In Adolf Hitler's 1925 autobiography "Mein Kampf," he outlined a propaganda technique known as the "Big Lie." The tactic consisted of telling a lie so colossal that no one would believe its author "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously," and thus they would conclude that there was a "certain force of credibility."
Hitler has been dead for 60 years. Unfortunately, neither his anti-Semitic sentiment, nor his propaganda techniques died with him. Both remain alive and well, only this time, they're not in 1930s Germany - they're in the 21st century Middle East. The following examples demonstrate this claim.
Fact: Two weeks ago, suicide bombings tore through three hotels in Amman, Jordan killing at least 57 people and injuring about 100 more. A group headed by Iraq's al-Qaeda front man, the Islamist extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed the attacks. One of the would-be attackers, an Iraqi woman, failed to detonate her bomb successfully and was later apprehended and confessed to the crime.
The Big Lie: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi gave a public statement on behalf of Iran.
He said, "The explosions in Jordan are a suspicious matter. Most probably the Zionist regime was behind them," according to www.news24.com.
Fact: After an earthquake in the Indian Ocean last December, a tsunami ravaged through much of South East Asia killing nearly 300,000 people - many of whom were Muslims. After the tsunami, the United States donated $950 million in aid to the affected countries, which was $920 million more than the oil-rich, Muslim country of Saudi Arabia, according to www.wikipedia.com.
The Big Lie: The Egyptian nationalist weekly Al-Usbu' published an investigation concluding the earthquake was caused by a joint nuclear-weapons test by Israel, India and the U.S., which "appeared to be genuine American and Israeli preparations to act together with India to test a way to liquidate humanity," according to the weekly. The Qatar news agency Al-Jazeera also reported similar conspiracy theories.
Fact: Nineteen Arab-Muslim terrorists hijacked commercial airplanes and used them to crash into the World Trade Center's twin towers and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people; these hijackings are the most deadly in U.S. history. Osama bin Laden, leader of the Islamist-extremist group al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The Big Lie: Neither Arabs nor Muslims had any part in orchestrating or carrying out the attacks. Either the U.S. or Israel perpetrated the terrorist attack in a grand conspiracy to create a backlash against Arabs and Islam in general.
According to the Middle East Research Institute, Jordanian columnist Jihad Jabara said, "I personally eliminate the possibility that Arab and Islamic organizations stood behind these acts ... Why (couldn't it be) that Zionist organizations perpetrated it?"
Lebanese columnist Nur Al-Din Sat'e determined that "(Perhaps) the perpetrators of the attack belong to local American militias," according to MEMRI.
Samir Atallah said "I have a sneaking suspicion that George W. Bush was involved in the operation of September 11, as was Colin Powell," in an editorial published in the Daily Al-Sharq.
When faced with such outrageous claims as the above, Americans tend to think these are just extreme views held by a tiny majority of those in the Arab world. After all, every group has extremists, right?
That assessment is quite inaccurate. Recent Gallup polls have demonstrated that "an overwhelming majority of people in the Muslim world do not believe the attacks of 9/11 were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden, by Arabs or by Muslims," according to CBS News.
Tragically, the accusations following 9/11, the attacks in Amman and the aftermath of the tsunami represent only a tiny fraction of the hateful rhetoric that permeates the Arab world.
Commonplace in Islamic media and intellectual circles are accusations that Jews concocted the Holocaust, they control the media, they are Nazis, they inject HIV into Muslim children, they drink the blood of Muslim children, and of course that they are taking over the world, according to the Anti-Defamation League and as displayed across the pages of prominent Islamic newspapers.
The result is that Islamic leaders and media are systematically indoctrinating their people to believe all the ills of the Muslim world are the fault of someone else.
When such audacious statements and beliefs are brought to the attention of those in the West, the tendency is to brush them aside as ridiculous but ultimately harmless. We often subscribe to the "let them believe what they want to believe" mentality.
This is a dangerous fallacy. History has shown time and again that such beliefs are not harmless.
We must recognize that when the "Big Lie" is left unchallenged - as it was in 1930s Germany - humanity pays a heavy toll.
-Ari Whitten is a kinesiology senior.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed - include your full name, major and year in school.
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