A friend shared with me an animated video produced by Nina Paley (Twitter) entitled This Land Is Mine. She wrote a blog entry which explains some of the graphics used in the animation.
There’s no doubt it is entertaining and technically well-done. It also pushes an idea which I generally support, namely that killing isn’t a great way to solve problems.
Yet I think it may promote the following misconceptions:
- The peoples of southwest Asia are more violent than peoples elsewhere.
- The strongest nations in the world, in particular the United States, have aided Israel’s colonialist project. The video makes it seem like the violence is between equally strong parties.
The effect of these two misconceptions for a viewer in the USA is to absolve him/her of any responsibility. He/she can shake the head, wonder why “those people” can’t get their act together and go about his/her business.
Aym Playing 