Kevin Barret, American political commentator, said there still exists an almost complete blackout in the western mainstream media and the Iranian Supreme Leader’s letter to the western youth was a wise move to bypass the censorship of the mass media in the West and directly talk to the younger generation.
In an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency, Barret said, “I think Ayatollah Khamenei realizes that young people are more open to new information than older people. Also, young people use alternative media more than older people and are more aware that mainstream media are untrustworthy. Since the mainstream media will block or distort his message, he (the leader) is going around the censorship by speaking directly to western young people.”
He further said that the leader’s letter in fact called on the youth in Europe and North America to cut out the middlemen and directly get acquainted with the Islamic tenets and Qur’anic values.
“I think he (the leader) is asking young people to recognize that much of the information about Islam in the mainstream media, and to a lesser extent in the western educational system, is propaganda. To gain a better understanding, young people (and others) should bypass the middleman and get their information from the primary sources,” Barret said.
Elsewhere in the interview, he described the poor translations of the Islamic materials available today in the West as the most serious obstacle in the way of the youth to fully get familiar with Islam and Qur’an, and said, “Of the three major western monotheisms, Islam is most compatible with reason and scientific approaches to knowledge. But it is not easy for western people to grasp this. One obstacle is the translations. Most translations of Islamic material in western languages are either unfriendly (the non-Muslim ones) or clumsy (the Muslim ones). Another obstacle is that the Saudis have spent a lot of money spreading their Wahhabi version of Islam, which western people generally find unappealing. Most western people tend to like the more mystical and sophisticated approaches of Shiite Islam.”
Barret went on to add that mainstream media outlets in western countries are under the full control of the Zionist lobbies, on a mission to portray a negative and black picture of Islam.
On Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader sent a highly important message to the European youth to stress that the notions and concepts presented and promoted by the West about Islam are fake, and to demand the younger generation in the West to do research to get firsthand information before accepting their states’ propaganda.
“I don’t insist that you accept my reading or any other reading of Islam…,” the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution said in a part of his message, and added, “Don’t allow this dynamic and effective reality in today’s world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don’t allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam.”
“… in reaction to the flood of prejudgments and disinformation campaigns, try to gain a direct and firsthand knowledge of this religion. The right logic requires that you understand the nature and essence of what they are frightening you about and want you to keep away from,” he said, and stressed, “Receive knowledge of Islam from its primary and original sources. Gain information about Islam through the Qur’an and the life of its great Prophet (PBUH). I would like to ask you whether you have directly read the Qur’an of the Muslims. Have you studied the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and his humane, ethical doctrines? Have you ever received the message of Islam from any sources other than the media?”
