[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Today's the day...

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Today's the day...
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1195070903.shtml


   Richard Landes [1]describes his thoughts before the viewing of the
   France 2 al Dura tapes:

     The viewing of the tapes at this afternoonâs trial has created a
     good deal of excitement, at least in the small corner of the news
     world that cares about things like Pallywood and Al Durah. At least
     five journalists have come to Paris for this event, including
     Stephane Juffa from Metulla, and Esther Schapira from Frankfurt,
     both of whom made the first documentaries on the story, Melanie
     Phillips and Tom Gross. Journalists have started taking an interest
     and making calls.

     But we donât know what will happen tomorrow, nor how what happens
     effects not only the case (February 27), but the direction of this
     entire affair. So let me present some of the issues I think
     relevant.

     1) Itâs not obvious to everyone that the staged scenes are staged.

     As one commenter noted here, when first viewing the rushes Iâve put
     up, itâs not clear what I mean by Pallywood. It takes a practiced
     eye. Only after viewing the material several times and keeping
     certain facts in mind (position of the Israelis relative to the
     scene), and overcoming a certain predisposition to believe that
     what youâre seeing is true, can you begin to realize whatâs afoot.
     (For material to work with, go here.)

     It takes getting used to whatâs happening because everything you
     see defies your expectations until you realize itâs being staged.
     So people who view it are torn between imposing their expectations
     on reality and absorbing whatâs going on â the modus operandi of
     Pallywood. That is, someone fakes an injury, others pick him up and
     run him to an ambulance, past cameramen like Talal, and then
     everyone goes home in the evening to see if they got on TV.

   [2]...more

References

   1. http://www.theaugeanstables.com/
   2. http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2007/11/14/thoughts-before-the-court-viewing-of-the-france2-rushes/