In an interview at a restaurant with Ned Lamont, Chris Matthews referred to bloggers as the
Pajamahideen (link to video over at crooks and liars.)
He was apparently likening bloggers to the Mujahideen (Mujahedin) an Arabic term often defined as those who engage in Islamic holy war or jihad, most commonly associated with Afghanistan in the 80s.
One is forced to ask why the mainstream corporate media wishes to paint bloggers and anyone involved in grassroots movements that don't fall in line with their narrowly defined view, as the equivalent of Islamic fundamentalists/terrorists struggling to foment holy war.
Why do they want to portray bloggers as some kind of dangerous lunatic fringe who are negatively impacting and damaging America simply by engaging in a free exchange of information, ideas and opinions? Why do certain elements feel they have something to lose when these exchanges occur? Why would they not promote such exchange?
The translation of the word مجاهد, mugāhid, where the Arabic word mujahedin originates, literally means "strugglers". Jihad and mugāhid both have root derivatives which translate to "to exert effort against" or "to struggle." or "someone who struggles."
If anything, these more literal interpretation are far more apt in describing bloggers as we struggle to exert pressure by making people aware, often one person at a time in one-on-one debates, and expose the underlying realities that the major news providers would overlook, avoid or gloss over when they are allowed to do so.
We are a new movement in America and around the globe, a movement with little regard for partisanship since bloggers of every political stripe abound throughout the Internet. And we are struggling to take back control of our governments, and our lives, hopefully for the the betterment of all.
One thing you can count on, when powerful elements in government and media are trying to make you out to be some kind crazy nuts and lunatic fringe, that's how you know you're getting to them, that's how you know that people are beginning to listen.
The evidence can be found in the defeats of Joe Lieberman and Cynthia McKinney, both politicians with broad support up until recently. But when these politicians chose to marginalize themselves by adopting extremist ideas and positions that are well out of the mainstream, the American people saw through their rhetoric with the help of the blog sphere. As a result they have been stripped of their power. This is a cogent warning to all politicians who would choose two disregard the will of their constituents.
Just as the world powers once feared the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, they now fear bloggers and the blogging movement. They are wise to fear us, for we are an imminent threat to their control.
Power to the people my brothers and sisters!
Sincerely
Aaron, a proud member of the Pajamahideen, though admittedly I don't wear pajamas.
