The Anti-Muslim Smear Machine Strikes Again?

In the midst of remarkably cynical election-time mud-slinging, the Obsession campaign is truly in a class of its own.

Over the past weeks, 28 million copies of the anti-Muslim propaganda film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West have been delivered to the doors of newspaper subscribers in swing states. The 2006 documentary, which has been a mainstay of David Horowitz's "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," describes "radical Islam" as a menace comparable to Adolf Hitler that, according to the film's website, "is threatening, with all the means at its disposal, to bow Western civilization under the yoke of its values."

For the groups behind the film's distribution, the goal seems pretty clear: Scare the holy hell out of millions of voters in swing states about a possible Muslim takeover of the U.S. It's hard to see the targeting of electoral battlegrounds as anything other than an attempt to help John McCain get elected -- perhaps by capitalizing on the widespread whispering campaign that Obama is a "secret Muslim."

And one has to admit that the Obsession campaign's marketing plan has been quite slick. After all, what better way to disseminate hate propaganda than under the unassuming guise of a documentary film delivered in Americans' daily newspapers? A plan that, sadly, many newspapers were all too happy to go along with for the sake of corporate profits. While a handful of newspapers -- the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record, the Detroit Free Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- have taken the ethical stance of refusing to carry the DVD (the News & Record called it "fear-mongering and divisive"), some 70 papers, including the New York Times, have delivered it to their subscribers as a paid advertising supplement.

There has really just been one small glitch in the plan: The public doesn't seem to be buying it. Newspapers that carried the DVD have faced floods of complaints from readers, and the past week has seen protests and press conferences denouncing the film.

The problem, it would appear, is that many readers simply do not accept the notion their newspaper should provide a cover for hate propaganda. As one Durham, N.C., News & Observer reader put it, "I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk Obsession in my newspaper! What will you enclose next? KKK robes?"

The public, it turns out, is a much a tougher sell than the corporate media. Major corporate media outlets have for years been citing the anti-Muslim pundits featured in Obsession as "experts."

For example: Steve Emerson has been invited regularly on NBC and described as an "anti-terror expert," despite the fact his research has been repudiated many times over. This is an "expert" who initially blamed the Oklahoma City bombing on Middle Eastern terrorists, and who is now going around claiming that the Bush State Department is collaborating with extremists.

And then there's Daniel Pipes. While he's repeatedly been cited by the media as an "expert" on Islam and the Middle East, he has warned that "the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims" entail "true dangers" for American Jews, and led a witch hunt against a public school official who was slated to run an Arabic-language charter school in New York City.

Just a month before a critical election, there are no signs that the anti-Muslim mud-slinging campaign is going away. In fact, the secretive nonprofit called the Clarion Fund behind the Obsession campaign just came out with a brand new DVD, The Third Jihad, featuring Mark Steyn -- who, as FAIR's new report documents, has warned of the "demographic decline" posed by Europe's emerging Muslim population, and suggests there are lessons for Europeans in the Balkan example of ethnic cleansing.

You can read all about Emerson, Pipes and Steyn in a new report that's just been released called "Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation" . The report profiles 12 top anti-Muslim pundits, including prominent talk show hosts Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

The media's long record of failing to challenge (and often enabling) anti-Muslim smears should leave us quite worried about how this final leg of election '08 will play out: Will the media continue to provide a platform to the anti-Muslim smear machine, or will they uphold standards of responsible journalism?

Comments

[calbears]

I find it fascinating to watch Americans (remember the Constitution with its universalist foundations as in everyone, not those ethnicities or races we don't trust vs. those we do?) try and justify the content of Obsession. Fascinating, because it's hard to believe that they would do the same if the film was The Protocols of Zion: A Visual Warning or if the film was about African Americans.

Everyone involved in the making and distribution of Obsession was doing a calculation--what can I get away with? And anyone who says they weren't is not being honest. The good news is that some people used their power as consumers to contact media and say "this is trash. How could you?" The not so great news is that there are apparently Americans who need to go back and reread the Constitution and other founding documents that were written in the manner they were for a reason.

Those Americans need to recognize that the only thing that really makes sense in a democracy is one standard. If it's not "okay" when it's The Elders of the Protocols of Zion or a Ku Klux Klan position statement, Obsession is not okay either. Either everyone counts or no one does in a democracy or no one does; that's why racism no matter who it is leveled against never sits entirely easily within a democratic society--double standards and democracy are inherently opposed.

[USArocks]

As a American, a Citizen, i am offended by the hate propoganda of DVD Obession.

I believe it's goal is to try to spread hate among Americans of different faith. America has always been and will be the land of free.

I could not belive that good Americans would spend their hard earned money on spreed of hatred. I followed up and read some reports that stated 'who financially back this up' and it turn out to be a radical group, Aish Ha Torah, from east coast according to Richard Silverstein in his article dated October 10,2008, titled " Obsession’s Secret Producer Revealed, Republican Jewish Coalition Ties to Clarion Uncovered" Article is written by a reporter of Jewish failth who also does not agree with the DVD.

As Americans we need to say "NO" to such hate and send a message to all involved, do not pull us in to your mess and do not use our people or our political process to advance your hatred. If we, Americans, support or believe such hate propoganda then we are doing a disservice to our selves and our children. Regardless of who you Vote for in this upcoming election, do not Vote for hatred by supporting the DVD Obession.

Theologian, Francis David, 500 years ago said "We do not need to think alike to love alike."

We have come a long way baby! We, The American's, are not about to go backwards.

[bonze]

I watched "Obsession" on YouTube and didn't see any "hate propaganda" except for that espoused by the radical Islamists who were caught on tape. For example, not one of the people interviewed called for measures such as interning Muslims in the way the Japanese were during WWII, or banning the Qur'an, or requiring loyalty oaths from Muslims...

(I think the link "Obsession" tried to draw between Hitler and radical Islamists was pretty tenuous, but I didn't see widespread condemnation of Ben Stein for "hate speech" when he tried--in "Expelled"--to lay the blame for Nazism on "Darwinism"!)

The unpleasant fact is that the Qur'an contains many verses which qualify as "hate speech," and some adherents of Islam use this as justification for "hate action." In Iran they hang homosexuals; in "liberated" Afghanistan apostates from Islam are threatened with execution; in Saudi Arabia thieves' hands are cut off. These barbaric punishments are justified on the grounds that they are required by Sharia law.

Many Islamic Fundamentalists want to implement Sharia law worldwide, and think that war and terrorism are justified in pursuing this goal. This is a fact; it's inarguable; it's not "hate speech" when their goals and methods are criticized.

As for "Smearcasters", it's just plain weak: if a web site wants to lob epithets such as "Islamophobe" at people, it could at least provide links to their sites so you can verify its claims!

[livegreenordie]

Same old tactics, here are your links:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/24/me-islam-dvd-provokes-inquiry-request/
http://www.tsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3348&Itemid=71
http://www.hatehurtsamerica.org/
http://action.publicbroadcasting.net/wosu/posts/list/1661610.page;jsessionid=05F3C77AC259EDC744A794637DBFC66B
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-98533
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS182916+23-Sep-2008+MW20080923

[USArocks]

As a American, a Citizen, i am offended by the hate propoganda of DVD Obession.

I believe it's goal is to try to spread hate among Americans of different faith. America has always been and will be the land of free.

I could not belive that good Americans would spend their hard earned money on spreed of hatred. I followed up and read some reports that stated 'who financially back this up' and it turn out to be a radical group, Aish Ha Torah, from east coast according to Richard Silverstein in his article dated October 10,2008, titled " Obsession’s Secret Producer Revealed, Republican Jewish Coalition Ties to Clarion Uncovered" Article is written by a reporter of Jewish failth who also does not agree with the DVD.

As Americans we need to say "NO" to such hate and send a message to all involved, do not pull us in to your mess and do not use our people or our political process to advance your hatred. If we, Americans, support or believe such hate propoganda then we are doing a disservice to our selves and our children. Regardless of who you Vote for in this upcoming election, do not Vote for hatred by supporting the DVD Obession.

Theologian, Francis David, 500 years ago said "We do not need to think alike to love alike."

We have come a long way baby! We, The American's, are not about to go backwards.