Well Done Videos (vs. raw ones, I guess)

Submitted by Sigmund Derman (United States), Sep 28, 2012 at 14:08

Dear Sara,

There would be a violent reaction even if the video really did cost 6 million dollars to make as was claimed (an interesting number, by the way) and was produced by Steven Spielberg or Spike Lee. But such a video probably would have a better chance of convincing some people that 1) Christian persecution (mostly by Muslims) is going on throughout the world. Many have not even heard of it or don't believe it. 2) It is wrong to persecute people because of their religious beliefs. You might might say that everybody really knows that but, if so, you are the one that is being naive. A huge problem in the world is that many people are inculcated in such totalitarian views (usually religious but sometimes purely political as in communism) that they really believe it is an important duty to attack those who believe otherwise. Perhaps there is no way of breaking through to such people, but some of the new methods such as Youtube of presenting material can reach millions of individuals simultaneously. Many of these are young people for whom there may be more hope for changing their view points. 3) Perhaps a few individuals might even end up changing their views from those of an Islamist orientation to a more Westernized religious viewpoint in which they see Islam as a religion separate from religious control. You don't know until you try.

If you do not believe that repeated display of videos could change thinking and/or behavior, do you also doubt that Dr. Pipes idea of multiple cartoons would help? Isn't that largely the same thing but with older media? Of course the cartoons are cheaper. But they may not be that much cheaper. One really would not have to spend anywhere near $6 Million just to make a decent video. The cartoons are also an attempt at dialogue.

Regarding theory, I think this whole forum is theoretical. Various people are offering thoughts and suggestions. Few, if any, are taking immediate action. Of course there is very little chance that any individual theoretical suggestion will help. Possibly a new slant on things will lead to something beneficial. Do you imagine that angry rants on this forum about Islam or Arabs accomplish a whole lot beyond making the ranter feel a little better for 30 seconds?

SD

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