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The Geopoliticalmonitor's Christopher S. Ljungquist presents an in-depth look at how the recent "film crisis" in the Islamic world reveals the dissonance between global information flows and institutionally immature Arab Spring countries.  To read the full article text, please visit:  http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/the-geopolitics-of-blasphemy-a-political-perspective-on-the-film-crisis-4733/ The Geopolitics of Blasphemy: A Political Perspective on the Film Crisis Christopher S. Ljungquist - Oct. 1st, 2012 Geopoliticalmonitor.com The latest hotspot in the universally praised Arab Spring- that elusive phenomenon that continues to reconfigure the political countenance of the Middle East- has left a United States ambassador and three diplomatic staffers dead, marking the first time in 30 years that a chief U.S. envoy was murdered in a foreign mission. As of Friday, September 21st, American diplomatic facilities have shut down operations in Pakistan and Indonesia due to growing protests. Tunisian authorities have also banned public demonstrations, fearing an escalation following Friday sermons. On September 20th, Matthew Olsen, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, controversially but categorically stated that the deadly incident in Benghazi, Libya- the epicenter and seat of operations of the insurgency that won NATO backing in order to avoid the massacre promised by dictator Muammar Gaddafi- was a terrorist attack, indicating, as a matter of course, that the assault had been planned, and was not part of the protests in vogue against a film condemned by Muslims worldwide. It seems most plausible that the “film crisis” provoked by “Innocence of Muslims” and its concomitant mass protests, has been tactically used as a smokescreen and a justificatory public relations mantle for terrorist operations, thereby harnessing the legitimating mechanism of “popular grievance”- a tactic that is historically all too common of terrorist organizations. Yet again, we are in the midst of a dark side of intercultural communication, a phenomenon we can call a “civilizational media crisis”: a religio-political conflict played out in the worldwide forum of unlimited access to information and universal information-diffusion, an environment that exacerbates every salient political and cultural point of conflict between the Middle East and the West, thereby outlining in blood the fault-lines delineating the civilizational divide. The narrative in these “media crises” is usually the same, as we have seen recurrently, from Salman Rushdie to Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech, to the Danish cartoons, and now this film and the subsequent cartoons printed in France: some brazen, and perhaps foolhardy Westerner creates a work that in some way is deemed “blasphemous” by Muslims worldwide; activists draw attention to it, and the media organizations in the Muslim world pick up on it and incessantly beat the drum of “Islam’s outraged masses once again suffering an obscene indignation”; politicians in Muslim countries, eager to amass political capital from the streets, request that the Western government in question does something that it clearly cannot do because of the constraints that liberal democracy places on the arbitrary use of power; because of the western government’s inability to punish the “sinner,” that country and the West as a whole is accused of psychological terrorism against Islam. It is a recurrent theme and a recurrent crisis—one that Western policymakers must learn to contain, if containing such a thing is even possible. This particular “film crisis” is a near-perfect public relations disaster, as it includes all the ingredients present in the fictional conspiracy theories endlessly fermenting on the proverbial Arab Street- and these days politics and the fates of governments are decided on these streets. A self-described Israeli-American produces a film that characterizes the Muslim prophet in an obscenely satirical manner, bludgeoning every sacred scruple held in regard to the religion’s founder. The film is reportedly funded by Jewish donors and peddled by Terry Jones, the “Koran burning pastor” from Florida- the sensational conspiracy theories haven’t even begun to metastasize! To top it all off, a French magazine has published cartoons that touch on the very same chords that setoff the protests of the film: the portrayal of the Muslim Prophet, a taboo tantamount to an incitement to idolatry on the part of the “decadent West.” Because it is the “film crisis” that is arousing so much attention, we will focus on it in this analysis, and in the manner that such a crisis can be used, politically, to maximize the radicals’ long arm of influence. To read the full article text, please visit:  http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/the-geopolitics-of-blasphemy-a-political-perspective-on-the-film-crisis-4733/  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 Geopoliticalmonitor.com, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.  Our mailing address is:  Geopoliticalmonitor.com 5700-100 King Street West Toronto, On M5X1C7 Canada