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| Terror Networks |
| Al-Qaeda cartoons too boring for kids |
| 2005-12-23 |
| Al-Qaeda's latest weapon in the ongoing media war over Iraq, in the form of an animation showing gunmen and suicide bombers attacking US troops and convoys, raises many questions over who they are trying to appeal to and why. The video game-style cartoon was posted on websites regularly used by senior al-Qaeda figures. London-based child psychologist Pat Spungin told Adnkronos International (AKI) she believes the animation is too boring and unsophisticated to interest most children, but "If it is intended for children I think it's disgusting," she said. While it may look like a video game, the animation - which shows a battle between tanks and gunmen on the streets of a city, a mujahadeen-like figure shooting at an American soldier cautiously emerging from a tank and a car bomb driving into a convoy of vehicles - has no interactivity. "This is deliberately "real". It is obviously set in a political context and it is obviously designed to mirror various kinds of conflict and suicide bombings and insurgent activities going on," said Spungin, who is also the founder of the website Raisingkids.co.uk. "It is just glorifying a particular kind of violence and there's enough glorifying of that kind of violence anyway, and I think children are very responsive to it." However, she believes the quality of the animation is unlikely to sell it to children. "It looks like someone did it in their bedroom," says Spungin. "They probably did it for themselves. I can't see any kid telling their mates: 'Oh, I've seen this, you must go and view it'." However, if it is aimed at children, she says it raises the question of why its creator is trying to appeal to the younger age group. Whether it has the desired effect though, depends on the environment the child is living in, she says. "I think it would very much depend on what they were picking up at home, on whether they see the Americans as liberators or occupiers," she told AKI. "I think children will respond to these things by taking their cues from the adults around them, so if the adults are bloodthirsty and violent and applaud that violence when they see it around them, they will pick up those values." Leading Egyptian children's author Yaaqub al-Sharuni in an interview with AKI warned of the conseguences of the use of cartoons and animation to spread the mentality of violence or of terrorism among Arab and Muslim children. "I am not surprised that terrorist groups use cartoons to try to influence children, as cartoons are an extremely important medium which can be used both for positive and negative aims" said al-Sharuni, one of the most famous children's writers in the Arab world. "Cartoons often concentrate on the idea that violence is the solution to all problems" he noted, citing the classic Tom and Jerry as an example. "Their relationship between them is based on competition rather than cooperation" he added. However he warned that it was the television medium rather than just cartoons themselves which were a concern in spreading a culture of violence. "More than 70 per cent of the audience are children and those tv programmes which are harmful for adults let along children, such as violent films". "It is vital to remember that a child is more susceptible to images than words" he concluded. Since first appearing on the 20 December, the animation - which is called 'Terrorist' and appears to be the first in a series - has been welcomed by fundamentalists in various Islamic Internet forums, who said its designer had done "an excellent job" and made "an admirable effort". Another said such a series "would be excellent for preparing the future generations for the Jihad [holy war]." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Sigh, it's not a "cartoon" designed to influence children. It's an animated training video showing how to set up ambushes and attack American troops. They even say that's what they are for on the websites. Disney produced the same kind of training films during WW2. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-12-23 08:17 |