{"id":61695,"date":"2026-05-16T15:34:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T12:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=61695"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T12:34:42","slug":"media-between-malice-and-foolishness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/media-between-malice-and-foolishness\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Between Malice and Foolishness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ismail Sati<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When you follow what is written in the media \u2014 and here I am not speaking only about Sudanese media \u2014 you can, after some reflection, classify a large portion of it into almost no more than two categories:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malicious media\u2026 and foolish media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for foolish media, it is well known.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the kind of media that swallows narratives exactly as they are handed to it, then recycles them without critical thinking, knowledge, or even an instinctive sense of doubt.<\/strong>
\nA media that assumes transmitting information is the same as understanding it, and that repeating catchy terminology can substitute for analysis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You see it chasing trends breathlessly, confusing noise with truth, and equating the intensity of coverage with depth of understanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Arabic, the word \u201cablah\u201d (foolish) refers to someone slow in comprehension, lacking discernment, and easily deceived.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This type of media does not even require a conspiracy, because its intellectual deficiency alone is enough to produce misinformation automatically.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But this is not the most dangerous kind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more dangerous kind is malicious media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is media that does not appear hostile on the surface.<\/strong>
\nAt times, it may even seem to stand with you, sympathize with your cause, or defend you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet its real function is not to reveal the truth, but to reshape it in ways that reconstruct the audience\u2019s consciousness to serve existing balances of power and interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This media does not always lie through words\u2026 it lies through proportions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It magnifies what should be minimized, and minimizes what should be magnified.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It redraws the image of conflict so that the powerful appear less brutal, and the weak appear less vulnerable, until the audience loses moral clarity in the fog.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the most insidious tools of this kind of media is the exaggeration of the capabilities of the defeated and weak party, while downplaying the strength of the victorious and powerful side.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first glance, this may appear to be fairness toward the weaker side, but in reality it may be the exact opposite.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This kind of media manipulation does not merely reshape the image of conflict for external audiences; it is also invested in misleading the masses through mass communication, causing ordinary people to drift into emotional euphoria and celebrate promises of victory that may never come.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, as reality unfolds, those same audiences collide with harsh disappointment and a deep sense of grief and defeat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most important conditions for entering wars \u2014 or even evaluating them rationally \u2014 is that each side must know its real capabilities as they truly are, not as it wishes them to be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It must prepare multiple scenarios for the course of events: the best-case scenario, the worst-case scenario, and the most likely scenario, then prepare politically, militarily, and psychologically for each possibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for self-glorification and living inside a manufactured media image, it may provide temporary emotional exhilaration, but it often becomes, in the end, one of the causes of shock and collapse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a besieged force, a devastated state, or an unarmed people are portrayed as possessing extraordinary capabilities, or as an equal match to the power crushing them, the psychological and political consequences become extremely dangerous.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is because a neutral observer will no longer see a scene of oppressor and victim, but rather a balanced conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Excessive force against the weaker side then becomes easier to justify, because \u2014 according to the media-crafted image \u2014 that side is not truly weak, but fully capable of defending itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And if it is later defeated, crushed, or unable to protect its people, it becomes the one blamed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As though the media were telling the victim:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe convinced people that you were strong\u2026 so if you failed to survive, the problem is yours.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

We saw this model clearly during the American wars against Iraq.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the years of sanctions beginning in 1992, and later during the 2003 war, Western media continuously exaggerated Iraqi capabilities, the Iraqi arsenal, and the Iraqi threat, until it appeared to the world as though the United States was fighting an existential war against a massive military empire \u2014 not an exhausted state emerging from a devastating war and crippling sanctions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same pattern was repeated, even more brutally, in Gaza.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A besieged people with no airports, no air defenses, and no conventional army are presented as though they possess such immense power that the destruction of their neighborhoods and the killing of their children become merely a \u201clegitimate act of self-defense.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even language itself becomes a partner in distortion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is not called \u201cbombing civilians,\u201d but rather \u201ctargeting infrastructure.\u201d<\/strong>
\nIt is not called \u201ckilling children,\u201d but \u201ccollateral damage.\u201d<\/strong>
\nIt is not called \u201coccupation,\u201d but \u201ca security operation in self-defense.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, we see something similar in the Zionist-American confrontation with Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The media does not want Iran to appear entirely weak, because portraying it as a pure victim would generate broad global sympathy and potentially embarrass major powers before public opinion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Therefore, it is depicted as a massive force capable of threatening the entire world, so that any targeting of it appears to be a legitimate preventive measure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not journalism in the true sense of the word, but perception engineering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is media that does not merely report war, but actively participates in preparing the psychological and moral stage for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other examples of this pattern include what happened to Serbia during NATO\u2019s bombing campaigns in the 1990s, Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, and even certain phases of the Russian-Ukrainian war, where images of strength and weakness shift according to the political and media needs of the moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem is that audiences often fail to notice this kind of manipulation, because human beings naturally focus on what was said, not how it was said, nor the scale and emphasis given to it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, malicious media operates precisely within this gray area:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not always by inventing lies, but by redistributing light and shadow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world, the real battle may no longer be merely a battle of weapons, but a battle over defining who is strong, who is weak, who deserves sympathy, and who should be abandoned to their fate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For killing becomes far easier\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

when global consciousness is reshaped so that the victim appears less innocent, less vulnerable, and less deserving of compassion.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ismail Sati When you follow what is written in the media \u2014 and here I am not speaking only about Sudanese media \u2014 you can, after some reflection, classify a large portion of it into almost no more than two categories: Malicious media\u2026 and foolish media. As for foolish media, it is well known. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61697,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61695\/revisions\/61697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}