Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
Encyclopedia
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, also called Obsession, is a 2005 documentary film
about the perceived threat of radical Islam
to Western civilization. Using extensive Arab
television footage it claims to give an 'insider's view' of the hatred preached by radicals to incite global jihad and seek world domination. It also draws parallels between WWII's Nazi movement and Islamism and the West's response to those threats.
The movie has both been praised and criticized as being Islamophobic
and holding a strong Israeli bias. One of the writers/producers of the film, Raphael Shore
, is a Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, Rabbi
and founder of The Clarion Fund.
The unusual distribution of 28 million free Obsession DVDs as an insert in over 70 US newspapers in the months leading to the 2008 presidential elections has led to much attention.
The film uses many images from Arab TV, provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute
and Palestinian Media Watch
.
Khaleel Mohammed, an associate professor of religious studies at San Diego State University
and the only Islamic Studies Professor interviewed
discussed the meaning of jihad
and its misuse by extremists. Mohammed later distanced himself and apologised for his participation claiming he had believed the film would be "used objectively, focusing on (the) fanatics who seek to spread violence" rather than Islam itself.
Raphael Shore
co-wrote and produced the film. Shore, a Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, is also founder of The Clarion Fund. Kopping and Shore previously collaborated on Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East
. Brett Halperin, named as the production manager, is an alias according to Shore.
Executive producer Peter Mier, an alias for an unnamed Canadian Jewish businessman, provided about 80 percent of the film's $400,000 budget, according to Raphael Shore.
According to IRS documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting
, financial support for the film came from an organization named Castello Limited.
and later through campus and Washington, DC screenings and later mass DVD distribution by the Clarion Fund
. HonestReporting
, a media watch organization run by Ephraim Shore, the twin brother of Obsession producer Raphael Shore, was involved in the initial internet-based promotion of the film. During production in 2005, the media watch group HonestReporting
promoted the film as one of its projects. Later when the film was released, HonestReporting promoted the film on its website describing it as an "affiliate" project. The media watch group, in an interview with The Jewish Week
, says it was not involved in the film's production.
CNN Headline News
has shown segments of the film.
Fox News has shown and hosted on its website segments of the film.
Seven times in November 2006, Fox News showed a one-hour special incorporating segments from the film.
The documentary has been screened on 30 major campuses including Hofstra
, Pace
, USC
, UCLA, NYU
,
and McGill
.
In December 2006, U.S. Representatives
Eric Cantor
(R-VA), Chief Deputy Majority Whip, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz
(D-FL) co-sponsored a screening of the film on Capitol Hill.
Cantor's cousin and Wasserman's constituent, Daniel Cantor Wultz, was killed in an attack by an Islamic Jihad
suicide bomber.
In September 2008, the Clarion Fund
, in cooperation with the Endowment for Middle East Truth
, distributed 28 million DVDs of the film by mail,
and in newspaper advertising supplements, predominantly in swing state
s.
The film was included in the first issue of the publication "The Judeo-Christian View", which was sent to priests and pastors in churches and synagogues in the United States.
The DVD was also distributed to all 30,000 members of the Republican Jewish Coalition
.
Newspapers distributing the DVD included The New York Times
, The Charlotte Observer
, The Miami Herald
, the Raleigh News & Observer
,
The Chronicle of Higher Education
,
and The Oregonian
. The New York Times distributed approximately 145,000 DVDs in their national edition to
Denver
,
Miami
, Tampa
, Orlando
,
Detroit
,
Kansas City
, St. Louis
,
Philadelphia
, and Milwaukee
. According to a News & Observer blog post, whether the advertisement should be accepted was discussed, but publisher Orage Quarles made the "ultimate decision". The newspaper's vice president of display advertising noted, "Obviously, we have distributed other product samples, whether it's cereal or toothpaste."
Many of the newspapers distributing the DVD also published articles about the film, including
The Morning Call
of Allentown, Pennsylvania
,
The Charlotte Observer
,
The News-Press
of Fort Myers, Florida
,
and The News & Observer
of Raleigh, North Carolina
. Newspapers that refused to distribute the DVD included the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
,
the Detroit Free Press
, the News & Record of Greensboro, North Carolina
, and The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio
. News & Record president and publisher Robin Saul said:
"It didn't meet our advertising standards. We were told its purpose was educational. We didn't see it as educational at all. It was fear-mongering and divisive." The editor John Robinson wrote: "As a journalist, my default position is to provide people with more knowledge, however troubling, rather than less. Were this truly an issue of the freedom of information, I would have argued to publish. But this was a paid advertisement presenting one side of an inflammatory issue."
New Films International acquired the film for international distribution.
(CNN
) described "Obsession" as "one of the most important movies of our lifetime".
Emmett Tyrrell
(CNN
) wrote that "Obsession," is "one of the most riveting films about the struggle the civilized world faces", while Kyra Phillips
encouraged CNN
Newsroom viewers to see the movie which according to her "provides an incredible education". Additional endorsements were published on Fox
news, on Townhall, In National Review
, in Front Page Magazine, in The Times Gazette (OH) and on conservative radio programs such as The Rush Limbaugh Show
, the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States.
The films depiction of radical Islam and Islamists, criticized by others as Islamophobic
with a political agenda, the large targeted distribution just before the 2008 United States presidential election
and the unrevealed funding for the distribution, has stimulated controversy and speculation.
The film has been criticized for "portraying Islam as a threatening religion bent on the destruction of Western civilization, interspersing incendiary commentary with images of Nazis and suicide bombing indoctrination".
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
wrote: "Producers of the documentary insist that it only targets a radical minority among Muslims; however, a number of the interviewees in the documentary are on the record as describing Islam as inherently prone to hegemony."
Rabbi Jack Moline
, the Spiritual Leader of the Agudas Achim Congregation
, a Conservative synagogue in Alexandria, Virginia, described "Obsession" as "the protocols of the learned elders of Saudi Arabia." Aish HaTorah
has been criticized by Rabbi Moline over its close links with The Clarion Fund. On the matter of the shared staff between Aish HaTorah and the Clarion Fund, Rabbi Moline was quoted as saying "It is distressing to me that they [Aish HaTorah] would continue to have someone who has promulgated such awful, awful stuff sitting on their board or staff.”
The left-wing group Hate Hurts America, launched a campaign against the film titled "Obsession for Hate," calling it a "classic work of hate propaganda, thinly disguised as a critique of radicalism, that attempts to subliminally demonize Muslims and their faith wholesale."
In Dearborn, Michigan
, local religious leaders called a free screening of the documentary on September 11, 2008 a divisive publicity stunt.
Joe Wierzbicki
of the King Media Group,
Russo Marsh & Rogers,
and the Our Country Deserves Better PAC
,
said: "There is a problem with an acceptance of radical Islam in Dearborn more so than anywhere else than I know of," according to the Detroit Free Press
, quoting Wierzbicki as a spokesman for a California-based public relations company hired to promote the film.
Wierzbicki later said Right Reel, a distributor of conservative films, hired him.
The Associated Press reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations
has asked for the Federal Election Commission
to investigate the Clarion Fund's DVD distribution claiming that it was an attempt to influence the 2008 US Presidential Election. As evidence of inappropriate political bias on the part of The Clarion Fund, AP cited Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa. reporting "that a Clarion Fund Web site ran a pro-McCain article before it attracted notice and was taken down." Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for Middle East Truth, said targeting swing states was designed to attract media attention, but is not meant to influence the election result. Gregory Ross, spokesman for the New York-based Clarion Fund stated: "We are not telling people who to vote for, we're just saying no matter who gets in office, the American people should know radical Islam is a real threat to America. We don't feel radical Islam is getting its fair share of press."
The Endowment for Middle East Truth
withdrew support for promoting the film.
After a showing on November 13, 2007 at the University of Florida
, the Gainesville campus was rocked by controversy over the film. A forum entitled "Radical Islam Wants You Dead" was sponsored by Law School Republicans, prompting Patricia Telles-Irvin, the University's vice president of student affairs, to call for apology for "promoting a negative stereotype". Faculty and community members were split over the situation's inherent free speech issues. In a December 13 opinion editorial, the Tampa Tribune criticized Telles-Irvin's criticism on constitutional grounds and called for Patricia Telles-Irvin's replacement.
Think tank
researcher Jennifer Bryson gave the film a mixed review, saying that while it does show how, "Islamist radicalism poses a grave threat to the freedoms of constitutional democracies, the film largely ignores potential solutions and a host of moderate Islamic voices that have gone unheard."
, the Liberty Film Festival
and the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, a platform for Indie films.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the perceived threat of radical Islam
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
to Western civilization. Using extensive Arab
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
television footage it claims to give an 'insider's view' of the hatred preached by radicals to incite global jihad and seek world domination. It also draws parallels between WWII's Nazi movement and Islamism and the West's response to those threats.
The movie has both been praised and criticized as being Islamophobic
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
and holding a strong Israeli bias. One of the writers/producers of the film, Raphael Shore
Raphael Shore
Raphael Shore is an Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, and rabbi. He is the founder of The Clarion Fund, a non-profit organization that seeks to advance the idea that the United States faces a threat of radical Islam....
, is a Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and founder of The Clarion Fund.
The unusual distribution of 28 million free Obsession DVDs as an insert in over 70 US newspapers in the months leading to the 2008 presidential elections has led to much attention.
Plot
The movie begins with the following statement:- "This is a film about radical Islamic terror. A dangerous ideology, fueled by religious hatred. It's important to remember most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror. This is not a film about them. This is a film about a radical worldview, and the threat it poses to us all, Muslim and non-Muslim alike."
The film uses many images from Arab TV, provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute
Middle East Media Research Institute
The Middle East Media Research Institute is a Middle Eastern not for profit press monitoring organization with headquarters located in Washington, DC. MEMRI was co-founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in the Israeli military intelligence and Meyrav Wurmser, an Israeli-born, American...
and Palestinian Media Watch
Palestinian Media Watch
Palestinian Media Watch is an Israel-based media watchdog organization. Established by Itamar Marcus in 1996, PMW monitors Palestinian Arabic media and schoolbooks....
.
Contributors
The following persons were interviewed in the movie:- Nonie DarwishNonie DarwishNonie Darwish is an Egyptian-American human rights activist, and founder of Arabs For Israel, and is Director of Former Muslims United. She is the author of two books: Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror and Cruel and Usual Punishment: The...
– Egyptian-American human rights activist. - Alan DershowitzAlan DershowitzAlan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
– American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. - Steven EmersonSteven EmersonSteven Emerson, is an American journalist and author, who writes about national security, terrorism, and Islamic extremism.Emerson is the author of six books, and co-author of two more. His television documentary Jihad in America won the 1994 George Polk Award for best Television Documentary, and...
– American journalist and author. - Brigitte GabrielBrigitte GabrielBrigitte Gabriel is the pseudonym, of a Lebanese American journalist, author, and activist. Gabriel says that Islam keeps countries backward, and that it teaches terrorism...
– Lebanese American journalist, author, and activist. - Martin GilbertMartin GilbertSir Martin John Gilbert, CBE, PC is a British historian and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford. He is the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish history...
– British historian and author. - Caroline GlickCaroline GlickCaroline Glick is an American-Israeli journalist for Makor Rishon and is the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. She is also the Senior Fellow for Middle East Affairs of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy.-Life:...
– American-Israeli journalist. - Alfons HeckAlfons HeckAlfons Heck was born in the Rhineland. From 1938 through the end of World War II, he was a member of Hitler Youth, eventually becoming a Hitler Youth Officer and a fanatical adherent of Nazism’s ideologies...
– was interviewed as a former member of Hitler Youth. - Glen JenveyGlen JenveyGlen Jenvey, born April 9, 1965, is a British journalist who states that he has devoted much of his time to infiltrating, undermining and exposing radical Islamic groups...
– British journalist. - John LoftusJohn LoftusJohn Joseph Loftus is an American author, former US government prosecutor and former Army intelligence officer. He is a president of The Intelligence Summit and, although he is not Jewish, a president of the Florida Holocaust Museum. Loftus also serves on the Board of Advisers to Public...
– American author, former US government prosecutor and former Army intelligence officer. - Salim MansurSalim MansurSalim Mansur is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is a columnist for the London Free Press and the Toronto Sun, and has contributed to various publications including National Review, the Middle East Forum and Frontpagemag. He often...
– Indian-Canadian columnist. - Itamar MarcusItamar MarcusItamar Marcus is an Israeli political activist, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, which studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority through its media and schoolbooks....
– Israeli political activist, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, - Daniel PipesDaniel PipesDaniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
– American writer, and political blogger. - Tashbih SayyedTashbih SayyedTashbih Sayyed was a Shia Pakistani-American scholar, journalist, and author and was the Editor in Chief of Our Times, Pakistan Today, and In Review. Tashbih Sayyed worked from 1967-1980 for the Pakistan Television Corporation. In 1981, he emigrated to the United States...
– Pakistani-American scholar, journalist, and author. - Walid ShoebatWalid ShoebatWalid Shoebat is a Palestinian immigrant to the United States and campaigner for Christianity and Israel, against Islam. He was born to a Jordanian father and Caucasian American mother, and claims to have been a former PLO militant, although neither the PLO nor the Israeli government have any...
– Palestinian immigrant to the United States, interviewed as a former PLO militant. - Khaled Abu ToamehKhaled Abu ToamehKhaled Abu Toameh is a Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988...
– Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. - Robert Wistrich – professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Khaleel MohammedKhaleel MohammedKhaleel Mohammed is associate professor of Religion at San Diego State University , in San Diego, California, and a core faculty member of SDSU's .- Specialties and research interests :...
Khaleel Mohammed, an associate professor of religious studies at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
and the only Islamic Studies Professor interviewed
discussed the meaning of jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
and its misuse by extremists. Mohammed later distanced himself and apologised for his participation claiming he had believed the film would be "used objectively, focusing on (the) fanatics who seek to spread violence" rather than Islam itself.
Production
Wayne Kopping co-wrote, directed, and edited the film.Raphael Shore
Raphael Shore
Raphael Shore is an Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, and rabbi. He is the founder of The Clarion Fund, a non-profit organization that seeks to advance the idea that the United States faces a threat of radical Islam....
co-wrote and produced the film. Shore, a Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, is also founder of The Clarion Fund. Kopping and Shore previously collaborated on Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East
Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East
Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, also known as Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in Israel, is a 2003 documentary produced by the pro-Israel media watchdog group HonestReporting...
. Brett Halperin, named as the production manager, is an alias according to Shore.
Executive producer Peter Mier, an alias for an unnamed Canadian Jewish businessman, provided about 80 percent of the film's $400,000 budget, according to Raphael Shore.
According to IRS documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting
Center for Investigative Reporting
The Center for Investigative Reporting is a non-profit journalism organization located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1977 by Lowell Bergman, , and David Weir to reveal injustice and abuse of power through the tools of journalism....
, financial support for the film came from an organization named Castello Limited.
Promotion and screenings
The film was initially promoted via the internet by HonestReportingHonestReporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
and later through campus and Washington, DC screenings and later mass DVD distribution by the Clarion Fund
Clarion Fund
Clarion Fund is a New York City-based nonprofit organizationfounded in 2006 whose stated mission is "to educate Americans about issues of national security," with its main focus on what it calls "the most urgent threat of radical Islam."...
. HonestReporting
HonestReporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
, a media watch organization run by Ephraim Shore, the twin brother of Obsession producer Raphael Shore, was involved in the initial internet-based promotion of the film. During production in 2005, the media watch group HonestReporting
HonestReporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
promoted the film as one of its projects. Later when the film was released, HonestReporting promoted the film on its website describing it as an "affiliate" project. The media watch group, in an interview with The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week is an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC and has world-wide distribution.-Editorial staff:...
, says it was not involved in the film's production.
CNN Headline News
CNN Headline News
HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...
has shown segments of the film.
Fox News has shown and hosted on its website segments of the film.
Seven times in November 2006, Fox News showed a one-hour special incorporating segments from the film.
The documentary has been screened on 30 major campuses including Hofstra
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
, Pace
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
, USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, UCLA, NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
,
and McGill
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
.
In December 2006, U.S. Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan Cantor is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011...
(R-VA), Chief Deputy Majority Whip, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. She previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate...
(D-FL) co-sponsored a screening of the film on Capitol Hill.
Cantor's cousin and Wasserman's constituent, Daniel Cantor Wultz, was killed in an attack by an Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
suicide bomber.
Distribution
The Clarion Fund has a non-exclusive agreement to distribute Obsession, Relentless and The Third Jihad.In September 2008, the Clarion Fund
Clarion Fund
Clarion Fund is a New York City-based nonprofit organizationfounded in 2006 whose stated mission is "to educate Americans about issues of national security," with its main focus on what it calls "the most urgent threat of radical Islam."...
, in cooperation with the Endowment for Middle East Truth
Endowment for Middle East Truth
Endowment for Middle East Truth is a registered 5013 non-profit organization. According to the group's website, it is "...the first unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy shop on Capitol Hill..." and describes itself as focusing on, "...Israel’s unique role as being the...
, distributed 28 million DVDs of the film by mail,
and in newspaper advertising supplements, predominantly in swing state
Swing state
In United States presidential politics, a swing state is a state in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support in securing that state's electoral college votes...
s.
The film was included in the first issue of the publication "The Judeo-Christian View", which was sent to priests and pastors in churches and synagogues in the United States.
The DVD was also distributed to all 30,000 members of the Republican Jewish Coalition
Republican Jewish Coalition
The Republican Jewish Coalition , founded in 1985, is a political lobbying group in the United States that promotes Jewish Republicans. The RJC claims that it is the most important voice on conservative political issues for the Jewish-American community...
.
Newspapers distributing the DVD included The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
, The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
, the Raleigh News & Observer
The News & Observer
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
,
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
,
and The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
. The New York Times distributed approximately 145,000 DVDs in their national edition to
Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
,
Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
,
Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
,
Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. According to a News & Observer blog post, whether the advertisement should be accepted was discussed, but publisher Orage Quarles made the "ultimate decision". The newspaper's vice president of display advertising noted, "Obviously, we have distributed other product samples, whether it's cereal or toothpaste."
Many of the newspapers distributing the DVD also published articles about the film, including
The Morning Call
The Morning Call
The Morning Call is a daily newspaper based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The newspaper is owned by the Tribune Company, whose other publications include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun....
of Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
,
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
,
The News-Press
of Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
,
and The News & Observer
The News & Observer
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
of Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. Newspapers that refused to distribute the DVD included the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
,
the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
, the News & Record of Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, and The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. News & Record president and publisher Robin Saul said:
"It didn't meet our advertising standards. We were told its purpose was educational. We didn't see it as educational at all. It was fear-mongering and divisive." The editor John Robinson wrote: "As a journalist, my default position is to provide people with more knowledge, however troubling, rather than less. Were this truly an issue of the freedom of information, I would have argued to publish. But this was a paid advertisement presenting one side of an inflammatory issue."
New Films International acquired the film for international distribution.
Reception
According to the documentary's website, the film was received enthusiastically. Glenn BeckGlenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
(CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
) described "Obsession" as "one of the most important movies of our lifetime".
Emmett Tyrrell
Emmett Tyrrell
Robert Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is an American conservative magazine editor, New York Times bestselling author, and columnist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The American Spectator. He writes under the byline R...
(CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
) wrote that "Obsession," is "one of the most riveting films about the struggle the civilized world faces", while Kyra Phillips
Kyra Phillips
Kyra Phillips is an American news anchor. She is on the weekday edition of CNN Newsroom.-Early life and career:Phillips was born in North Carolina. She grew up in San Diego and graduated from Helix High School. She received her Bachelor's degree in journalism from University of Southern California...
encouraged CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Newsroom viewers to see the movie which according to her "provides an incredible education". Additional endorsements were published on Fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
news, on Townhall, In National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, in Front Page Magazine, in The Times Gazette (OH) and on conservative radio programs such as The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Rush Limbaugh Show is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks...
, the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States.
The films depiction of radical Islam and Islamists, criticized by others as Islamophobic
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
with a political agenda, the large targeted distribution just before the 2008 United States presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
and the unrevealed funding for the distribution, has stimulated controversy and speculation.
The film has been criticized for "portraying Islam as a threatening religion bent on the destruction of Western civilization, interspersing incendiary commentary with images of Nazis and suicide bombing indoctrination".
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
wrote: "Producers of the documentary insist that it only targets a radical minority among Muslims; however, a number of the interviewees in the documentary are on the record as describing Islam as inherently prone to hegemony."
Rabbi Jack Moline
Jack Moline
Jack Moline is an American Conservative rabbi who has served as rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia since 1987 and Director of Public Policy for the Rabbinical Assembly since 2009, and is a past Chair of the Board of the Interfaith Alliance.In 2008, he was named by Newsweek...
, the Spiritual Leader of the Agudas Achim Congregation
Agudas Achim Congregation (Alexandria, Virginia)
Agudas Achim Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 2908 Valley Drive in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. The synagogue was founded in 1914, and its cemetery was founded in 1933.-History:The synagogue was founded in 1914...
, a Conservative synagogue in Alexandria, Virginia, described "Obsession" as "the protocols of the learned elders of Saudi Arabia." Aish HaTorah
Aish HaTorah
Aish HaTorah is a Jewish Orthodox organization and yeshiva. Aish HaTorah is actively pro-Israel and encourages Jewish people to visit Israel and connect to the land and its history. Some consider the organisation to reflect a more Religious Zionist philosophy in its attachment to Israel, promoting...
has been criticized by Rabbi Moline over its close links with The Clarion Fund. On the matter of the shared staff between Aish HaTorah and the Clarion Fund, Rabbi Moline was quoted as saying "It is distressing to me that they [Aish HaTorah] would continue to have someone who has promulgated such awful, awful stuff sitting on their board or staff.”
The left-wing group Hate Hurts America, launched a campaign against the film titled "Obsession for Hate," calling it a "classic work of hate propaganda, thinly disguised as a critique of radicalism, that attempts to subliminally demonize Muslims and their faith wholesale."
In Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, local religious leaders called a free screening of the documentary on September 11, 2008 a divisive publicity stunt.
Joe Wierzbicki
of the King Media Group,
Russo Marsh & Rogers,
and the Our Country Deserves Better PAC
Our Country Deserves Better PAC
Our Country Deserves Better PAC is a political action committee formed in August 2008 to oppose the election of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. The organization, based in Sacramento, California, is one of the largest conservative PACs in the United States...
,
said: "There is a problem with an acceptance of radical Islam in Dearborn more so than anywhere else than I know of," according to the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
, quoting Wierzbicki as a spokesman for a California-based public relations company hired to promote the film.
Wierzbicki later said Right Reel, a distributor of conservative films, hired him.
The Associated Press reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
has asked for the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
to investigate the Clarion Fund's DVD distribution claiming that it was an attempt to influence the 2008 US Presidential Election. As evidence of inappropriate political bias on the part of The Clarion Fund, AP cited Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa. reporting "that a Clarion Fund Web site ran a pro-McCain article before it attracted notice and was taken down." Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for Middle East Truth, said targeting swing states was designed to attract media attention, but is not meant to influence the election result. Gregory Ross, spokesman for the New York-based Clarion Fund stated: "We are not telling people who to vote for, we're just saying no matter who gets in office, the American people should know radical Islam is a real threat to America. We don't feel radical Islam is getting its fair share of press."
The Endowment for Middle East Truth
Endowment for Middle East Truth
Endowment for Middle East Truth is a registered 5013 non-profit organization. According to the group's website, it is "...the first unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy shop on Capitol Hill..." and describes itself as focusing on, "...Israel’s unique role as being the...
withdrew support for promoting the film.
After a showing on November 13, 2007 at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, the Gainesville campus was rocked by controversy over the film. A forum entitled "Radical Islam Wants You Dead" was sponsored by Law School Republicans, prompting Patricia Telles-Irvin, the University's vice president of student affairs, to call for apology for "promoting a negative stereotype". Faculty and community members were split over the situation's inherent free speech issues. In a December 13 opinion editorial, the Tampa Tribune criticized Telles-Irvin's criticism on constitutional grounds and called for Patricia Telles-Irvin's replacement.
Think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
researcher Jennifer Bryson gave the film a mixed review, saying that while it does show how, "Islamist radicalism poses a grave threat to the freedoms of constitutional democracies, the film largely ignores potential solutions and a host of moderate Islamic voices that have gone unheard."
Awards
The movie won awards at the Newport Beach Film FestivalNewport Beach Film Festival
The Newport Beach Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Newport Beach, California, that showcases more than 350 films to more than 30,000 attendees annually....
, the Liberty Film Festival
Liberty Film Festival
Founded in July of 2004 by American independent filmmakers Jason Apuzzo and Govindini Murty, the Liberty Film Festival took place primarily in West Hollywood, CA and was active between 2004 and 2008. The LFF screened over 80 films, of which approximately fifty were premieres and thirty achieved...
and the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, a platform for Indie films.
See also
- Criticism of IslamCriticism of IslamCriticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
- Criticism of IslamismCriticism of IslamismCriticism of Islamism concerns critique of those beliefs or notions ascribed to Islamism or Islamist movements. Such criticisms focus on the role of Islam in legislation, the relationship between Islamism and freedom of expression and the rights of women.Among those authors and scholars who have...
- Islam: What the West Needs to KnowIslam: What the West Needs to KnowIslam: What the West Needs to Know is a 2006 documentary film produced by Quixotic Media. According to the producers, the film is an examination of Islam and its violence towards non-Muslims....
- Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own WordsRadical Islam: Terror in Its Own WordsRadical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words is a controversial 2007 documentary on Radical Islam featuring commentary from counter-terrorism experts Steven Emerson and Walid Phares and footage from the The Investigative Project and the Middle East Media Research Institute.-Content :The program presents...
- FitnaFitna (film)Fitna is a 2008 short political, propaganda film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders with his view on the religion of the Islam. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the movie shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or...
- IraniumIraniumIranium is a 2011 documentary film that explores the Iranian nuclear program as it pertains to strategic threats against the West, and Islamic fundamentalism in Iran....
External links
- Obsessionforhate.com Rebuttal of the film.
- Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, Eli Clifton, Jane Hunter and Robin Podolsky Rebutting Obsession Jews On First November 2, 2008
- Internet Movie Database