can't tell the players without a program

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 22, 2004

MEMRI lists a number of reactions to Gibson's Passion from the Arab world, some predictable, others not. In the latter category belongs this comment by Hani Naqshabandi, identified as the "editor of the Saudi family magazine Sayyidaty":

The real irritation in the film is that it revealed a lie that we, the Arabs, tell ourselves everyday. This lie is that we are hated in the world because the Jews control Hollywood, the film industry, and the entertainment industry in America. ... I am not saying that they [the Jews] have no impact or influence. They do indeed, but not as we think or claim, and not as we imagined when we accused the Jews, Hollywood, and the Zionist lobby here and there for our failure to communicate with others. This is not a defense of the Jews or a promotion for the film, but an attempt to reveal that we must stop accusing others for our mistakes.

The author's (fairly modest) claim is that the film could never have been made if Zionist power in Hollywood were absolute. In ignorance of the status and political orientation within Saudi life of the publication and its editor, it's impossible to know whether this is centrist or fringe thinking, or even to which fringe it might belong. As always, the question is: whom do we trust to put it in context for us?