You can now view the trailer, and order a video ― which supports our distribution efforts.

To arrange a screening in your area or get more involved, write to info@obsessionthemovie.com.

 THE SECOND DRAFT AND 'PALLYWOOD'

Thomas Kuhn, in his iconoclastic history of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, explains how hard it is for people who have been trained in a given conceptual framework to notice anomalies.

An experiment asked subjects to identify playing cards as they flashed on a screen. Among the cards were both black hearts and red spades. Most people ignored these anomalies and answered as if the deck corresponded to their expectations. Only when the unusual cards were shown for longer periods did people identify them. Then, with expectations adjusted, subjects spotted them easily.

What does this teach us? That we tend to ignore things that make us question our basic orientations.

When people saw the pictures of Mohammed al-Dura, they fit neatly into the narrative ― Israel's aggression and heart-rending views of the tragic death of an innocent child. Even people who believed that the Israeli army had high standards of restraint under fire found themselves humbled and shamed by this footage. No one in the media ― even mainstream Israeli media ― questioned the evidence. No queries about bright red blood in the wrong place the next day, and round (rather than oblong) bullet holes in the wall behind the barrel, no requests for evidence on the bullets recovered. On the contrary, mainstream media cribbed from PA press releases ― a red heart, no doubt.

But what if it was a black heart? What if the al Dura picture tells a radically different story that we cannot process because it challenges expectations and frameworks? What if, as the evidence suggests, this footage was staged? What if it tells us about Palestinian media manipulating their public with lies in order to bring them to war? What if our media's response to the al Dura footage revealed a staggering level of incompetence, compounded by an equally staggering refusal to correct itself?

What if, in reality, "we" fell dupe to the cheapest and nastiest of deceptions? What if our apologizing for and "understanding" the "rage" of Palestinians actually intensified its furor and invited aggression? How serious could the consequences of such misperception, such misjudgment be? Was it nationalist uprising against the last imperialists? Or was it the launching of a global Jihad?

HonestReporting encourages subscribers to visit The Second Draft, send us your comments, and continue to maintain a healthy skepticism about media coverage of the Mideast conflict.

Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.