Hawk mentioned this earlier in his blog post from this morning, and a lot of people are tying the release of the the DVD movie Obsession (about Muslims in the United States) to the release of a chemical irritant upon Muslim children and families at a Mosque in Dayton. Here’s some articles about each of the incidents, separately considered.
Obsession:
NPR: Charity Floods Swing States With Anti-Islam DVD
NPR: Clarion Responds, As New Details Emerge About “Radical Islam” DVD
NPR has been trying to follow the trail of money into Clarion to its (secret) source. Critics are making the case that, if the material in the movie (I haven’t seen it) is covertly trying to help get Presidential candidate John McCain elected, then Clarion (the group behind the Obsession DVD) would lose it’s 501(c)(3) charity exemption.
Here are some articles about the attack itself – oddly, none of the mainstream media seems to be reporting on it. I think I saw a piece about it on ABC after the debates last Friday, except that ABC said it was a school and made no mention of any religious affiliation.
Gas Attack News:
Dayton Daily News: Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton’s mosque
The reason critics are tying the two together is because the Obsession DVD was distributed for free with the Friday edition of several area newspapers. Quote from the end of the article says: “The Rev. Gary Percesepe, executive director of Greater Dayton Christian Connections, characterized the DVD as “fanning the flames of fear and prejudice against Muslims, with the potential to inspire hate crimes.” “
That’s a breakdown of things as I understand it. What do I think? I reserve judgement on the DVD because I haven’t seen it, and whether it’s tied to the attack, I don’t really know. It’s election season, tempers are running hot, people are saying and doing all kinds of stupid, stupid shit. I do believe the attack was religiously motivated. What I think we can all agree on is that when the politics and prejudices of adults start hurting children, that is when it’s time for us to take a step back and really think about what in the hell is going on. It’s awful – and embarrassing. Somewhere out there, there’s some man or woman who thought this was a good idea. How stupid are you?
This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 3:47 PM and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It’s more than just stupid. People like, this make me ashamed to live in this country, hell they make me ashamed to be human. As little down as I am for hating someone based on their religious beliefs, hurting children for any reason is so heinous there’s really no fair words to describe the kind of sick someone has to be.
http://www.whiotv.com/news/17570211/detail.html
Someone linked this news site on another page. It’s short and very unsettling.
Hatred any which way, just makes those of us with brains and a heart, sick. It’s amazing to this day how the very few can screw with the world and make it think its all or nothing. I wish and hope that the more of us who accept people as people can stand up and speak louder than the idiots like this one individual or individuals.
Indeed, sir, indeed. Even so, as long as hateful people have an agenda, a target, and a platform to scream their message, It’s not going away – and rational people tend to be drowned out by said idiots. It also seems that many (most?) people don’t realize that it’s not the religions themselves that are hateful and violent, but those who use religion to hide or justify political objectives…
But still, for the love of God (whichever god you worship), what is wrong with these people? What happened to ideals like “Love thy enemy” or “Thou shall not kill”?
You know, It’d be so helpful in these circumstances if the Press would cover the rational point of view rather than just crazies pulling publicity stunts – but where are the ratings in that?
The Evil of people hurting other people in this world needs to stop right now. This world was not ment to be this way.
Really makes you wonder what the difference is between us as rational and generally “good-natured” people, and people who can justify their actions, to themselves, like this.
Morons. That is what these people are. Morons. Those that did it, the people that refuse to cover it, and those in power are all Morons. I am sorry, but even I, at 18, can see that the greatness of America is fading and decaying faster then I am aging. Our Moral Codes of Conduct and our Bill of Rights, while founded on Christian faith, extend to all. Sad and sickening thing is, a lot of American’s forget that, and forget the past and what we were taught in school, that more then Christians died for this country. So we now have a section of American’s (And I can’t be 100% positive on this, but really, who else could do it?) Christian Populace that feel if you are not like them, you are Anti-American. I know not all Christians are like that. But there is a large enough group that it is felt and seen daily. I think they did it. Those Terrorist of Faith gone wrong. Those sickeningly lost people who are all wrong and too moraly upright and uptight. I think everyone shoulders the blame a little too. From those that yell things like “Towel heads!” to those that say “Sand ******!”. From the Crazy Christians to the Crazy American’s that are “All American”. I think ignorance and I think fear of and a complete lack of care to know of what they don’t understand lead to this. I hope they catch these people, and I hope, as an example, they get 10 years in jail for this. Because I know the next time I see or hear something even remotely hateful towards a Muslim person near me, I will become a “True American” and defend the rights of that person weather I know them or not. It is time people learned that to be a true American, you don’t stand up what you believe or put down what you don’t like. You stand up for what is right and just, not just for you or your race/religion, but for your fellow man, be him whatever and everything. That is just my 2 pounds.
Amen to that. I just wrote a letter to my local paper saying that if the same thing happened at a church it’d be all over the news. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this insanity and their families and friends and I’ll be asking my whole church to pray for them too.
Right im a brit who, has absolouly no idea what is going on in american polotics and and even this most of the time but I have to say there must be some fucked up people in power over there, why would anyone allow a film which insites racical hatered to be made as well a published and handed out to the general public, espicaly when there is considerable politaical up heaval there and over seas, those kind of actions are the ones which are likely to provoc a violent responce in return!
I blame the fox network..if you have seen the film/documentary out foxed watch it its funny and shocking
If losing their 501c3 (whateva that is) is the worst that can happen to Clarion… We are fubar. At this point we might as well pack our stuff and go to the moon…
wow…I’m so shocked they said this was not a hate crime. Bull shit! My Muslim friend after 9/11 had his family’s store set on fire by some idiot in Atlanta…it was never in the news. America does not seem like heaven anymore…
I’m an American.. and every day I find ways to say that I’m not. My father is Canadian, so I call myself Canadian. I spend more time on the Internet than in society, so I say I’m from the Internet. I’m flesh and blood before a hospital address, so I’m just plain old homosapian. I do this because.. American sickens me. I have Canadian friends who insult me.. and you know what? They’re right. I wish I could see myself the way they do.. because then I could change. But, regardless of how I’ve tried to fight it, I grew up ignorant and boastful.
I can’t apologize for the rest of America. I wish I could, but the word itself would mean nothing.. and anyway, too many people wouldn’t want me to. So, placing my weakness, my humility, on the table.. let me at least apologize for myself.
I’m sorry, rest of the world.. I’m an American fool. I’ll try harder, for your sake.
Unfortunately, as long as there are at least two people on the planet with differing agendas and point of views, there will always be conflict on this planet, regardless of race, origin, or political affiliation. This isn’t an issue of Christian vs. Muslim, American vs. The World that Hates Us, Republican vs. Democrat, it’s an issue of human nature. It’s terrible that we as human beings have to resort to these sort of things just to justify our own goals and I wish we could stop, but I think that it’s just something that is so basic in human instincts that it’s not something we can simply wish would end.
But maybe I’m just tired of listening to people accusing Christians/Republicans/Americans in general for all the problems in the world.
I’d agree with you, Gee-Man, if this wasn’t something that seemed to be a change in the tide of American politics. Twenty years ago, something that happened at a place for religious gathering or something that happened to children would have been universally reviled. Our country had gotten a good ways down the road from the turmoil of the late fifties and sixties. The only things that I can see that even attempt to justify this new rash of hate crimes are the most recent turns in American politics. It’s irresponsible, in my view, to ignore the wholesale degradation of our civility for political gains, and that’s what’s happening to us. I’m not saying that the Democrats this time around have all the answers, but there’s at least the tested fact that the folks in power for the last eight years haven’t got a clue (or perhaps aren’t interested) in calming things down. This article talks some about that.