Hate™
Northern Africa and the Middle East are dominated by hatred: dead bodies, injured people, hurt religious egos, the charred remains of embassies, and brute rhetoric dominate media coverage. The script of the past few feverish days reads like the strange draft of a new Quentin Tarantino movie. The story: an Egyptian American with a long criminal record is released from prison and produces a movie that ridicules the prophet Mohammed.
So far, so normal. In a less crazy world, the story would end here (as it should). But the headlines of the past week illustrate the opposite: we are becoming witnesses to a product launch by an industry that I want to call, borrowing from “Time” author Bobby Ghosh, an “industry of hate”. It works like this:
The most important resource of the globally operating industry of hate is extremism, usually of the religious kind, and it can be found in all corners of the globe. Every uproar requires a spark, the core idea of the product - the “unique selling point,” in business terms. Creativity is key: a burned-out church or the rendering of Mohammed as a violent and sexist blighter have served the industry well in the past. Like any other economic sector, the industry of hate has its own shooting stars (Al Qaeda) and offers training opportunities (Pakistani and Yemeni terror camps). Those with good ideas are soon discovered by the industry’s facilitators, like the evangelical priest Terry Jones, and will soon enjoy public attention as well as financial support from wealthy incubators (the sheikhs in the Gulf states). Anything goes as long as it sows hate.
The product - in this case, the Youtube video about Prophet Mohammed - is then readied for the big launch event. A test screening in Egypt proves successful, and the movie begins to circulate more widely. It’s a case study of viral marketing: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, and Sudan came first; Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon are next.