I was present at yesterday night’s intense Lateline interview with Wassim Doureihi (Allah swt reward him abundantly for his efforts) so thought I’d share some observations and thoughts. First of all, it was very tense in the studio. It appeared as though the producers behind the scenes weren’t quite prepared for what Wassim dished out, so beyond the pin drop silence there was an air of surprise and unexpectedness. Everyone was completely on edge and there was a palatable atmosphere of suspense. Behind the scenes though, the producers were just as pushy as Emma herself. They were instructing her, saying things like “bring up beheadings”, “ask about people going overseas to fight” and were even telling her when to push harder and when to allow Wassim some time (although there was certainly not much of that). Even after the interview, Emma continued with her interrogation. She didn’t get what she wanted from Wassim on air so after the interview was formally over, she tried to pounce - assuming he may have lowered his guard. However, he maintained the same attitude, stood his ground and said to her very clearly that they’ve never dared interview a politician in that manner and that they only ever do so with Muslims. I noticed that even after the interview had concluded, there were cameras capturing all of this. Upon reflection, the entire interview actually mirrored the War on Terror narrative itself. There is an aggressor and a victim, and it is all about policing the response of the victim. In the interview, Emma was overtly trying to get Wassim to say only what she wanted to hear, and when she didn’t get that she attempted to paint him and his responses as the problem. Not only are we not to be aggrieved, but we are not to have differing opinions, let alone actually voice them! The Muslims must be controlled, we must be spoken for and our thoughts are to be dictated to us - all by the aggressors themselves.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:27:37 +0000