September 23, 2008 1:12 PM
'Obsession' DVD in Post wasn't 'hate speech'
The Sunday, Sept. 14, edition of The Denver Post was among dozens of newspapers nationwide that included a copy of the DVD "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" as a paid advertising supplement, drawing complaints in a Post article today that called the documentary "anti-Muslim hate speech" and "hateful information on Islam." The Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina had refused to carry the DVD at all, saying it was "divisive and plays on people's fears and served no educational purpose." Editor & Publisher cynically observed that the newspaper buys were in swing states, and questioned the New York Times about its policy on such inserts: "We believe the broad principles of freedom of the
press confer on us an obligation to keep our advertising columns as
open as possible. Therefore our acceptance or rejection of an
advertisement does not depend on whether it coincides with our
editorial positions," replied the NYT. The advertising buy, by the way, coincided with the film's Sept. 11 wide release in major retailers. This story piqued my interest because, for one, I was at the premiere of director and writer Wayne Kopping's "Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in Israel" in L.A. four years ago, and found it to be a powerful documentary. (I'd known that Yasser Arafat was a rascally lil' scoundrel, but never realized he talked out of both sides of his mouth THAT much.) I'd received a DVD of "Obsession" months ago, tucked inside a copy of a promo book on Israel, and today I finally sat down with my lunch (yeah, parts of the film were a little too gory to do that) and watched a copy.
Now, I happen to believe that, with the subject of Islam, it's certainly possible to engage in fear-mongering or hate speech. Something that sticks out to me is the "Obama is a Muslim" rumor. Besides the fact that, no, he picked Rev. Wright over Muhammad, the assertion that a candidate wouldn't be fit to govern simply for being Muslim is ludicrous. Look at the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush administration, our ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad -- I haven't seen him use his post to wage jihad. My career has brought me in regular contact with more moderate Muslims than not, including doing commentary for Al-Jazeera. I recall the Pakistani consul general stressing to me that should I visit the country, I shouldn't even think about wearing a headscarf because they were modern and tolerant. (And if you look at the horrific bombing last weekend, it was radical Islamists targeting Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast in the Marriott's restaurants.) I also recall lunching with Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, the spiritual leader of Kashmir's Muslims, hearing him describe a strategy for brokering peace in the disputed territory and looking to the West as helpful partners rather than Satan. (Salman Rushdie, incidentally, has lifted up Kashmiri Islam as tolerant and Sufistic, noting that this is resented by the radical Islam that has taken root in Pakistan.)
Long story short, I encourage everyone to get to know their Muslim neighbors, share thoughts and traditions. But as "Obsession" reminds us, it is a movie about self-identified Muslims who give those good Muslims a bad name. Like these Brit blokes:
"Obsession" begins with a title screen: "It is important to remember most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror. ... This is not a film about them."No, it's not. And for those who complain that it's 60 minutes of hate speech wrapped up in a DVD, I'd suggest watching the film first. It's a film about the "deviants" -- as the Saudi government calls terrorists -- who have hijacked and perverted the faith with the goal of universal submission to radical Islam. It reminds us of the violence the world has weathered in such a short period of time -- from the Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings to 9/11, the bombings in Bali, Istanbul, Madrid and London, the gruesome 2004 seizure of a school in Beslan by Islamist Chechens. It not only uses clips from Iranian, Palestinian, and Lebanese TV to show the hate speech being spewed by radical clerics, but the hatred and jihad/martyrdom goals being taught to little, often heavily armed kids. And it not only shows this ugly side, but an important clip from Bahraini TV deplores how fanaticism leads to extremism, which leads to violence and jihad. (I highly recommend Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, by the way.)
The cast of interviewees in the documentary is highly effective at getting the point across. While many may raise objections with the inclusion of Daniel Pipes, the viewer is transfixed by the words of Palestinian journalist Khalid Abu Toameh (an awesome guy who covers the West Bank and Gaza for the Jerusalem Post), by onetime PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat (who provides some of the most compelling clips on this DVD), and Nonie Darwish, the daughter of a famous Gaza "martyr." Alan Dershowitz astutely notes that if 9/11 happened on the West Coast instead of New York, Hollywood would have a different view about terrorism.
The Post story said that the film "draws strong parallels between Nazi Germany and modern Muslim countries." Actually, the film draws strong parallells between Nazi Germany and the extremist Islamist philosophy, not modern Muslim countries. (Unless, of course, you want to suggest that Iran, the mullahocracy that hangs gays and stones adulterers while beating women in the street for showing a lock of hair, is "modern".) Among the speakers in the documentary is the late Alfons Heck, a former Nazi Youth commander who spent his later life studying "the fatal attraction of Hitler." If you think the analogy is too broad without listening to the clerics' rhetoric, the side-by-side comparison of modern-day anti-Semitic cartoons from Arab media and anti-Semitic cartoons from Germany in the 1930s is striking.
Simply put, we need to cool the knee-jerk reaction that every expose of radical Islamist terrorism is an effort to "bait people to be anti-Muslim." We need to realistically acknowledge the good and the bad. We can't risk getting "terror fatigue" and just sweep it under the rug. This is beyond partisanship. Remember that of the four 7/7/05 London bombers, three were born in Britain and the fourth in Jamaica (not exactly a hotbed of terror training). And if you think terrorism can't be bred in the U.S. remember (the late?) Orange County terrorist Adam "Azzam al-Amriki" Gadahn.
And if you still don't like the message, or would rather keep those blinders on, don't kill the messenger.
September 24, 2008
11:23 AM
Brooke Rosener writes:
I agree with you, but you give Colorado citizens too much credit. Remember when City of Golden wanted to welcome Al Jazeera English, and Golden residents had a hissy fit? I live in Golden and was very sad to find such inappropriate reactions from my fellow citizens. I wonder how the many Middle Eastern students at CSM felt about the situation, who by the way, donate more money to CSM than their American alumni counterparts. The school grounds were renamed Kadafer Commons in the mid 90s.
September 24, 2008
12:17 PM
gary writes:
terrorists...what muslim terrorists...according to Obama..all you need to do is talk to them.
Plus...according to the liberals..there are no terrorists and the war on terror does not exist.
How can there be a DVD that shows muslim terrorists??
September 26, 2008
8:16 AM
Billy M. Back writes:
Bridgette Johnson. You're an idiot.
September 26, 2008
8:36 AM
Warren writes:
Either she is being sarcastic or Billy M. Black is right.
September 26, 2008
11:48 AM
Sulaco writes:
Apparenlty Warren and Black continue the leftest theme that truth is a hate crime. Stalin agreed.
September 26, 2008
11:51 AM
Bridget Johnson
writes:
Plus, Billy spelled my name wrong. At least double-check next time you call someone an idiot, which I predict will be in a matter of minutes!
September 26, 2008
2:41 PM
Marty Johnson writes:
I viewed the DVD today and considered it well worth my time and the time of all Americans who wish to view it. The DVD adequately points out what the West--particularly America and Israel--are up against with radical Islamists who want to destroy Western civilization, Christianity and Judaism and again "rule the world", as one terrorist stated in the film.
How can those on the far-left deny that there aren't any terrorists when we see them on Middle Eastern TV spating their hates and intentions in their own words? The DVD definitely contains "hate speech" but it is coming from the radical Islamists, not the people who produced the DVD. Did anyone notice that the Denver Post's and the Greenboro newpaper's critiques did not dispute the film's truthfulness but rather that it was "anti-Muslim"?
Only fools refuse to take radical Islam seriously. Those of the far-left persuasion simply don't want to be bothered by the reality of modern terrorism and therefore find it much easier not to educate themselves about this menace, as witnessed by a couple of responses above.
September 26, 2008
2:41 PM
Marty Johnson writes:
I viewed the DVD today and considered it well worth my time and the time of all Americans who wish to view it. The DVD adequately points out what the West--particularly America and Israel--are up against with radical Islamists who want to destroy Western civilization, Christianity and Judaism and again "rule the world", as one terrorist stated in the film.
How can those on the far-left deny that there aren't any terrorists when we see them on Middle Eastern TV spating their hates and intentions in their own words? The DVD definitely contains "hate speech" but it is coming from the radical Islamists, not the people who produced the DVD. Did anyone notice that the Denver Post's and the Greenboro newpaper's critiques did not dispute the film's truthfulness but rather that it was "anti-Muslim"?
Only fools refuse to take radical Islam seriously. Those of the far-left persuasion simply don't want to be bothered by the reality of modern terrorism and therefore find it much easier not to educate themselves about this menace, as witnessed by a couple of responses above.
September 26, 2008
10:21 PM
Andy writes:
Warren and Billy sadly reflect the nature of the debate on the far left, which is as fascistic as they preposterously claim George Bush to be - any kind of divergence from the wacko party-line and you're a racist.
Maybe they should move to a country in the middle east where citizens could be subjected to stoning because it's illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity (or any other religion). Then, they might have an idea about what's racist.
Idiots like that only reinforce Reagan's idea that "I didn't leave the Democratic party, it left me."
September 28, 2008
11:02 PM
B. Stromberg writes:
Yes, of course there are good Muslins; and there were good Germans in Germany too in the late thirties - but....where were the "good" Germans in the late thirties.
Where then, will be the "good" Muslins be in the coming years. Will they be out parading against and denouncing loudly the extremists or will they be cowed into silence to save their own lives as happened to the "good" Germans in the thirties.
The Koran itself, is very clear on the question of non-believers.
September 28, 2008
11:04 PM
B. Stromberg writes:
Yes, of course there are good Muslins; and there were good Germans in Germany too in the late thirties - but....where were the "good" Germans in the late thirties.
Where then, will be the "good" Muslins be in the coming years. Will they be out parading against and denouncing loudly the extremists or will they be cowed into silence to save their own lives as happened to the "good" Germans in the thirties.
The Koran itself, is very clear on the question of non-believers.
September 28, 2008
11:15 PM
Robert De Roos writes:
Just read that little ad called "obsession" which was included in this mornings edition of The Oregonian." I feel it is another poorly dis-
guised attempt by those who will believe most anything they want to believe. I have a lot of good friends who are Republican and most of the hate material they espouse seem to use stuff like this
to convince me I had better b e careful. Balderdash!!
I guess they don't like that I am no longer of their ilk.
October 4, 2008
5:24 AM
John and Joanne Lepetit writes:
Congratulations to the Rocky Mountain News. We are temporarily living in Malta, quite close to the center of Islam. We can tell you unequivically, that radical Islam considers itself at war with the West, whether we acknolwedge it or now. If you want a really scholarly treatess on this subject read "The Truth About Muhammed, Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion," by Robert Spencer. The people in Malta are very tolerant but because of three hundred years of occupancy, they do not consider Islam a peaceful religion and will not allow Islam any kind of foothold in their culture. They are wise! When are are we going to wise up and stop trying to be plitically correct, while the rest of the intelligent world is acknowledging the incredible threat of Islam.