Session 10: Discrepancies and Questionable Motives

      I found many aspects of this reading to be interesting. I happened to find the ceremonial duties which a leader has to perform as an intriguing concept of this reading. Once the Peshawar attack occurred in Pakistan it became crucial for the leaders in the country to pay visits to those who were affected, and the media played its role in highlighting the responses of the politicians to this tragic event. In fact when Imran Khan ceased his ‘dharnas’ in light of this incident, he was perceived as a leader worth admiring.

       I think that it is these duties performed by politicians and leaders which even go on to reveal their double standards and certainly do not work in their favour. Many leaders who came to the Charlie Hebdo protests were seen as hypocrites for doing so. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has been known to get a journalist imprisoned for comparing his face to a French detective on a show.  The foreign minister of Bahrain was sighted here, and it is amusing to note that prisons in Bahrain are popular for their heavy intake of journalists and poets. Hence it seemed that many leaders who had graced the occasion seemed to contradict many other actions they had performed in the past. 

       Also I completely agree with the notion that the mass media in America can in and of itself, be considered as the fourth branch of government because it influences the aspect of political socialization and the reveals the actions of the politicians like it did at the time of: President Nixon when it unveiled the Water gate scandal, resulting in his resignation.

       However, I think that the mass media in America is now fit to be seen as a branch of government that allows oppression, and concealment to take place. The mass media never seems to highlight the sufferings of the oppressed and does not cease to seem to justify the doings of those who are doing the oppressing, no matter how inexcusable their actions may seem. We live in a world where an American journalist who is bringing to light the sufferings of the Palestinians is seen as highly courageous because no one else seems to have the guts or sense to do it, and where the exact details of the CIA interrogation techniques are exposed after so long.

      Furthermore I found it depressing to read that individuals who are thought of as morally authoritative are quite hard to come by. The examples of Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama are the ones stated in the book. I can’t help but think of Pakistan, where we talk of politicians in terms of their levels of corruption.