing to do with terrorism and this should be clearly understood by media persons. Nice topic, by the way.

Jini said...

media is one of the strongest tool that can have a deep impact on the mind of the masses. It is indeed sad to see that they have no clue about their responsibility towards the readers/viewers. Just a catchy headlines which will grab eyeballs is good enough for them, but what about the wrong message that such words are sending out to the public? Its high time that the media should be re-educated about their responsibility to society at large. Great going Ayesha, glad you were vocal about this point :-) keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Hello Ayesha,
Thanks for commenting on my blog,I like your blog.We don't know what happens in the next second.No matter what happens, life never stops......it simply moves on!!!!

man in painting said...

true.lets call it mass murder.Accurate terms are inportant.Killing is barbaric.Always.Never define it otherwise...
i liked your post.
my blog is not real.
LOL
do visit...

Anonymous said...

Yeah you're so right. Its frustrating for us that think like so! Unfortunately we'll all just see a rise in this, and I don't think there is a sure way of making the public understand differently.

Ayesha said...

@bookworm
thank you so much

@saif
hope the media understands this very quickly and stop misleading people

@jini
re-educating the media.......sounds like a Herculean task!!!!!!
thanks a ton for the appreciation

@srinivas
thanks

@man in painting
hope someone sees your comment and learns

@anonymous
well there is no sure way out, but may be we can all do our small bit and hope this makes a difference

Anonymous said...

Ayesha good post. I do agree with you.
Why people add holy religion to terrorism.
I also want u to have a look at http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020472.php

Please post your own opinion about JIHAD and FITENA.
I would like you to write something on your blog after seeing this video and this site.

Unknown said...

U have raised a very valid and justified point....Jehads, Islamic Terrorism, etc, etc are the terms used to defame Islam.Courtesy Media..esplly western Media.
No one mentions Irish Republican Army (the Founders of Terrorism!) as Christian Terrorism....nor LTTE as Buddhist terrorist....neither Maoists as Hindu Terrorism....
But whenever and whereever Muslims protest..be it for their Nations Sovernity, or for Socio-economic upliftment.....they r branded as Islamic Terrorist.(Shame upon u..so called Educated Elites of Media)
In no way i'm here to endorse Terrorism ..be it in any form or in any part of the World.....And yeah..no true Muslim can ever endorse Terrorism...bcoz ISLAM never teaches that.

Gaurav Sharma said...

In the morden era...Terrorism itself has become a 'Secular Religion' of it s own..
I mean terrorist groups are now comprised of not only Muslims but recent few cases have shown involvement of other religion people too...
So its purely insane and stupid and even childish to glorify terrorism with catchy headlines and long articles on the first page itself..this is gonna encourage the terrorist even more...

Comfortably Numb said...

Enough has been said and done about this issue. I dont think the PM said it to mean it in the literal sense. It was more to signify those jobless oafs raping our country on the border!

Cheers!

Ayesha said...

@anonymous

Will go through the video and will surely pen down something if I feel like!!!

@Shah
Ya you are spot on when you say 'no true Muslim can ever endorse Terrorism'

@Gaurav
Terrorism is not about religion, it is just about people with twisted minds!!!

@comfortable numb
He is the Prime Minister of the country, not just any Tom, Dick or Harry....so he should not say things that he does not mean in the literal sense, can send out all the wrong signals to the public!! So everyone must chose the words they use very very carefully...specially if one is holding such positions, be it the PM or the media!!

Anonymous said...

A really good post, relevant and timely.. but does such headline from TOI still surprise you?

And by the way, Jehad doesnt mean Holy War... it means STRUGLE. Holy war is a distorted translation of the word by Westeners.

Congrats for speaking out, waiting for more posts on the subjects.

-Che

Anonymous said...

Thing is very simple...today scandals rapes riots also big words like JIHAD CRUSADE TERRORISM anything unsocial event sells the most...no matter if it effects someone's life or not...Just see a simple case about a women ...a maths teacher declared gang leader of prostitution in K.V.School without hearing the court verdict...Even she was brutally beaten by some people...we really enjoyed the media telecast and newspaper and filled our heart with loathes for her...without ever thinking ..any trial..we made a verdict against her...and when she comes out without any charges...we made a sympathize view on her..oh poor lady.....Next days they found another news and they juiced it up...And we all forget about injustice to her...its a hoard of TRP...

anyway its really nice posts to raise the voice against redefining the meaning of words that effects not to someone's life but it pin points to a whole community...raise fingers not against those bastard who are doing such noxious malicious acts for there own interests who made their own asocial community, but to the purity of a community whose breeds being led thousand years back for harmony and love...for being a good social human...where its being taught to love even enemies and treat them like brother...

Subir said...

Yep... totally agree with what you say. And the Press always uses these 'catchy' headlines to grab eyeballs - just like it grabbed yours. Afterall, they do need to sell their publication. Maybe I should later on tell you something that a very senior editor did while a friend was reporting news on the Godhra incident and its aftermath.

The talk about Weapons of Mass Destruction - Media is also being increasingly used as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

Sujoy Bhattacharjee said...

In 1527, Babur ordered a Jihad against Rajputs at the battle of Khanwa. Publicly addressing his men, he declared the forthcoming battle a Jihad. His soldiers were facing a non-Muslim army for the first time ever. This, he said, was their chance to become either a Ghazi (soldier of Islam) or a Shaheed (Martyr of Islam). The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb waged a Jihad against those identified as heterodox within India's Islamic community, such as Shi'a Muslims.
--from the bowels of the Internet.

So does this mean that Babur and Aurangzeb were terrorists?

And this in response to Shah's comment.
IRA, LTTE and Maoists do not fight in the name of religion. In fact, Maoists being extreme leftists are mostly athiests. But sadly, most Islamic fundamentalists who endorse violence do so under the garb of religion. So, it is not always the media which is at fault. Yes, there are some over-enthusiastic people who like to grab eyeballs(and TOI seems to emplo plenty of them), but then this does not mean that the entire media is to be blamed.... just as it is foolish to assume that some violent fanatics represent the Islamic ideals.

Anonymous said...

From last two months i m regularly visiting to musings hub,to see a new blog.I think now u r in dilemma to write the sub. of ur blog i.e political or some touching blogs related to ur day to day life... whatever u write i m waiting for ur next blog