Is this Anti-Muslim propaganda?

[DC]

a video shown by the NYPD to many officers, considered by many as Anti-Islamic propaganda. the story made it even to the media in my country.
in some media the documentary was labeled as hate video against islam etc.

so i thought i spend that hour and watch it.

and as many know here, i am pretty quick to stand up against anti islamic propaganda and lies, or when islam is blamed as a whole for the terrorists that call themself muslim.

But after watching this, i wondered how it can be considered anti islamic propaganda.

I did not agree with everything in the video, for example the birth rate scare.
but even Ali Hirsi wich i dislike, said nothing i would say was anti islamic, especially she was it that made it pretty clear, they dont blame all muslims, as she said, thousands believe that ideology, she didnt say millions or even billions.

but the video is somehow portrayed as if it speaks about Islam in general. while they always referd to Islamism, political Islam or Islamic radicalism.
not once did it state or even imply that this problem is coming from all muslims or Islam itself.

strangely enough i actually liked the docu and cannot see why one would demand the resignition of the NYPD police chief. or for what he had to apologize.

did i watch the wrong video or did i miss something?



what do you think?

 

[A'isha]

The main objection is that despite its disclaimers that it's only focusing on "radical Islam", it blurs the line between the minority of Islamists/other radical Muslims, and the majority of far more moderate Muslims. It mainly does this by relying on the Muslim Brotherhood document that purports to describe a radical Islamist plan to infiltrate and take over countries (imposing their particular brand of shariah) by pretending to be nice and moderate, thus implying that the West can't even trust those Muslims who say they don't support radical Islamic/Islamist groups. Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam wrote more about the objections to this film here.

This particular film is a a follow on to Obsession, another documentary made by the same director and produced/distributed by the same organization.

 

[DC]

The main objection is that despite its disclaimers that it's only focusing on "radical Islam", it blurs the line between the minority of Islamists/other radical Muslims, and the majority of far more moderate Muslims. It mainly does this by relying on the Muslim Brotherhood document that purports to describe a radical Islamist plan to infiltrate and take over countries (imposing their particular brand of shariah) by pretending to be nice and moderate, thus implying that the West can't even trust those Muslims who say they don't support radical Islamic/Islamist groups. Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam wrote more about the objections to this film here.

This particular film is a a follow on to Obsession, another documentary made by the same director and produced/distributed by the same organization.

well they didn't find much to critize about the docu itself. merely those that made it. lucky i didn't know who made it, so i was able to watch and just make up my mind based on what was claimed in the docu.

 

[A'isha]

well they didn't find much to critize about the docu itself. merely those that made it. lucky i didn't know who made it, so i was able to watch and just make up my mind based on what was claimed in the docu.

I definitely wasn't trying to discount or denigrate what you thought about the film! Just trying to explain why others think the way they do about it, in answer to your actual question ("why is this considered anti-Islamic propaganda?").

 

[Minoosh]

I felt manipulated before ever hitting "play," due to the American flag and the distinguished-looking white guy in front of it.

It's unfortunate that the flag has become to me an unsavory symbol. It definitely wasn't that way right after 9/11; I even bought a flag patch for my jeans though never got it to iron on. I remember wanting a sew-on version. But very quickly I got turned off, what with the sudden ubiquity of flags and magnetic stickers made in China.

The opening sad music and the slo-mo intro turned me off and the disclaimer seemed faintly dishonest.

I don't need a film to tell me that I don't want guys flying airplanes into skyscrapers, or that extremists sometimes pretend to be moderate. (In general I'm all for people pretending to be moderate.) I wonder about what's meant by hatred for "our way of life." How can we be sure the radicals hate us for who we are without knowing the background of what we've done?

Time to admit I skimmed very briefly over the video and overlaid it with my thoughts that it would be easy to make a film about the dangers of Christian extremism or American exceptionalism or radical Zionism. It turned me off, but obviously it could have been a lot worse ... unless ... it's merely pretending to be moderate?

 

[Bill Thompson]

Four posts. Two people. One on my ignore list. Pass.

 

[Weird Science]

I don't get it. They seem to me to be going out of their way to make clear it's not about all Muslims but only about radicals. Their point isn't that all Muslims are really extremists and just pretend to be moderate, but that *some* (radical) Muslims are like that -- which is true.

 

[A'isha]

Four posts. Two people. One on my ignore list. Pass.

Which, of course, just means I'm right, doesn't it?

 

[DC]

I definitely wasn't trying to discount or denigrate what you thought about the film! Just trying to explain why others think the way they do about it, in answer to your actual question ("why is this considered anti-Islamic propaganda?").

ah ok thanks. i was hoping for your input

 

[DC]

I felt manipulated before ever hitting "play," due to the American flag and the distinguished-looking white guy in front of it.

It's unfortunate that the flag has become to me an unsavory symbol. It definitely wasn't that way right after 9/11; I even bought a flag patch for my jeans though never got it to iron on. I remember wanting a sew-on version. But very quickly I got turned off, what with the sudden ubiquity of flags and magnetic stickers made in China.

The opening sad music and the slo-mo intro turned me off and the disclaimer seemed faintly dishonest.

I don't need a film to tell me that I don't want guys flying airplanes into skyscrapers, or that extremists sometimes pretend to be moderate. (In general I'm all for people pretending to be moderate.) I wonder about what's meant by hatred for "our way of life." How can we be sure the radicals hate us for who we are without knowing the background of what we've done?

Time to admit I skimmed very briefly over the video and overlaid it with my thoughts that it would be easy to make a film about the dangers of Christian extremism or American exceptionalism or radical Zionism. It turned me off, but obviously it could have been a lot worse ... unless ... it's merely pretending to be moderate?

i like that part, considering the people behind it, it might well be that way.

 

[A'isha]

ah ok thanks. i was hoping for your input

Unfortunately, all I have to offer in this case is links to the words of others, since I have seen neither "The Third Jihad" nor "Obsession". I prefer text to video.

 

[DC]

Which, of course, just means I'm right, doesn't it?

yes it does

 

[Weird Science]

>>>>>How can we be sure the radicals hate us for who we are

That's not hard: read what the radicals write and listen to what they say.

 

[paiute]

...blurs the line between the minority of Islamists/other radical Muslims, and the majority of far more moderate Muslims. It...purports to describe a radical Islamist plan to infiltrate and take over ...by pretending to be nice and moderate....

Substitute Christian for Muslim and it is still true. Radical Christians dream and pray of the day when they might roam the streets of America with sticks, beating down immodestly-dressed women.

 

[Lowpro]

Substitute Christian for Muslim and it is still true. Radical Christians dream and pray of the day when they might roam the streets of America with sticks, beating down immodestly-dressed women.

Radical DC fans dream and blog of the day when they might roam the streets of America in their cosplay beating down ever Marvel fan too XD

 

[DC]

Radical DC fans dream and blog of the day when they might roam the streets of America in their cosplay beating down ever Marvel fan too XD

damn for a half sentence long i believed to have fans

 

[Mycroft]

damn for a half sentence long i believed to have fans

I'm your fan. And when I cosplay, I dress as a Cthulhu fish just because it's your avatar.

 

[Mycroft]

The main objection is that despite its disclaimers that it's only focusing on "radical Islam", it blurs the line between the minority of Islamists/other radical Muslims, and the majority of far more moderate Muslims...

I dunno, less than a minute and a half into it we find out the narrator is himself a Muslim dedicated to fighting radical Islam. I don't know what could possibly make a more clear distinction than that.

Maybe I'll think differently after watching the whole thing.

 

[A'isha]

I dunno, less than a minute and a half into it we find out the narrator is himself a Muslim dedicated to fighting radical Islam. I don't know what could possibly make a more clear distinction than that.

Zuhdi Jasser is...ah, not uncontroversial, when it comes to these sorts of things.

 

[DC]

I'm your fan. And when I cosplay, I dress as a Cthulhu fish just because it's your avatar.