Assal Rad’s ‘Don’t Say Palestine’ is a masterpiece on language distortion and dishonesty, combining brilliant analysis with searing moral outrage and destined to become a classic read for years to come.

Rad reminds us that the mainstream distortions and downplaying kept the larger public surprisingly ignorant. Those of us who followed Israel’s genocide on alternative media may be surprised to learn that

  1. Even by March 24, 2024, only half of the U.S. public knew that more Palestinians than Israelis had been killed in the war on Gaza, and
  1. Even more astonishing — more Americans could identify “Hamas” than knew who “Benjamin Netanyahu” was.

She points out an awful paradox; alternative media did cover Israel’s mass killing, but most people missed it. She writes: “. . . social media accounts were flooded with images and videos recorded by Palestinians in Gaza themselves. For more than two years, anyone with a social media account could wander into a constant stream of unedited glimpses of apocalyptic destruction, mass slaughter and helpless civilians being carpet-bombed with nowhere safe to go.” She reminds us that some 250 Palestinian journalists paid with their lives to report these terrible truths.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 days ago

    Well, yeah. I’ve been saying that about NYT, WaPo, and NPR for decades.

    People allow the NYT criticism, and WaPo blew itself up, but they get real fussy about NPR.