here's why I'm against it.. Al Jazeera has known about Ron Paul for at least a year. They've known he's the only Republican candidate who opposes the Iraq war. They chose to ignore him just as most all other global media outlets. Why? Why did they miss an opportunity to poke fun at the American political system and point out how tragically flawed it is? Why did they miss an opportunity to expose the agenda of the American media in manipulating an election? Why did they neglect drawing attention to a candidate who wants to do exactly what they've been telling the US to do for years (end military and political actions in the Middle East)?
Slacker921, I do understand your frustration and like you, I also wondered why Ron Paul is not given the attention that he should be given. I have to admit it is a mystery to me. I am not a lawyer for Al-Jazeera nor I want to play this role. And I believe that every media outlet has its own agenda. Therefore I cannot deny on you your frustration. But at the same time I have some points I would like to clarify
I don't think a few (or even a few hundred) e-mails from Paul supporters will get them to reverse their decision.
First: Why not? Together we have reversed many decisions before, RP was invited into many debates because of our efforts and pressures. So we truly succeed for some degree. So why we would not reverse it again this time?
Second:The idea of this topic is about a documentary film. And this idea is impossible to be achieved through the MSM, even with thousands of emails, simply because it is against their agenda. While I assume like you do that Al-Jaz has a parallel agenda to ours. And at the same time Al-Jaz EN is new and it is looking for a way to gain popularity inside the US. And we the people have this power which we can use wisely for our interest.
Third:We have also to put in mind that Al-Jaz might actually not know much about Ron Paul like we the people who are involved in the process do. Sometimes ideas sparks in mind and then people would say "oohh how did not we notice this before". This assumption might not be true but it is still a possibility. So why we would not give the possibility a chance to prove it is true? At least let us assume it is a test, to see if this channel truly respond to the people or otherwise ignore them.
Are you asking the same thing of the BBC, AFP, etc? Or are you just targeting the one media outlet that many Americans view as the enemy?
Actually when I brought Al-Jaz here to the table, I brought it naturally, I did not think for a moment in the term "enemy". I assumed that the people who support Ron Paul are people who show no fear, people who are open minded, people who are ready to build bridges no matter what the other "many" thinks, people who believe in freedom and they are sick of the continues violation of it.
If you truly believe in freedom and if you truly believe that Al-Jazeera is not an enemy while you still think it is a bad choice "just because many Americans think so", then allow me to say that this is a clear violation of your own freedom. You have allowed those people who have minimum knowledge to depress your freedom and restrict it.
If you truly believe that Al-Jazeera is not an enemy, then it is your responsibility-as it is mine-to educate those people about what we believe is the truth, exactly as we try to educate them about foreign policy and the constitution. And ofcourse I am not so dump to agree with Al-Jaz on everything but also I am not so dump to think of it as an enemy.
If you ever meet with somebody who thinks Al-Jaz is an enemy, let him/her know that if Al-Jaz is an enemy it would not be allowed to broadcast in The United States for years.
If Ron Paul would think for a moment in "what many Americans might think", he would never be Ron Paul that we know. He himself did not think at the beginning that he will ever gain any popularity in this election, though he decided to run and fight even if he was destined to fight alone.
This revolution is about principles more than it is about calculations. Calculation is a sort of violation of people's freedom.
If you will count the list of groups which are viewed as enemies by many Americans, this list might not end. Muslims are viewed as enemies, Arabs are viewed enemies, Russians and Chinese are the same story. Then what? You will end up with isolationism which has nothing to do with RP message. And instead of you brining them to freedom, they will defeat you with their ill thoughts.
I do not know how many people here know that there is a CNN in Arabic?
http://arabic.cnn.com/
Regarding BBC & AFP, why not? And I am with you. Let us start another topic and hammer them the same way we should do here.
