MSNBC demonizes civil disobedience

Note the difference in the media's approach to these Iranian protesters and to terrorists in Iraq and around the world. While lopping off some truck driver's head or blowing up a pizzeria usually gets the perpetrators' demands a full airing in the media (often in the terrorists' own words), these peaceful protesters' goals are given a quick and inaccurate treatment. The action at Zaventem airport outside Brussels--which is clearly "civil" disobedience--is treated as a crime, while the beheading of hostages is contorted into political protest. This article goes out of its way to marginalize the demands of the Brussels protesters: ignoring the stated goals of the protesters, it suggests that they are only against theocratic rule in order to replace it with a restored monarchy. It also stresses the "no international support" statement supposedly made by a negotiator. They've got my support. It's a sit-in. They did not threaten harm to any person or property. They are no doubt also aware that they will at the very least be held finanically responsible for the disruption they caused to airport traffic and for the cost of the necessary police action to resolve the situation (source: Expatica, March 11, 2005). This is a peaceful act of civil disobedience attempting to call attention to the threat of a violent, corrupt totalitarian regime with 70 million people under its boot.

MSNBC - Belgian police board jet occupied by protesters