Wednesday, March 30, 2011

info4u: Hasbara for Israel - Fighting the media war

gilaklatzkin_gmail.com


I have sat in front of my computer for the last few days and read the posts and statuses of my fellow Jews around the world. I have felt the anger and sadness of the injustice we continuously encounter and I see the will in everybody to show the world the truth.

As a student of Communications, I have for the last 3 years studied the power of the internet and the ability and opportunity it gives us to shout out and speak to the world. We are citizen journalists and we have the ability now to fight for the truth.

However, our message isn't getting across as we have clearly seen.

My point is that as much as you think you are telling the world the truth when you post an article on Facebook or you change your status, it is not going any further than all your Jewish friends (or maybe a few not Jewish friends) that you have on Facebook.

That is why I wish that all of us, with all our anger and pride for our country, truly begin the cyber battle and start to really equip ourselves with proper armour! I have lived in Israel now for about 3 and a half years and I feel like I've learned a lot about Jews and Israelis. We are proud people, and smart people and kind. But we are afraid. We are afraid because we are a minority, because we have had to fight anti-Semitism and basically because everybody hates us.

But the time has come to be brave! And what better place than on the internet!

So how do we do this???

Firstly, open a Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com). On Wednesday, after the bomb in Jerusalem, I went onto Twitter to see if anyone had written about it. There were no posts. Nothing. Twitter is an extremely powerful tool that we have to spread OUR opinion to random people around the world, anybody and everybody can read Twitter.

The second weapon we have is internet's beautiful ability to comment on almost everything! Whether it's on Youtube, a CNN news report, a blog post etc.

Don't just read the negative comments, ANSWER them! Especially on Youtube. You all know we see them all the time, and we just brush them off… Oh… someone else that hates us..

Another option is to join the website Digg (http://www.digg.com) . This website is kinda like Facebook but it is public. It is a place where you can share any article you've ever read online, and once again, anybody can read it. Go onto Haaretz or Ynet and share the articles about the bomb in Jerusalem or the rockets in the South.

Lastly, there is always the option to create a blog. A place where you can write all your feeling and truths about what's going on.

It's time to fight!

Expect anger and negativity and a lot of people arguing against us. This is the world we live in and this is our destiny as Jews.

A small thing though in my opinion, is to try not to be too extreme. Unfortunately, the more extreme your messages are, the easier it is to brush off and say "crazy-right-wing-murderous-Jews". In cyber newspapers its really good when reading an article that is clearly biased, to answer the writer with facts from our side and ask openly why he hasn't mentioned these facts, but most importantly put links to sources so that people see you are serious. Be smart, use facts, show confidence and pride.

Also, MOST importantly, COPY AND PASTE this message. If we want it to have any effect whatsoever, pass it on to everyone. Also feel free to add any other suggestions as to how we can spread our side of the story.

If you really want to make a true difference, THIS IS THE WAY!

GOOD LUCK!!! We can do this!!!!

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