NEW YORK The Oregonian today distributed to its Portland area subscribers, as paid advertising, the controversial DVD titled "Obsession" that raises alarms about the threat of radical Islam. It joined at least 75 other newspapers across the country in doing so -- despite a plea by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and a coalition of community members.
The mayor's office said he wrote to the publisher of the paper: "The Mayor reviewed the video and personally asked Fred Stickel, Oregonian publisher, not to distribute it in next Sunday's issue. The Mayor felt that the tenor of the video contributes towards a climate of distrust towards Muslims that holds the entire Muslim community accountable for the actions of a dangerously misguided few. Distributing with the Oregonian lends the video an impression of objectivity and legitimacy it does not deserve."
Some of the individuals or groups that have protested are calling for a 10 a.m. street protest outside the newspaper's offices on Monday.
The Oregonian, like many other papers who had previously distributed the DVD (almost all of them in "swing states), carried an article explaining the move today. (E&P has chronicled this phenomenon for over two weeks.)
The report by Bill Graves revealed that Fred Stickel, publisher of The Oregonian, said the newspaper is treating the DVD as it does other paid advertising or product inserts.
"I've always felt we have an obligation to keep our advertising columns as open as possible," said Stickel, after viewing the DVD. "Our acceptance of anything -- our acceptance or rejection -- does not depend on whether or not we agree with the content. . . . There is a principle of freedom of speech involved here. I could find no reason to reject this."
Salaam writes: The following is by Omid Safi, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina. This investigation was published in an American Academy of Religion publication. This is long excerpt of the full piece. An excellent piece, but it omits reference to the multiple sources on the web that have identified Aish Hatorah as a cult. See here and here.
by Omid Safi Something strange has been showing up inside the Sunday newspapers of millions of Americans the past few weeks. The material being included alongside comics, coupons, and advertisement for local stores is a controversial DVD called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." Some 28 million copies of this DVD have been distributed for free so far in this fashion.
In some ways the scale of this campaign, and its ideological venom, are unprecedented: many newspapers state that they had never previously distributed free DVDs as inserts, certainly nothing with such a charged content. The copies were distributed not randomly across the country, but in the "swing states" (Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, etc.) that are seen as a toss-up in the November Presidential elections between McCain and Obama. Obviously, someone is trying to influence the American electorate by playing on fear-mongering and hate-mongering themes. But who? Who is behind this massive, multi-million dollar campaign?
Answering that question proved harder than one might think, as the groups behind this DVD have worked hard to hide their tracks. The connections, which are partially concealed in the DVD and the distribution campaign, take one from groups in Israel, to pro-Israel lobby organizations in the United States, to Christian evangelical groups, and to Neoconservative think-tanks.
The "facts" presented by Obsession have already been refuted in several detailed presentations. For example, see the work of Obsessionwithhate.com and that of Sheila Musaji, as well as Altmuslim.com. Therefore, I am not going to make a point by point refutation of the contents of the DVD. My intention is to explore the networks that are behind the production and distribution of this DVD, with their clear goal of influencing the 2008 Presidential elections towards John McCain.
Military Religious Freedom Foundation will add 'Obsession' DVD to lawsuit against the military for encouraging Christian religious extremism due to Naval College leader's endorsement on DVD packaging.
Chris Rodda, reaserch director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation writes at Daily Kos: I read the story as reported by the Dayton Daily News, but this was after I had received an email written by a friend of some of the victims of these American terrorists. The matter of fact news report in the Dayton paper didn't come close to conveying the horrific impact of this unthinkable act like the email I had just read, so I asked the email's author for permission to share what they had written. The author was with one of the families from the mosque -- a mother and two of the small children who were in the room that was gassed -- the day after the attack occurred.
"She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.
"The paramedic said the young one was in shock, and gave her oxygen to help her breathe. The child couldn't stop sobbing.
"This didn't happen in some far away place -- but right here in Dayton, and to my friends. Many of the Iraqi refugees were praying together at the Mosque Friday evening. People that I know and love.
"I am hurt and angry. I tell her this is NOT America. She tells me this is not Heaven or Hell -- there are good and bad people everywhere.
"She tells me that her daughters slept with her last night, the little one in her arms and sobbing throughout the night. She tells me she is afraid, and will never return to the mosque, and I wonder what kind of country is this where people have to fear attending their place of worship?
"The children come into the room, and tell me they want to leave America and return to Syria, where they had fled to from Iraq. They say they like me, ... , and other American friends -- but they are too afraid and want to leave. Should a 6 and 7 year old even have to contemplate the safety of their living situation?
"Did the anti-Muslim video circulating in the area have something to do with this incident, or is that just a bizarre coincidence? Who attacks women and children?
"What am I supposed to say to them? My words can't keep them safe from what is nothing less than terrorism, American style. Isn't losing loved ones, their homes, jobs, possessions and homeland enough? Is there no place where they can be safe?
"She didn't want me to leave her tonight, but it was after midnight, and I needed to get home and write this to my friends. Tell me -- tell me -- what am I supposed to say to them?"
When acting as a representative of Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the 501(c)3 non-profit organization that I work for, I cannot engage in political activities. The distribution of Obsession, however, although a political campaign scheme, clearly crosses over into the mission of MRFF. So, I'm going to make two statements here -- one in my capacity as MRFF's Research Director, and another as an individual whose disgust at the vile campaign tactics of John McCain's supporters completely boiled over when I opened up the email about children being gassed.
I am sure glad you ran this story. I received it in my Sunday newspaper in Las Vegas, Nevada, a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking about how much it must have cost someone to insert these here in this city, never imagining what the extent of this was.
I have received another copy today to my postal box address. I am now very concerned about the extended efforts to push this information down my throat. And as it was, my initial dismay and feeling of disgust came when I remembered buying this from a teenager on my neighborhood street corner. I see him every Sunday reading the papers he sells so you know what he must have thought to get a 'free' CD in the paper that morning.
I am a true American citizen and fully believe in freedom of speech but the massiveness of this endeavor is frightening. There must be some way to prevent this from happening again.
Needles to say I will be contacting my local Las Vegas Review Journal to find out what the incentive was to include this in their paper. I wonder how my name and address was found for today's mail delivery at a P.O. Box?
Thank you for your reporting.
Jeannie Belleau
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The DVD was given out to everyone who was in Denver during the Democratic Convention. I hadn't even had a chance to see it since I got back, working feverishly on organizing GOTV in our battleground neighbors, since we're safe from McCain/Palin. These people paid young folks to hand these out and the youth probably didn't even know what it was they were distributing, just as we didn't know what we were being given. Now I'll go watch Michael Moore's free movie, which I wasn't going to bother watching since I live by the message - just to get fired up to call another 100 voters tonight. You knee-jerk anti-liberals need to start thinking about who will help us after we were robbed of our national treasure by the GOP's base, who probably have all their ill-gotten gains in the Cayman Islands. Even if you can't get over your Fox-induced-hatred, start thinking about your families.
Sent by Virginia
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I hope NPR continues to follow the story, including any subsequent upturn in violence against Muslims, such as the incident which occurred in Dayton on Friday.
Sent by Gus D.
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I live in Dayton, OH where this DVD was distributed both in the mail as well as the local newspaper. Friday there was a chemical attack at a local Mosque in Dayton: http://www.daytondailynews.com...
This is a very unfortunate incident. It is ironic that Dayton was in the national spotlight when McCain announced Sarah Palin as his VP pick, and now it is about to be in the national spotlight again because of this.
Sent by Bill
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Get this racist trash out of my newspaper. Thank you to NPR for covering this outrageous showcase of ad money for hatred. We should cancel our subscriptions to let these newspapers know that they must take a stand. Let's all grow up and stand up!
Sent by njw
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The terrorist attack on Iraqi babies and children in DAYTON OHIO is a direct result of the efforts of the Clarion fund to paint all Muslims as a threat. How ironic that Iraqis are being attacked in the US while our soldiers are dying to protect them in Iraq.
Sent by Joan Donahue
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Thank you NPR. You are the only one my husband listens to on the radio.
It was reported in the Dayton Daily news that because of this vile video, babies and children at a mosque in Dayton were gassed.
This appalls me
The innocent are paying for the hate mongering by the rightwing radicals.
I am tired of a whole group being persecuted because of the rabid actions of a few 7 years ago.
I do not lump all republicans in with the rabid rightwing fringies like those who produced this.
I do not lump all jewish people in with the hate mongering group that is involved in this video.
So, why are all muslims being made to pay a price for a few fringies in their religion?
American muslims are americans first and love this country and are not plotting to do any violence. But, it seems those of other religions want to tar all in because of few crazies.
The radical christian fringe that blows up abortion clinics and kill are not representative for all christians.
When are we going to separate the far fringe of groups from the peace loving and normal everyday people who just want to raise their families and work and build a nice quiet life.
When are we going to stop being bullies and promoting such hate and quit letting the fear and smear crowd control us and turn us into animals.
Sent by diane lake
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Excellent Article, keep digging until you reach the end of the money stream !
Sent by Andy
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an we post the address and number of this jewish hate group?
Sent by David
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Keep up the good work NPR! America is still great partly because good reporting catches up to the hate mongers eventually.
Sent by Freddyk
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An interesting story. It appears that we are down to fear-mongering as an election strategy in certain anti-Obama camps.
It's quite pathetic and immoral in my opinion.
Keep revealing the truth my friends. It is our best weapon.
Sent by JRP
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Within a week of this DVD being distributed in Ohio, somebody in Dayton sprayed a "chemical irritant" into a mosque where Ramadan meal and prayers were being conducted. 300 people in there. Women and children, man. This movie is inciting people to violence. I'm wondering if Clarion can be considered culpable (if the perps are caught and confess the movie's influence). I hope NPR will cover this incident. You can read the article at the Dayton Daily News website: http://www.daytondailynews.com...
Sent by yp972
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Excellent story and one we should all be very concerned about. There is no "liberal bias" here, this is a news item, that everyone should hear about. Some people with a lot of money are very worried about Obama, and what it means for their actions.
Sent by buuba
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Good Work! I hope this story gets some legs and hits the big TV news channels. So much of what they broadcast is infotainment and not information. This country has been caught up in the Left vs. Right amoral political fight for so long that we have forgotten that the politicians should react to the publics agenda and try to pull the public to theirs. The accusations of political bias at NPR have been baseless. I would suggest anyone who thinks otherwise check out factcheck.org. It is unfortunate that reality does favor Democrats this election but Republicans will not head back towards the center until they really get trounced. I have been surprised that so many of the far right have stuck with the Republican party these last few years. For four years you had the best chance ever at over-turning Roe .v Wade and adopting a Federal Ban on Gay marriage. Yet with a highly conservative president and congress as well as the Supreme Court stacked in 5-4 conservatively, nothing of the sort happened. Instead the extremely wealthy ran away with the piggy bank. Wake up! If you cannot support a Democrat at least stop getting the wool pulled over your eyes. Obama is not perfect but make an effort to see what his and Mcain's policy differences are. Use actual information to base your decisions on! Neither candidate is a terrorist nor will open this country to attack, but they do have distinct differences in ideology. Be wary of promises base on revoking rights and priveleges that have already been settled law. It is very hard to strip away protection already granted and reverse court cases already decided. Last of all be furious at people like the Clarion group or any liberal counterpart who look to subjugate you to their agenda by inciting hatred and fear.
From the NPR blog: We had a story on the air this morning about the mass distribution of an inflamatory DVD on radical Islam, which critics say is intended to help John McCain's presidential bid. The video documentary was blasted out by the Clarion Fund, an obscure New York-based charity.
Clarion wouldn't return our phone calls before the story aired. But today it hired a PR firm, which quickly issued this statement in response to our story:
The Clarion Fund has one goal: educate the public about the threat of Islamic terrorism. Obsession is the film opponents of free speech don't want you to see. Terrorist attacks don't distinguish between political parties- they kill everyone. America needs to know the truth about the threat without censorship.
Clarion's new voice is Hank Sheinkopf, a long-time Democratic consultant in New York, who worked on President Clinton's re-election campaign. The choice of a Democratic flak is a smart move, since critics have said Clarion is covertly trying to help elect Republican McCain. That kind of active political work would violate its 501(c)(3) charity exemption.
As we reported, one of the promoters of the DVD is Joe Wierzbicki, who is active in two anti-Obama political action committees.
....
Earlier this week, we pointed out the Clarion Fund's ties to Aish HaTorah, a staunchly pro-Israel organization that promotes Jewish pride and helps send young Jewish Americans to Israel. The St. Petersburg Times found even more connections, including the name of an Aish employee on Clarion's bulk mailing permit. (Aish's PR consultant, however, told us today that he represents Aish only and didn't even have the phone number for Clarion.)
Meanwhile, the Inter Press Service reported that another organization, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, was also responsible for the DVD distribution. In March, the Endowment hosted a showing of "Obsession" on Capitol Hill.
Leading the Endowment is Sarah Stern, a former lobbyist for the Zionist Organization of America. She takes a hard line in defense of Israel, arguing against Israeli concessions such as land withdrawals and prisoner releases. In a recent open letter to the "next president," she warned that if tough diplomatic measures against Iran fail by the time he is inaugurated, "Mr. President, you may inherit the difficult task of easing the way for a preemptive strike."
Madaline Muir of Montgomery County, Pa., got the DVD in her Philadelphia Inquirer. She called it propaganda.
"It's to influence people. Sent out now. Whenever it was made, 2006, but it's really to influence people in the election and scare people," she said.
Obsession was produced by the Clarion Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity, which cannot get involved in campaign politics.
But its spokesman has said the newspaper distribution had one purpose: to make terrorism a presidential campaign issue where it counts - in the battleground states. He said Clarion did this with a half-million dollar grant from a secret donor.
And others have been promoting Obsession in other ways. Joe Wierzbicki, a political consultant, offered free copies of the DVD to listeners on a talk show in Detroit last month. He was promoting a free screening of Obsession on Sept. 11 in Dearborn, a city with a large Arab population.
Who paid for the screening? And who hired Wierzbicki to handle it? Wierzbicki wouldn't tell local reporters. On Thursday, he didn't respond to NPR's interview requests, and neither did the Clarion Fund.
It's illegal for a 501(c)(3) to advocate expressly for or against a candidate. None of Clarion's three directors have any record of contributing to the candidates. But some political connections do emerge.
Wierzbicki, the movie promoter, also works for two political organizations. He's an organizer for Move America Forward, a political action committee that just produced an ad accusing Obama of playing politics with soldiers' lives.
He also is the PAC coordinator for the Our Country Deserves Better PAC. Its Web site says it has one objective: to defeat Obama.
Earlier I posted a story about a mosque in Ohio that was attacked with pepper spray. Now this:
From the Joplin (MO) Globe: FBI investigating torching of Joplin mosque's sign
The FBI has taken over an investigation of the torching of the sign for the Islamic Society of Joplin's mosque as a possible hate crime.
Somebody set the sign for the mosque at 1302 Black Cat Road on fire early Thursday morning. The Carl Junction Fire Department responded to a 1:26 a.m. report of the fire.
Fire Engineer Bill Nauta said there's no doubt that the fire, which ruined the wooden sign, was deliberately set. Nauta said he could not tell if an accelerant had been used.
"I didn't see anything spilled," he said. "They would have to sample something at a lab."
The Jasper County Sheriff's Department was notified of the arson and initiated an investigation, but the case was taken over on Friday by the FBI.
"I think this is a hate crime, yes," said Navid Zaidi, treasurer for the board of directors of the Islamic Society of Joplin.
Zaidi said the mosque has not been the object of much racial or religious animosity since opening in February 2007. Someone stole two air conditioners from the mosque in the summer of that year, but that could not be construed as hate-motivated, he said.
More recently, a Muslim family leaving the mosque after a service was offended verbally by some young men in a pickup truck who had stopped to look at the sign, Zaidi said. They yelled some things that the family could not make out but sensed were racially hateful, he said. Zaidi did not know if that incident could be related to the fire.
The mosque's congregation has grown to about 40 families, with some coming from as far away as Springfield and Tulsa, Okla., Zaidi said. It is open for prayer five times a day and is especially busy right now in the month of Ramadan, he said.
The sign was just put up two months ago. Zaidi said that it read "Islamic Society of Joplin" in both English and Arabic, with the Arabic lettering in the shape of a crescent.
"There was some discussion whether we should have a sign at the mosque or not," Zaidi said. "The board decided we should because we are a part of the community and we want to identify who we are and where we are."
Shorter cult spokesman: Just because all these people who lead or work for Clarion are also leaders or employees in Aish Hatorah, doesn't mean there is any connection. Just a coincidence, I swear...
For more on why its accurate to call Aish Hatorah a cult, see here and here.
A nonprofit group that has shipped out 28-million copies of a controversial film on radical Islam refuses to reveal the source of its funding, but numerous ties connect it to a well-known Jewish education group that vehemently denies any involvement with the film.
The backing for Obsession: Radical Islam's War with the West and the intent of its distributor, the Clarion Fund, has been the subject of speculation since the DVDs were distributed beginning Sept. 14.
Clarion Fund, which was incorporated in 2006, distributed Obsession in 14 states, including the key presidential battlegrounds of Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The DVDs were distributed by mail and as an advertising supplement in 58 Sunday newspapers, including the St. Petersburg Times.
"We don't have to say who its directors are or give financial information until Nov. 6, 2008," said Clarion spokesperson Gregory Ross.
Not good enough, says the Council on American Islamic Relations, which filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.
"American voters deserve to know whether they are targets of a multimillion-dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election," Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, said in a statement.
There are a number of connections between the Clarion Fund and a well-known organization called Aish HaTorah, an international charity founded in Israel in the 1970s.
Ronn Torossian, spokesman for Aish HaTorah, said that his group would in "no way be involved with Clarion Fund or Obsession because Aish HaTorah is a charity and must remain apolitical."
Ross, the Clarion spokesman, was listed as an Aish HaTorah international fundraiser on a federal election donation form in June 2007.
Elke Bronstein is the name written on the mail permit for the bulk mailing of Obsession DVDs in mid September from Freeport, N.Y. Reached on her cell phone, Bronstein said she worked for Clarion, but would not provide more information.
The receptionist at Aish HaTorah in New York said Bronstein worked for Aish Discovery, which produces high-tech programs and films for Aish HaTorah. Torossian said Bronstein could easily have separate jobs.
"What? You're going to find four, five or six people who work for Clarion and Aish and claim a worldwide conspiracy? I don't think so," he said.
"Sadly, it would seem that I have allowed myself to be used. I gave an interview to the makers of "obsession" wherein I explained the meaning of Jihad, and its misuse by extremists. I understood that the film would be used objectively, focusing on fanatics who seek to spread violence. I am aware that there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the film that says it is not about Islam in general, but only about extremist interpretations.
"But the material from some of the speakers gives the lie to the disclaimer: many of them are not experts, or have used the mantle of academic qualifications to purvey hate. That their alarmist drivel should be mixed with my whittled down interview proves that the intent of the film is not to educate, but to mislead. The free distribution of the film to voters in particular districts shows the political chicanery that is the motive, and the secrecy about the financing of the distribution only underlines the evil intent in circulating this vile piece of propaganda.
"Evidence seems to indicate the involvement of Aish ha-Torah in this dishonest enterprise. I find that particularly distressing, because any Jewish organization ought to realize what the film seeks to do: they demonize an entire community to the point where a government takes action to further beleaguer its citizens and resident aliens simply because of their religious identity. This bigotry over religion and identity is precisely what caused the Shoah - and it is sad that those who ought to have learned what hate can engender should seek to imitate Nazi propagandism.
Salaam writes: According to Sheila Musaji at The American Muslim, the first time the name "Endowment for Middle East Truth" is mentioned anywhere is in a report in the Detroit Free Press on September 23, well after the 'Obsession' project has begun, and after the Aish Hatorah cult has begun to be identified by the presence of its leaders and employees as the organization responsible for the movie. Sept. 23rd is also the same day that CAIR announces to the press that it has filed a FEC complaint asking it to investigate Aish Hatorah's role. EMET's role is to divert attention from Aish Hatorah and to diffuse responsibility.
Here's the erroneous attribution-another example of a flaccid media stenographer who fails to check his facts :
The film, from a New York organization called The Clarion Fund, uses clips and interviews to say that leaders of "radical Islam" brainwash many Muslims to hate the West.
The distribution is part of a campaign called the Obsession Project, led by the Endowment for Middle East Truth, a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, D.C.
Salaam writes: From a Colorado blog commenter at SquareState.net where I've posted several of the articles I've posted here.
COUNTER ATTACK - hit 'em where it hurts
If you received your DVD by US mail, here's what you can do to take money out of the pockets of The Clarion Fund and redistribute their wealth to the US Postal Service.
Step 1: Take the DVD out of the mailer.
Step 2: Render it inoperable. Use your imagination. You can scratch it, melt holes in it, snap it, whatever.
Step 3: Put the DVD back in the mailer.
Step 4: Drop it in a mailbox.
Step 5: When it turns up in your mailbox again, drop it in the mail again. Repeat this step.
Why would we do this? The Clarion Fund has to pay postage over and over again on the same DVD.
Does it work? Yes! I received my DVD on Tuesday, trashed it, and dropped it in a mailbox on Wednesday. Lo and behold, it was in my mailbox again today. Yes, I know it's the same one because I taped the mailer shut with packing tape. I'll be dropping it in the mailbox again tomorrow morning. Enjoy!
Pastor Roger Ray of the Community Christian Church writes: There was an insert in last Sunday's [Springfield, MO] News-Leader, a DVD of a film titled "Obsession (Radical Islam's War against the West)." The DVD followed the format of many other pieces of propaganda. It included dozens of quotes from people who were purported to be experts, yet the schools and associations of which they were a part were virtually all unknown to me. The movie would make a couple of observations which were obviously true and then thrown in a conclusion which was not based on the earlier claims. This is called a "yes set." It is a method of persuasion based on a bit of rhetorical trickery so that a viewer will be led to agree with a false conclusion.
While the narrator continued to claim no bias and repeatedly asserts that not all Muslims are radicals, towards the end of the film the screen goes back and forth between modern images of Middle Eastern Muslims and early 20th Century Nazis. The comparison is historically inaccurate but propaganda usually uses fear rather than reason.
Before I even opened the package, I noted that of the 20 million copies distributed through news papers around the country, most were sent either to very strong Republican strongholds or to cities with a very high population of Jews -- the two audiences most likely to be receptive to a "we should be afraid of Muslims" message.
There are reasons to be afraid of the rise of Islamic radicals, terrorists and those who seek to wage war based on religion or culture. However, as I try to remind people, the threat of terrorism is still much less than the threat posed to our society by the flu. Propaganda films such as this one are intended to frighten viewers and to provoke them into irrational levels of fearful action and, more importantly, voting.
This film was distributed on the weekend of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks during the final phase of a presidential election. Its singular message is that national defense is the most important political issue before voters this fall. As in all cases in which fear trumps reason, this DVD pushes an agenda on voters which is not in the voters' best interests.
Most of us are feeling the sore effects of the damaged economy. The environment seems to be disintegrating faster than any of our current efforts to change our way of consuming will fix. Poverty, hunger, disease and a lack of education threaten to destabilize international relations much more than the rogue elements of radical Islam.
It is true that our dependence upon oil imports continues to finance the terrorist movements in the world and we need to quickly change our power sources and our use of oil. It is true that there are ways in which our foreign policy has provoked the spread of radical Islam, and we need to be finding ways in which to nurture a healthy and peace loving form of Muslim faith while not constantly feeding the anger of radicals.
It was a slick film but I encourage voters to be more brave than the right gives us credit for being. Refuse to be politically manipulated by fear. National security will rarely come from the end of a gun barrel.
Salaam writes: According to CAIR's Federal Election Commission complaint, three of the founders of The Clarion Fund are or were leaders or employees of Aish Hatorah or one of its companies. Elke Bronstein would be the fourth.
A reporter for the Saint Petersburg Times reports:
Elke Bronstein is the name written on the mail permit for the bulk mailing of Obsession DVDs in mid September from Freeport, N.Y. Reached on her cell phone, Bronstein said she worked for Clarion, but would not provide more information.
The receptionist at Aish HaTorah in New York said Bronstein worked for Aish Discovery, which produces high-tech programs and films for Aish HaTorah. Torossian said Bronstein could easily have separate jobs.
I found a CD, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," tucked into my Sept. 14 LSJ.
Its packaging boldly claimed, "As seen on CNN and FOX News by more than 20 million viewers worldwide."
I am distressed that the LSJ would distribute such inflammatory, fear-coddling material. I am disappointed that Lansing's newspaper has become an extension of CNN and FOX News. I am saddened that the LSJ is unable to distinguish journalism from jingoism.
As a nation and as a people, we are greater than this hate-mongering. We are capable of finding other more constructive ways to address extremism and inequity, nationally and globally. Showcasing war, demonizing "the enemy," and presenting the world in "us vs. them" terms, feeds continual hate, misery, and arms sales - not security.
The LSJ has been shrinking in size. It has now shrunk beyond any recognition as a responsible newspaper. Cancel my subscription.
Laura B. DeLind
Mason
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Who's Behind DVDs?
I just received a DVD in that could potentially fuel anti-Muslim hate in the community.
This is a time when every well-meaning individual, regardless of religious or ethnic background, is trying to foster an atmosphere of unity and understanding amongst various diverse groups that make up America. This really prompts me to want to ask the following questions:
Why does the LSJ believe it is appropriate to profit from this kind of hate message? Who actually paid for these to be distributed and how much did it cost? Would you have distributed a similar hate DVD from a racist group, whether white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.?
Now, does sending out the DVD in key election swing states have to do with putting a candidate at an advantage? I trust I'd get a response to these questions.
Muideen Kareem
East Lansing
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LSJ Wrong On DVD
The inclusion of the anti-Muslim DVD, "Obsession" in the Sept. 14 LSJ does a gross disservice to our community. While radicals may claim affiliation with any religious group, their true culture is one of intolerance and violence. By contrast, Islam is known as a religion that values peace and equilibrium above all else.
Look at Eric Robert Rudolph, identified with the group Christian Identity, who was responsible for the bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that killed two and injured 111.
How about Timothy McVeigh? Raised as a Catholic, he killed 168 and injured an additional 800 persons in a domestic terrorism attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Would the LSJ have distributed a DVD that offers these two as proof that Christian extremists are mounting a threat to America?
At the very least, it should have been incumbent upon the LSJ to seek to identify The Clarion Fund or its financial backers before accepting its 30 pieces of silver to sell out Lansing's Islamic Community.
Michael Forman
East Lansing
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LSJ Delivers Fear
When I opened my Sunday paper on Sept. 14, I found the glossy insert, "Obsession." This gift was not a perfume sample. It was a DVD of a movie whose subtitle read "radical Islam's war against the west." It was produced by the Clarion Fund (http://clarionfund.org), a nonprofit organization "whose mission is to educate Americans about issues of national security." Perhaps.
But, the timing of this "gift," the pivotal role that Michigan will play in the November election and the film's shadowy funding suggest the hands of the well-financed, pro-war backers of John McCain - whether McCain himself approves or not. This is the politics of fear, pure and simple.
This is also the Gannett Company, the LSJ's parent, taking a back-handed partisan position in the election. I wonder if they would circulate a free movie that questioned the global war on terror, even if they were paid.
Editors around the country put on the defensive by complaints, wrap themselves in 'free speech' defense, avoid proper descriptions of DVD as hate speech
Salaam writes: I find this response to be self-serving and condescending. ("Of course it does," he says, with omnipotent, declarative voice.) Reynolds fails to address the problems, such as the fact that the DVD was not marked as paid political advertising, that he had no idea who really produced this video (the KKK, Black Panthers, Govt. of Iran?), and that he would probably never have allowed such a lurid piece of fearmongering about any other ethnicity or religion. As the public editor of the NC News and Observer said, 'Should we allow ourselves to be used as a vehicle for disseminating offensive speech against a religious faith?'
I'm not posting an excerpt here to fairly represent Reynolds' defense, but to highlight the objections he reports. Follow the link if you want to read his complete defense.
Editor Mike Reynolds writes: Meanness, distortion and manipulated quotes and photographs are standard fare in the deluge of political propaganda dumped on all of us during presidential campaigns.
The messages brashly push candidates and causes. This is advocacy advertising, impassioned by ideals that supposedly justify building up one view and tearing down any other. It's brutal, a verbal and visual shoot-out. It's not warm, caring or fair.
The magic of our democracy, though, is that each citizen gets the opportunity to sift and sort, to decide to be supportive or offended.
....
Wrong or right, we were influenced by the boldly stated words at both the beginning and end of the DVD. The opening line was: "This film is about radical Islam terrorism. It's important to remember that most Muslims do not support terror. This is not a film about them."
But to Prof. Ali Metwalli, who teaches in the business school at Western Michigan University, the caveats are not effective. "I do not accept that this is not a broad attack on all Muslims. The little remarks at the beginning and at the end of the DVD get lost. What you retain are the strong feelings created by the pictures of horror that dominate the middle."
As a college professor, he fervently believes in academic freedom. "I will fight for that to no end. But I do not want to be tarnished by nor do I want my children tarnished by what 19 very bad men did on 9/11."
Metwalli, who has resided in Grand Rapids since 1980, said he is one of "many Muslims with successful lives and careers here. Ninety-five percent of us -- at least -- don't think the plane hijackers are practicing Muslims. They are just using our faith. Under Islam, you cannot kill or hurt any other human being. That places you in hell forever. God gives life. God takes life. Nobody else."
Dr. Aly Mageed, director of the bone marrow transplant program at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, said he was "extremely disappointed. In Grand Rapids, so much positive is going on in the faith community, with many interfaith clubs and gatherings. This terrible propaganda derails what we are trying to do. You should have thought of the consequences in the local community."
He, too, felt the DVD does not differentiate "peace-loving Muslims from those few idiots who kill innocent people under the banner of Islam. Most of my patients never met a Muslim -- until they come to me. This video inspires hate against all Muslims and tells the guy next door to be on the lookout for people like me.
"I am not for censorship. I left Egypt to get away from that. But there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom to slander."
Dr. Ali Erhan, director of corporate relations and on the international business faculty at Aquinas College, has been in this country 24 years. "I worry intensely for my family. I have a daughter at the college, a senior in high school, a fifth-grader, twins in the third grade and a four-year-old at home. They will be exposed to danger, suspicion and hate because of this film. We are all American citizens. We do not deserve this.
"Here I am, a Muslim, working at a Catholic college. Doesn't that speak more truth about interfaith relations and tolerance than a prejudiced video?"
Of course it does.
Being reminded of that by these exceptional neighbors reinforces the strength in this country that comes from diversity.
Unrestrained debate over a highly controversial political ad demonstrates more of that same strength the year when either a black man will be president or a woman will be vice president.
