By Beatrice Jeschek

Pedestrians in Manhattan in front of the building in question to be replaced by the controversial mosque © Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It is a double change of perspective. A Taiwanese video displays a grotesque irony towards the planned mosque near ground zero and recent anti-Muslim incidents in the US.

What makes this one special?

For one, it is animated. Secondly, it shows a domino effect of scaremongering that started in the Western mainstream news.

It looks like a brilliant move of the Hong Kong-based "Next Media Animation" owned by billionaire tycoon Jimmy Lai. His Chinese media grasp news items and animate them. This way they do not need to buy footage and at the same time can push an incident into a certain light. One famous clip shows Tiger Woods’ car crash and dispute with his wife. It generated 2,5 million hits on YouTube.

Screenshot of "Next Media Animation" newscasters

Their latest version displays recent events surrounding the controversial mosque planned in New York City. The graphic nature makes it possible: Even non-Chinese speakers can easily follow.


Why animating the mosque debate?

The debate around a planned mosque in New York City, known as the “Cordoba House” or “51Park Project”, just two blocks from ground zero, has reached a peak.

Screenshot of the "Cordoba House"

Conservatives argue it would be an unreasonable demand for the families of the 9/11 victims to build a mosque so close to the former World Trade Center. After all, the assassins of more than 2700 people back in 2001 confessed to act in the name of Islam.

Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice President candidate of 2008, declared on her facebook page that it would be “a stab in the heart of the families” to “build a  mosque at ground zero”.

(False exaggeration begins here: No one intends to build a mosque AT ground zero.)

Pro-mosque debaters call this angle narrow-minded. It would push a process of scaremongering by mixing peaceful Muslims with Islamist terrorists. Some even use the word “islamophobic”.

The initiators of the Islamic center feel misunderstood. Their “Cordoba House” would serve peace purposes and the thought of religious tolerance. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam who promotes the building of the mosque in New York City, adjudged the 9/11 tragedy multiple times. Also, representatives of the “September Eleventh Families For A Peaceful Tomorrow” spoke on US TV in support about the “51Park Project”.

These are just two different angles from within the Western mainstream news debate. US President Obama seems to be caught in between them, although generally supporting freedom of religion.

The domino effect of scaremongering

The Taiwanese Next Media Animation chooses yet another perspective. With grotesque irony they bring to screen how they interpret the debate around the “Cordoba House”.

They animate a picture of a US that at best only tolerates Muslims.

They show a scaremongering that started in the US: A fistful of anti-Muslim incidents and conspiracy theories, among them US president Obama as a secret Muslim. In displaying a one-sided debate – picking out the worst anti-Muslim rumors in the US – they create an image of a hateful America.

Animated video (screenshot)

This goes beyond the funny fact of animation. It leads to another scaremongering outside the Western mainstream media, by adding fuel to prejudices against the West.

The debate is controversial for a reason. The Taiwanese Next Media group represents hereby only one way of interpretation. After all, animated “puppets” leave an extreme freedom of how to display reality.

See the video below:
This article was first published 01/09/2010 on maltastar.com.