Newspapers distribution of DVD on radical Islam raises sharp questions

[almaty 19]

Newspapers distribution of DVD on radical Islam raises sharp questions

The glossy color insert greeting some readers of the St. Petersburg Times Sunday featured searing graphics: images of New York’s ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a masked fighter and a child holding a rifle.

Emblazoned across the placard’s front was the name of the controversial film included with the flier: Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Touted in glowing quotes on the flier from notables such as film critic Michael Medved and Howard Gordon, executive producer of Fox TV’s action series 24, the film compares the danger to America from radical Islam to the danger the world faced from Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

And the insert Times readers received Sunday was part of an effort aimed at distributing 28-million copies of the movie on DVD to Americans across the country through 70 different media outlets, including dozens of newspapers ranging from the St. Petersburg Times and every other major newspaper in Florida to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

“I got almost all the way through it, and I turned it off,” said John Brough, 70, a retired businessman in New Port Richey who feared the film might encourage Americans to react harshly to all Muslims, despite the fact that it begins and ends with a disclaimer noting most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror.

“When I first read it, I was angry . . . it seemed (designed) to get people up in arms,” said Brough, who was among just 13 people who had complained about the insert to the Times by Monday afternoon (the newspaper said eight more people called to complain they hadn’t received a copy). “I found it offensive.”

Other critics wonder about the timing of the insert – placed in newspapers nationwide to coincide with the 7th anniversary of 9/11. The list of newspapers included in the distribution feature publications in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Colorado – all states hotly contested in this year’s presidential election.

With polls indicating that Republican candidates and specifically GOP presidential nominee John McCain fare well on questions of national security and terrorism, some wonder if the nonpartisan, nonprofit group funding the inserts aren’t attempting a subtly political maneuver.

“This seems to demonize a certain political candidate and benefit another,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington D.C. “We would call on all political candidates to repudiate this fear-mongering. It’s as if someone sent (pro-Nazi film) Triumph of the Will or (pro-Ku Klux Klan film) Birth of a Nation into people’s homes.”

Greg Ross, a spokesman for the New York-based Clarion Fund, a nonprofit created to spread distribution of the film, has been working his cell phone for days offering answers to journalists covering the growing controversy.

Ross said: No, the film isn’t designed to benefit one candidate over another (federal rules for nonprofits prohibit political stands). Yes, the film’s Web site briefly featured a column praising McCain, but it has been removed and doesn’t represent the group’s views.

He also said this: Yes, the mailings were timed to reach the public on the anniversary of 9/11 in swing states, but only to generate headlines and build donations to Clarion. Yes, the film was once marketed and supported by pro-Israel groups, but groups connected to other religions have also supported it.

And despite the fact that controversial terrorism experts such as Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes appear prominently in the film – some critics accuse both men of unfairly targeting Muslims – Ross insisted the movie has no political agenda beyond exposing the anti-Western and anti-Semitic actions of radical Islam.

“We’re only attacking a small swath of people in a giant religion who are bent on doing harm to Americans,” said Ross, who would not reveal the identities of donors who have supported their effort, saying contributors fear reprisals from terrorists.

“Whoever wins this election will have to deal with this,” the spokesman added, noting that Clarion has a film assembled with a $1-million budget, The Third Jihad, ready for limited release in theaters in October. “In our movie, you see very clearly the radicals speaking for themselves. No one is putting words in their mouths.”

Donnie Ali, a spokesman for the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, noted that area Muslims were surprised and offended that the insert arrived during the Muslim religious holiday of Ramadan. But Ali declined to criticize the distribution of the film, despite noting that up to 40 people called his office to complain about the insert.

“Running from a film like Obsession would be like pouring gasoline of the fire of Islamaphobia,” he said. “People who have nothing to hide, don’t hide from anything . . . And sometimes we have to define ourselves by showing the world what we are not.”

[Jenn! 918]

Subtly political maneuver? Now that's an understatement.

[doodlebugg 10]

Here's who is responsible for the dvd. http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/thepundits.php

[almaty 19]

terrible..i got a e-mail from CAIR..asking if it had been distrubted in st louis..i have not seen it as yet.

Edited October 3, 2008 by almaty

[trailmix 77]

This was in our Orlando Sentinel a few weeks ago. The day or maybe the day after it arrived our cable went out for a few hours...even with zero electronic amusement available...I threw it in the garbage.

[almaty 19]

This was in our Orlando Sentinel a few weeks ago. The day or maybe the day after it arrived our cable went out for a few hours...even with zero electronic amusement available...I threw it in the garbage.

you my friend, are indeed right thinking

[SteveLaura 0]

It was in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A few people complained and the paper defended it, saying it was acceptable under their terms of commercial inserts. I didn't watch it. I don't like getting my blood pressure up too high except when I'm naked.

Edited October 3, 2008 by SteveLaura

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Luckystrike will be in line for a copy.

[almaty 19]

Luckystrike will be in line for a copy.

soon, the haters be here...with their inner bias and rationalizations of their hate

[alienlovechild 75]

Here's who is responsible for the dvd. http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/thepundits.php

The website lacks credibility. How exactly is Alan Dershowitz part of the "radical right" proclaimed at the top of the webpage?

Take a look at the views and backgrounds of major CAIR figures.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

[doodlebugg 10]

Here's who is responsible for the dvd. http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/thepundits.php

The website lacks credibility. How exactly is Alan Dershowitz part of the "radical right" proclaimed at the top of the webpage?

Take a look at the views and backgrounds of major CAIR figures.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

this is the introduction to the names listed on the website.

Obsession's main problem is one of credibility. The film ignores well-known scholars on Islam, Muslim-West relations, and Radicalism - the three key topics it is supposedly "educating" the public on. In the stead of credible and learned authorities, the film features a subjective slew of agenda-driven individuals who face regular accusations of bias, polemics, and innuendo.

your link doesn't work btw.

Edited October 3, 2008 by bridget

[alienlovechild 75]

Here's who is responsible for the dvd. http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/thepundits.php

The website lacks credibility. How exactly is Alan Dershowitz part of the "radical right" proclaimed at the top of the webpage?

Take a look at the views and backgrounds of major CAIR figures.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

this is the introduction to the names listed on the website.

Obsession's main problem is one of credibility. The film ignores well-known scholars on Islam, Muslim-West relations, and Radicalism - the three key topics it is supposedly "educating" the public on. In the stead of credible and learned authorities, the film features a subjective slew of agenda-driven individuals who face regular accusations of bias, polemics, and innuendo.

your link doesn't work btw.

Even before the introduction you quoted there's this "The real story before the controversial Obessession DVD project & the radical right's war against Islam". The fact Alan Dershowitz is considered a "radical rightist" and listed along with eveyone hurts whatever case they are making.

I haven't seen the film so I don't know the content but I don't see any detail comments from anyone else who has seen either. People who quick to condemn it before they've seen aren't the most open-mined types around.

CAIR backers.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

Edited October 3, 2008 by alienlovechild

[doodlebugg 10]

Here's who is responsible for the dvd. http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/thepundits.php

The website lacks credibility. How exactly is Alan Dershowitz part of the "radical right" proclaimed at the top of the webpage?

Take a look at the views and backgrounds of major CAIR figures.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

this is the introduction to the names listed on the website.

Obsession's main problem is one of credibility. The film ignores well-known scholars on Islam, Muslim-West relations, and Radicalism - the three key topics it is supposedly "educating" the public on. In the stead of credible and learned authorities, the film features a subjective slew of agenda-driven individuals who face regular accusations of bias, polemics, and innuendo.

your link doesn't work btw.

Even before the introduction you quoted there's this "The real story before the controversial Obessession DVD project & the radical right's war against Islam". The fact Alan Dershowitz is considered a "radical rightist" and listed along with eveyone hurts whatever case they are making.

I haven't seen the film so I don't know the content but I don't see any detail comments from anyone else who has seen either. People who quick to condemn it before they've seen aren't the most open-mined types around.

CAIR backers.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php

Are you related to Sara Palin? The issue at hand, in case you didn't know, is that somehow this dvd full of hate for Islam was allowed to be inserted into the newspapers of the swing states. Do you think that a dvd full of hate for Judaism, Christianity, Buddism, etc. would be allowed to be inserted and distributed along with people's morning paper? I think not.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

I see this as a left wing opinion piece based on them being worried what it could do to Obama. After all there are disclaimers. Much ado about nothing.

"despite the fact that it begins and ends with a disclaimer noting most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror"

[alienlovechild 75]

Are you related to Sara Palin? The issue at hand, in case you didn't know, is that somehow this dvd full of hate for Islam was allowed to be inserted into the newspapers of the swing states. Do you think that a dvd full of hate for Judaism, Christianity, Buddism, etc. would be allowed to be inserted and distributed along with people's morning paper? I think not.

Are related to Osama Bin Laden? What does Palin have to do with the movie? Did she endorse the movie?

Have you seen the DVD? I don't think so.

Are you aware there's a movie coming out called Religulous with Bill Maher? It's supposed to be funny but some could call it a hate movie against various religions.

Hmmm. nothing about the CAIR profiles, either? Surprise, surprise.

Edited October 3, 2008 by alienlovechild