How FoxNews spreads fear and is misleading

In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo events a lot of information and news is created to ‘inform’ us how bad the situation is, how big of a thread Muslims are and how ‘we’ are victims and that we have to stand up and protect what we have been building and that this is something we surely need to fight for. We have to fight for this within our own boarders but also beyond. ‘We’ are letting drones fall on people, who factually did not do anything against ‘us’ at all. There might be a risk that something may happen somewhere in the future that might be against the values of what ‘we’ are standing for and that has to be eliminated.

What do we see on the news? “Terrorist cell dismantled” or, “An important head figure of Al Qaida eliminated”, or “America kept safe from a possible attack”, anything in this direction that keeps ‘our’ world in a dream that we are the good guys and they are the bad, and that they are going to attack us, and that we need to be scared and protest and to defend ourselves. Whilst many (still) innocent lives are lost, men, women and children.

We are made to believe that there is a huge thread from Muslims, well, according to a factual article of the ‘The Daily Beast’, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/14/are-all-terrorists-muslims-it-s-not-even-close.html, it is more likely to be killed by a fridge than by a Muslim in the USA.

In Europe, according the same article, merely 2 percent of all ‘terrorist attacks’ were committed by Muslims. In the same breath, one of Fox’s “specialists” blunders to state that the whole city of Birmingham, in the UK, is closed to non-Muslims.

Honestly, what kind of image is this creating for all the people who choose to have Fox as credible news source? Isn’t there any dignity or any awareness from their side that the world is bigger than themselves and their audience, and by reporting these kind of falsified stories, Fox is making themselves completely ridiculous for the rest of the world? Poor viewers, seriously. You are getting so misinformed, you are getting such a distorted view on what factually is happening. Birmingham is an ordinary larger industrial city in the UK with a bigger Muslim population. That’s all. Yes there is crime, yes that is everywhere in poor neighborhoods. Anywhere in the world.

Also in Paris. I was there in the beginning of December ’13. I was there in the tourist area called Montmartre where I was climbing the top of the dome, La Basilique du Sacré Cœur, which has a magnificent view on the city of Paris. Montmartre, home of artistic Paris, where art is produced. You can have your portrait drawn by one of the many artist. There are many small local restaurants, beautiful buildings on one of the hills. Many pictures are taken, musicians are playing, birds are whistling and the cozy atmosphere makes one simply feel good.

Yet this area, in the city center, full with life and pocket pickers, is portrait by Fox as a ‘no-go zone’. As an area where one can’t walk safely as non-Muslim, where there is danger, fear and a high concentration of potential terrorists. This is being aired in the USA and degrading Montmartre to a poor banlieue (French for suburb).

Yes there are many suburbs surrounding the city center of Paris. All divided in their administrative units to have the local government close to its people. Many of them look sad, without color, high-rises where people live packed on each other. Still, as in any suburb, there are wealthy ones, and also poor ones with a high crime rate. But it is not even near a no-go zone as in warlike cities in the Middle East where FoxNews was comparing it to.

No wonder that the Mayor of Paris is going to sue FoxNews for this, yet another, blunder and source of misinformation.

This shows that the media isn’t covering what really is going on, it is not factual, in fact, it is pushing an agenda, creating fear and it tries to convince that all ‘our’ violence and killing is justified. It is trying to tell us that Muslims are to be feared, that it is a major source of terrorism, that 1.6 billion people have to be distrusted and that each of them is a potential terrorist or that any of them is a potential person who turns against our values using violence.

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Is written in the Bible. So love thy neighbor –  also if they are Muslims following their five pillars: Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophet hood of Muhammad; Establishment of the daily prayers; Concern for and almsgiving to the needy; Self-purification through fasting; and The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able.

Also the Islam is a religion of peace, with mercy, and compassion.

Lastly, a quote from an article published by the NYT, written by Abdelkader Benali on January 13,   “Muslims are every bit as European as the Roma, gays, intellectuals, farmers and factory workers. We have been in Europe for centuries and politicians and the press must stop acting is if we arrived yesterday. We are here to stay.”

These are clear examples on how Fox is misleading and is tapped on their fingers for it. Unfortunately the damage is already done and fear is created. Sadly but true.