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‘I’ve been duped’ — America’s travel guide Rick Steves says our media black out the brutal occupation

Rick Steves watched Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land and had an epiphany, he has seen the light.

If you happen to be one of the 3.5 people in America who have never heard of Rick Steves watch this 60 Minute episode. He’s huge, the only famous American tour guide.

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Rick Steves

He’s got a popular TV show , hosts NPR Travel with Rick Steves, and has a 20-million-dollar-a-year business selling travel books. Can’t get much more mainstream than that. He’s the all-American boy (that’s how he strikes this California girl anyway).

So imagine my surprise when I read his recent article on Huffington Post,  Reflections on Israel and Palestine.

I’ve been duped.

Do you know the frustration you feel when you believed in something strongly and then you realize that the information that made you believe was from a source with an agenda to deceive?

I just watched a powerful and courageous documentary called Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land. It certainly has its own agenda and doesn’t present balanced coverage. Still, it showed me how my understanding of the struggles in the Middle East has been skewed by most of our mainstream media. I saw how coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian problem is brilliantly controlled and shaped. I pride myself in understanding how the media works… and I find I’ve been bamboozled….

In my view, many Palestinians live under inhumane conditions, and U.S. taxpayers help to make it happen. Please, watch this and then share your impressions. Criticism of Israel’s policies is not automatically anti-Semitic (see J-Street for an example of a pro-Israel, pro-peace group). In fact, the irony is that for Israel’s hard-liners, their clever PR strategy could be their own worst enemy. While Israel certainly deserves security on its land, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory (in Gaza and the West Bank) degrades Israel and drives Palestinians to desperation. The question of whether Israel is conducting a brutal military occupation or a reasonable defense against terrorism gets no real airtime. If we care about the long-term security of Israel, we have a responsibility to understand what our government is funding and supporting.

Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land is a fantastic important film and Steves has a huge following.

Here’s Rick Steves at the Temple Mount. Or watch the full episode on Hulu.

I’m looking forward to ‘Rick touring Palestine’ on an upcoming episode.

(Hat tip Marsha Holmquist)

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The smear mongering community must be running ads for new positions opening up everyday now, they must be shorthanded with all these new revelations, this is the “Saul of Tarsus” moment for ex Israel apologists.

The waves just keep crashing on the shores of Zioism.

It’ll be interesting to see how NPR or PBS respond. There will certainly be calls to drop any and all of Rick Steves’s programs. NPR and PBS have shown no spine of any kind at all on the Israel-Palestine conflict (or they have shown themselves to be tacit supporters of whatever crimes Israel sees fit to commit).

The thing I wonder about is what all those Zionists are going to say after the truth becomes mainstream?

I know a few. They think I’ve been propagandized by those terrorist Palestinian Islamists.

I wonder if there will be denial?

Deny all they want, I’ll be there to remind them what they supported, and that day is coming closer and closer and closer.

Sadly it’s 60 odd years too late for those who’ve suffered and that’s the real shame.

I hope Mr Steves’ article and message is embraced by the mainstream. And soon.

Thanks, Annie. Last month, Rick Steves hosted a fair-minded program about “Living in the Arab Awakening,”
Release Date: 03/10/2012, Program 279, starting about 15:00 (after another discussion of conscience, “Visiting Post-Tsunami Japan”).

http://www.ricksteves.com/radio/protected/descriptions.cfm?showID=383
http://www.ricksteves.com/radio/protected/descriptions.cfm?showID=383
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/travel-with-rick-steves/id79063354

Description:
‘Guests from Egypt and Morocco discuss the “Arab Spring” movement and explain what the upheaval is about from an insider’s perspective.
‘Guest Interviews:
‘Colin Clement, translator, tour guide, and antiquities expert with the French Archaeological Mission in Alexandria, Egypt
‘Aziz Begdouri, tour guide based in Tangier, Morocco.’

In 2008, Rick Steves also acted bravely to counter the demonizing of Iran and the Iranian people:

‘Rick Steves and Travel Diplomacy in Iran: Public television host films one-hour travel special’
‘Rick Steves advances thoughtful travel, encouraging Americans to understand and appreciate different cultures and values. Now in a move to push his work to a new level, Rick is producing a new one-hour public television special “Rick Steves’ Iran: Yesterday and Today.” [After] a trip through that part of the “axis of evil”, Rick explains that while the public television special … will be strictly travel, his motivation to take on this project went beyond sightseeing.
‘For Rick, travel is a political act — a way to break down cultural barriers and better understand our complex world….[T]his project promotes people-to-people diplomacy at a time when governments are refusing to talk face-to-face. “A friend from the United Nations Association asked what I could do to help them build understanding between Iran and the US…I answered, ‘The only powerful thing I can do is to produce a TV show on Iran.'”
‘This past month Rick filmed the local historical sights and daily lives of people that Americans rarely see through traditional media outlets. “I remember when the bombs first fell on Baghdad, thinking I missed an opportunity to produce a travel show that could humanize the people of Baghdad and give “collateral damage” a face. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to do this for Iran.””

http://www.ricksteves.com/about/pressroom/iran_political.htm
http://www.ricksteves.com/iran/iran_menu.htm