69 million page views

conspiracy theories

Reader comment on item: Additional Thoughts on "Winning the Propaganda War"

Submitted by John McMullen (United States), Dec 28, 2005 at 10:34

Pipes is spot on about arabs believing that everything is a conspiracy.. They make Oliver Stone look like a piker.

When I was working for the CPA in Iraq for most of 2003, the Iraqis were just beginning to buy hundreds of thousands of satellite dishes and TVs, and watched the arab news and TV every day. When they watched any Western news at all, they would convene a family meeting over dinner to discuss what they had seen on TV, and decide whether it was true or not.

When the family group could not reach agreement, the head of household or oldest male would make the final ruling as to whether what they had seen on TV was really true. Truth became whatever the patriarch said it was, whether he had watched the show or not, whether it was really true or not. Thus family Truth had to fit a pre-conceieved world view--all the time. jmcm
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (6) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Iranian Islamic Regime and the Attempted Change of Empires [182 words]M ToveyJun 1, 2021 16:04267771
oppressed people desire to be free..... most of the time. ...April 2010 [117 words]Phil GreendApr 11, 2010 23:18171205
Nature of Islam [147 words]Garry LockwoodJan 22, 2006 22:4532210
Man on Horseback and the First Amendment [231 words]Alan LissDec 28, 2005 12:0530695
conspiracy theories [157 words]John McMullenDec 28, 2005 10:3430691
Iran stabilized, but then what? [46 words]David W. LincolnDec 28, 2005 02:5130674

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)