Never Been Afraid of Ideas
Al-Jazeera television is an influential voice around the world, but the English language version is difficult to find it on cable or satellite TV here in the Land of the Free. Conservative groups have pressured satellite systems and cable operators not to carry the channel.
U.S. Navy Captain Frank Pascual, part of CENTCOM’s Dubai Media Team, thinks this is a mistake. On the PBS program Frontline, he said:
I’ve never been afraid of ideas. And I have no fear that any ideas brought through journalism to the United States would be something that would so harm us that we not only can’t survive it, but can’t learn something from it and do better. And it’s [the Middle East] a part of the world we need to do better in.
The problem with ideas is that they get people thinking. And once you get Americans thinking, this Administration and the rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress don’t have a chance.