Are you for ONE side or the other?

I find it continually interesting to read or listen to the media report items from the middle east.

Whenever there is a rocket launched at an Israeli town or settlement and people are killed they are very rarely described in the media as 'innocent civilians'. Nor does there seem to be any reporting about the Palestinian government's views (whether it is the Fatah or the Hamas faction) on the tragic loss of life and property brought about by the actions of some of their followers.

On the other hand whenever there is an attack by Israeli troops on targets in the Gaza strip or indeed elsewhere in what have become known as 'the occupied territories' and people are killed or wounded, these attacks are condemned and held up to be a violation of human rights, the involvement of the UN is sought etc.

In other words there is a huge media beat up.

Similarly whenever there is a weapon that explodes in Iraq killing dozens of people at a time it is reported in a sort of routine way that another x number of people have been killed in location "a" or "b" by either Shiite or Sunni insurgents. There is no real outcry about a violation of human rights, a demand for action by the UN, a screaming and crying in the streets for vengeance against the perpetrators and so on.

Let the killing be the fault or responsibility of the "occupiers" (pick any group of soldiers from any country that is in Iraq) and all of a sudden you have media headline plastered all over every type of medium crying in bold print about the 'outrage' perpetrated by the military of (insert the name of the country concerned) .

I have to say that I am impressed with both the gullibility of the media and the extent to which propagandists on the side of Islamic terrorist groups have learned to manipulate the channels of communication.

At what point are people going to wake up to the fact that death and destruction are brutal and seemingly unavoidable facts of life, whenever there are uncontrolled weapons in the hands of militants anywhere in the world. Militants who have a political agenda that is contrary to the interests and the agenda of others who live side by side with them?

I know that unfair reporting sells papers and advertising because people hungry for news will read the most sensational reportage they can lay their hands on.

That said, there are some bigger issues for people to consider. One being, whether or not we are going to continue to believe either side's propaganda or actually ask some deeper questions about what is really going on.