The BEAST: Buffalo's Best Fiend

MEMRI Problems
Was Kerry's Election Bid Lost in Translation?

by Christopher Riordan

Stranded from intellect and worthwhile rhetoric in Utica, NY for the last few months, I have made a habit of visiting political discussion boards online for a dose of informed bantering and arguing. I tend to gravitate towards conservative cyber communities because I generally prefer arguing to agreeing.

On one such board I noticed the heading, "Bin Laden to US: Don't vote for Bush." Curious. Assuming it was a reference to the latest video release from that machinegun-toting psychopath, I checked it out to see what exactly the author of the post was referring to. After all, from the accounts I've heard the message was blatantly neutral towards the campaign, saying the safety of any nation is determined by the actions of inhabitants and not the leaders.

Apparently, however, Fox News reported that bin Laden was giving a solid endorsement to Kerry. They claimed the warning was not that individual nations were in control of their safety, but rather individual U.S. states were in charge of their fates. Since this message was joined by a strong criticism of both George W. and his father, the inference was made that bin Laden was telling us "red states" would be potential targets while "blue states" would be protected.

Now, any red-blooded, Wal-Mart-shopping American would rather give up his NASCAR tickets than do what bin Laden wants him to do. So, in effect, this was a big boost for Bush, who seems to represent a tougher stance on terrorism and all things foreign than John Kerry. Kerry himself has recently stated publicly he believes the bin Laden tape was what ended up costing him the election.

Dr. Michael Niman, a professor of Media Studies at Buffalo State College and the resident political opinion expert at Artvoice, agrees that this video was detrimental to Kerry's chance of success.

"Everything I've seen has the bin Laden message as being neutral," Niman said. "But what hurt Kerry was the FOX spin saying bin Laden was endorsing Kerry." It's not surprising that the right-wing propaganda factory at FOX processed this story and came up with such a translation, because if one were to consider the reality of the situation it seems that this video would deter people voting for Bush.

"It reminded us that Bush never captured him," Niman said.

Not only did Bush fail to catch the guy who masterminded the murder of nearly 3,000 Americans, but he had publicly stated he "wasn't too concerned" with finding bin Laden - despite what he claimed during the presidential debates.

So what is the big deal if one media outlet translates the message differently? Well, the big deal is that for some godforsaken reason FOX news is the highest rated news outlet in America. Because, you know, they're all fair and balanced.

So, did the guys at FOX just pull this translation out of their butts? No, but the source of the translation certainly stinks.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Westerners understand the text of Middle Eastern media outlets by "providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media."

First of all, I didn't find a single translation of anything written in Hebrew and I still don't know what the hell Farsi is. But I did poke around their website until some things became frighteningly clear to me.

A quick glance at the headlines of recently translated articles reads like a grocery list of American fears and stereotypes regarding the Arabic world. Such titles as "Arabic Guide to Wife-beating" serve to shock and disgust those very Westerners MEMRI claims to serve. Regardless of the accuracy of the translations, they are clearly handpicking articles to translate that would disgust and frighten and rational Westerner. And again, there is nary a trace of Hebrew or Farsi translations.

So what's the reason for this effort? Who are these people? Why are they trying to damage the already tarnished image of Arabic cultures in the U.S.?

The answer to that question isn't so easy to find. They don't use the names of any of their members and don't seem interested in mentioning their own political alliances or agendas.

MEMRI is located in Washington DC, and coincidentally I was visiting a friend in D.C. when this story first came to my attention. I jotted the given contract address (PO Box 27837) on a piece of paper and took the subway to try and track these people down to get some answers.

My suspicions were confirmed upon arriving at the post office. PO Box 27837 is far too small for even one anti-Arab person to fit inside, let alone an entire institution. I banged on the door for several minutes but no one answered. Dejected, I returned to my friend's apartment and filled his toilet tank with olives.

With that task completed, I went back to my internet detective work and found a bunch of brow-raising information on MEMRI. Without getting into the specifics and/or committing an act of plagiarism, let me just tell you Brian Whittaker from the UK paper The Guardian tracked them down and discovered it was an Israel-based organization that includes former members of the Israeli intelligence community.

Whitaker also states that MEMRI is hesitant to reveal their actual physical location because of the risk that "a suicide bomber" would walk into their office building and go boom boom. A queer concern for a non-biased language translation group, wouldn't you think?

Unless, of course, they were pushing a certain agenda. Namely Zionism.

Clearly, any advocator of Israeli agendas knows that it is in their best interest to see a neoconservative like Bush in the White House. A loaded translation suggesting that a vote for Kerry is a vote for bin Laden would, as Niman says, "get the NIMBY's (Not In My Back Yard) in the prairie."

"Neocons are aligned with the Israeli hawks using Israel as a client state - mercenary state - outpost in the Middle East," Niman said. "Hence, anything pro-Zionist is also pro-neocon."

And vice versa.

Keep in mind that as a non-profit organization, MEMRI pays no taxes. And no doubt there are inflammatory and disgusting things being written in Arabic regarding their feelings towards Christians and Jews and America. But do we need someone cherry-picking the worst of the worst and presenting it as the standard sentiment of that culture? It would be akin to someone taking the highly offensive, racist, and sexist (albeit satirical) Percieval Sneed articles the Beast used to print and saying, "Hey, look at what these Americans are all about - making women fetch their coffee and poking fun at mentally retarded people."

In these times, an institution like MEMRI would be an invaluable asset to our society that could promote understanding and insight. Instead, they promote fear and distrust.

"Language is an imprecise art," Niman warns. "I know the same words mean different things from country to country in Latin America. So we need accurate translations. That said and done, bin Laden and company know this and I'd assume speak in a region-neutral way."

With Rupert Murdoch, Jesus H. Christ and Osama bin Laden all factoring in on the election, you have to wonder if Kerry ever had a chance at all.