Fear and Loathing in America

Grrr!

Distribution Of DVDs About Radical Islam In Campaign Home Stretch

.... "distribution of lurid DVDs across America warning of the global radical Islamic threat, in the home stretch of the election? The DVD, which would seem to be helpful to John McCain, is called Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West, and it was distributed in small newspapers across the country last weekend"

Apparently, the above DVD apparently equates not just Muslim fundamentalists (who are anti-Semitic like Hitler was) but all of Islam to Hitler's hateful ideas. And of course, there is the continuing not-so-subtle messages of Obama being Muslim running through all this disseminated claptrap!

Read the article for details on how they are spreading bigotry, fear, and hatred by freely distributing this virulent DVD along with newspapers (incl. NYT!) and such! Also, point you to a comment at the post about how some people are trying to suppress and mislead some Hispanic / pro-Democratic people from voting!

One comment says it is "Cut and paste bigotry. Or made to be that way. Shows little kids in madrasas, for example, next to views of huge crowds saluting Hitler."

Another says "They were handing these out outside Mile High Stadium after Obama's acceptance speech."

Another: "I got one of these in the mail on Monday or Tuesday of this week. I tossed it in the trash w/o checking into it. I figured it was the usual right-wing bedwetting BS, which I'm sure is correct. Anyway, I live in Hollywood, Fl, which is between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale on the east coast, and a very blue area. Lots of retired jews in the area and in my building, which I figure is the target of this crap."

Another writes about how the DVD got pushed into her house with the NYT, no less! The same lady also writes later in the thread about attempts going on in battleground states to suppress (Hispanic / pro-Democrat) voters. She writes that the paper also came with:

"two forms for absentee ballots inside. But on the reverse of the address - photos of 4 "bad guys" (Chavez, Osama, Kim Jong Il, and the president of Iran... not gonna try to spell his name). When I went to City Hall I found out that many people had received a mailing telling them to send the request for absentee ballot to the WRONG city!! Our city clerk was annoyed because this costs the city postage, telling someone they sent the form to the wrong place. Or if I had applied under the name as they addressed it to me, I would not have shown up as registered! That was my concern, as I have a hispanic last name - and was concerned I'd been targeted for that reason."

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I was born Hindu and though I am an agnostic/athiest, I probably follow many Hindu customs in my life. However, while faith and religion as a personal lifestyle choice is absolutely ok, I find fundamentalism of any kind - be it from Jews, Christians, Hindus, or Muslims - absolutely ABHORENT.
To be fair the title of the DVD says it is "Radical Islam"'s war against the West. But in portraying the problems that beset Islam today, one has to be very careful not to portray the fundamentalists viewpoints as those of the entire religion. No doubt that many in the Islamic world spew similar bigotry against Jews and other religions. Their actions are to be condemned equally! However, to paint-brush and hate an entire community of people (a really large one at that; though size is of no real significance in this argument) based on the actions of a minority reeks of not just intolerance but also proliferates a certain unabashed, unfiltered and all-encompassing acrimony, which is what I find abhorrent. Also, all religious preachers who rail against other religions come with a certain holier-than-thou attitude that I cannot stand.

Incidentally, I did not realize that Jews in the country (or at least a small number of them) were so vociferously against Obama. To think that they, who as a people have suffered a lot due to such bigotry against their religion, would promote such virulent hatred themselves! Of course, it is NOT all Jews who are so stridently anti-Muslim.... in criticizing the action of a few of them, one should recognize that not every Jewish person out there is railing against Islam; there are many (possibly the majority) who refuse to fall prey to such bigotry and fight for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East - peace coexistence with the Palestinians and not an obliteration of the Palestinian people! For example, here are two examples of Jewish writers who have written criticizing the circulation of the above DVD.

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“Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.” - Thomas Jefferson

“No loss by flood and lightening, no destruction of cities and temples by the hostile forces of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses as those which his intolerance has destroyed” - Helen Keller