Jon Ronson, the British reporter probably best known in the United States for his work on extremism, is currently posting a video series about attempts to “control” the Internet on The Guardian’s website. In his choice of subject matter and the manner of his coverage, he reveals the strange depths of conspiratorial thinking about Israel popular among a certain set.
In the short introductory video he announces his intention to investigate attempts to control what many think is a free-wheeling Internet universe in which we generally believe that what we appear to see is in fact what we are seeing. This is all interesting and worthwhile. His inclusion in the video of a photo of an Arab protest and reference to the same also seem like indications that he might investigate the most important issues of Internet control: attempts by authoritarian governments from Egypt to China to actively suppress websites or online content they don’t like. To bring the issue closer to home, he could even consider the complicated role Western companies sometimes play. The third video in the series, posted yesterday, and the second dealing exclusively with Israel, unfortunately reveals that Ronson seems much more interested in diving into superficial conspiracy theories.
His investigation in those two videos focuses on an unfortunate effort by some Israelis to produce a counter-flotilla YouTube video this past summer when that issue was at its hottest. Unfortunate because even before the true identity of the Israeli actor claiming to be “Marc” was revealed, the professional production values and poor acting made plain that something was fishy with the purported homemade video testimonial by a gay human rights activist denied permission to participate in the flotilla.
But, building off a few tweets of the video sent out by Israeli government accounts, Ronson hopes to discover an Israeli government “astroturfing” plot. Finding proof of an Israeli government official or office involved with or behind the effort would then serve as shining evidence of a paramour of darkness nefariously manipulating the Internet to make decent, Gaza supporting people in London think things that just aren’t true.
Ronson’s travels take him to the bomb shelter that serves as the studio for Latma and the home of Caroline Glick, solid evidence he can’t see despite it being directly in front of him that those who make the most unapologetic defenses of Israel don’t often have much access to money or power. He strangely interrogates an official of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Public Diplomacy office that is trying (shockingly!) to help enlist the country’s citizens to counter efforts to demonize the Jewish state abroad.
The greatest moment of unintended comedy though comes in the first video on Israel when Ronson interviews Orit Arfa of The Jerusalem Post who provides him with the imminently sensible analysis that the Israeli government likely has nothing to do with the video. She adds that young Israelis naturally feel that their country gets an unfair abroad hearing, and that at least some of them are therefore trying to do something about it. It does not even seem to occur to Arfa that anyone could see something nefarious in a Latma video parodying terrorism from Gaza (she simply tries to judge its effectiveness) or Ronson’s unstated terrible implication in her similar inability to see anything evil in an Israeli soda commercial.
There are many worthwhile things to say and think about when it comes to attempts to control or manipulate the Internet. Israeli attempts to push back on the unjustified bad name their country gets abroad are not among them.
