Prejudice
Comes In Many
Forms And Directions
By Dan Lieberman
03 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org
It's difficult to believe the
National Geographic could, even carelessly, contribute to prejudice
and misunderstanding. Its excellent exhibit at the National Geographic
explorers Hall: Zakouma, Elephant Crisis in Chad, seems to do that.
In the Geographic description
of the exhibit,
Photographer Michael Nichols
and conservationist J. Michael Fay provide an eyewitness report from
Zakouma, a refuge in Chad that is home to some of the last surviving
central African elephants. Armed patrols protect the elephants within
the park, but poachers in search of ivory are slaughtering the endangered
creatures as they search for food beyond the park boundaries. Learn
about the efforts to protect elephants and other natural creatures and
resources at the center of this human-wildlife conflict.
The exhibit is only about
protection of wildlife. Nevertheless, inserted comments seem to harm
human life.
(1) The reporter talks to
the villagers in the only remaining village in the Zakouma preserve.
"I asked them if the park was good or bad. They said 'it is good,
there are no Arabs.'"
Why is this question asked and why is the comment inserted in the exhibit?
It has nothing to do with animal protection. If the response was "it
is good there are no blacks" "or "no Jews," would
these words have been included in the exhibit? It is also doubtful these
villagers ever wandered far and even met an Arab.
(2) Another unnecessary comment in another photo: "The situation
in Chad is eerily reminiscent of the Central Republic during the 1980's
when conservationists were in an all-out war against hundreds of armed
men from Sudan rampaging on horses and camels, the kind of men known
as Janjaweed."
What is the purpose of this comment in an animal protection exhibit?
Don't the use of emotional propaganda words; "eerily reminiscent,"
"armed men from Sudan," and "kind of men known as Janjaweed,"
generate hatred of the Sudanese? Besides, the people known as Janjaweed
live in North Darfur, which is too far for them to travel to the African
Central Republic. The comment is only conjecture and is out of place.
(3) Another unnecessary comment in another photo: "Jacob's people,
nomadic Arabs, are proud and don't mix with Africans."
This comment can be interpreted
to mean the nomadic Arabs are bigots and Africans are considered inferiors.
(4) Another unnecessary comment in another photo: "They (park guards)
travel on horseback thousands of miles a year to see that mostly Arab
nomads do not make short work of all this abundance of nature (don't
kill elephants)."
It's interesting to know
the park guards travel on horseback thousands of miles a year, but is
it important to know that the poachers are mostly Arab nomads?
The obvious comments that
prejudice the Arab people seem to have escaped the National Geographic.
More distressing is that after being alerted to the possible prejudice,
the National Geographic authorities refused to reconsider the comments
in the exhibit.
Dan Lieberman is the Editor of Alternative
Insight, a monthly web based newsletter. Writer of many
published articles on the Middle East conflict. He can be reached at
[email protected]
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