[symple_box]
Khalid Boulbourj is currently studying at the university of Hassan 2, Mohammedia, Morocco. [/symple_box]
Mohammedia, Morocco- Recently, many shocking incidents around the world have pinpointed the double standard of Mass Media. For instance, when three Muslims in Chapel Hill were brutally slaughtered by an American TERRORIST, Mass Media called the criminal a “psychopath”, “a mentally sick person”. More than that, much of the media didn’t devote much of its financial resources to cover the story, with very few articles written to shed light on the said terrorist act. Similarly, when the Israeli soldiers ruthlessly and savagely committed atrocities in the Gaza strip last August (it coincided with the holy month of Ramadan), Mass Media failed to label the Israeli soldiers who perpetrated various atrocities, including the killings of around 500 kids, terrorists. Instead, mass media propagated the Israeli narration, which asserted that Israeli soldiers were acting in self-defense, though many organizations, including a UN report, has come to the conclusion that Israel’s atrocities in Gaza have amounted to war-crimes.
[symple_box color=”white”] 
FBI Director Denies Charleston denied in the post-gaze of the event that the shooting was an act of terrorism, even though if we analyze this crime from the lens of the FBI charter itself, we will indisputably find it an act of domestic terrorism as the American national security analyst Peter Bergen argued in his article entitled “Was the Charleston Massacre an Act of Terrorism?” [/symple_box]
Paradoxically, when two individuals, claiming to be acting under the flag of Islam, went on rampage in the locals of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine located in Paris, they were called “terrorists,” with Mass Media painstakingly covering the affair from head to toe, although it has been argued that the French government staged the assail in an attempt to facilitate the process of passing a law that would enable the government to spy on people. Other more recent occurrences, which I shall elucidate in the following next lines, demonstrate plainly the double standard of Mass Media.
On the 17th of June, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston turned from a place of worship to a bloodbath following the mass shooting of a group of African Americans, who were attending a Bible study session. The terrorist, Dylann Roff, a 21-year-old- White American, hysterically shot down the attendees in cold blood. He was arrested one day after the carnage. Following the U.S. police officers investigating the crime, he was sentenced guilty and was convicted of murdering 9 innocent people. In Mass Media, the terrorist attack was given the label “hate crime.” FBI Director Denies Charleston denied in the post-gaze of the event that the shooting was an act of terrorism, even though if we analyze this crime from the lens of the FBI charter itself, we will indisputably find it an act of domestic terrorism as the American national security analyst Peter Bergen argued in his article, “Was the Charleston Massacre an Act of Terrorism” , to CNN, “By any reasonable standard, this is terrorism, which is generally defined as an act of violence against civilians by individuals or organizations.” According to the FBI, domestic terrorism is “the acts that are dangerous to human life” and which,” violate federal or state law”. It is crystal clear that the Charleston church massacre, as Bergen puts it, was purely an act of domestic terrorism, and sarcastically the FBI Director denies it.
Ironically, when, few days ago, on the 25th of June, a young student went on rampage in a beach resort on the Tunisian coastal city of Sousse, leading to the death of at least 39 tourists, Daily Mail in UK hastily referred to the crime as an act of terrorism, though it was initially not yet known whether the attack was carried out or inspired by Daesh (generally known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or not [It was claimed afterwards by Daesh]. If we adhere to the twisted logic of media in examining this assail, we would then say that the attack of terrorists on the beach resort is a “hate crime”, or “a crime that has been carried out by a student who suffers from psychological disorders”, all but an act of terrorism. However, truth must be said and one must be objective in his judgment of matters; the sadistic murder of the 37 tourists was an act of terrorism. It is not because the Mass Media is subjective in their reports that we need to be subjective.
Editor’s Note: I’m not defending any criminal or terrorist organization. A criminal must be penalized sternly, regardless of his faith, ethnicity, or nationality; I’m merely shedding light on a phenomenon that many people fail to notice. All forms of terrorism cannot be closely associated with any religion or group of people. Terrorism does not belong to any religion whatsoever; anyone who promotes the opposite of this idea must be mistaken.
[symple_box]Please Note that the views expressed in all opinions on The Moroccan Times are the authors’s own and do not reflect The Moroccan Times editorial policy.[/symple_box]
