Obsessing over perception, the power of propaganda  

Posted by SOS in

Sept 7th, 2006
Obsessing over perception, the power of propaganda

by:Michael Garberich

In the 1930s, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl directed influential propaganda documentaries commissioned by and valorizing the Nazi party. The most famous of her films, "Triumph of the Will," received widespread acclaim in Europe as well as landmark recognition in cinema's history, while remaining largely banned in America.

With globalization redefining concepts of borders and the Internet providing ostensibly unlimited access to information worldwide, the idea of a film confined to its homeland seems incomprehensible.

Yet Wayne Kopping's 2005 documentary, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West," illustrates this exact paradox between broad media diffusion and the cloistered audiences whose worldview is contingent upon the information supplied by their native networks.

Its structure is straightforward. Interviews with a former Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist, a former Hitler youth officer, professors in the field and other experts are interspersed with archival footage. The result is a compelling, pertinent thesis on radical Islam's hostilities toward Israel, the United States and the West at large.

Its trump card, however, is its incorporation of radical Islamic news footage. Clips previously unavailable to American eyes from Al-Majd TV, Palestinian TV, Iqra TV Saudi Arabia and others are saturated with overt anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment.

In one scene, 3 1/2-year-old Basmallah responds to her off-screen interlocutor's questions about Jews with typical childlike timidity, describing them as "apes and pigs" and professing to having learned this information from "our God (Allah)."

Another young girl on Abu Dhabi TV tells the camera she "hopes Bush dies in flames" and that she wants "to go to Ariel Sharon and kill him with a gun and stab him with a sword."

From these testaments, deeply rooted ideological hegemonies are revealed in radical Islamic culture.

"Obsession" makes a suggestion that resonates with the rhetoric used by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration last week: Radical Islam's present day charge against Israel and the West mirrors that of the fascists and Nazi Germany of World War II.

To support this claim, the film's latter half draws several parallels between the two eras, including Hitler's youth officers and Radical Islam's children, propaganda art from both eras and the definitions of jihad and mein kampf (essentially the same).

While the similarities are undeniable, "Obsession" struggles to overcome its greatest critic: itself.

In a film that so adamantly rails the influence of self-sequestered mass media, it ironically ignores the possibility of its own bias and its influence over a public possessing limited, mediated communication with a foreign culture.

With ever-mounting tensions in the Middle East and talks of a third world war reaching the United States, "Obsession" might warrant the attention it demands if not for its own radical disregard for mass media hegemonies.

1984. Big Brother Closes In  

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Cities sue gangs in bid to stop violence

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fed up with deadly drive-by shootings, incessant drug dealing and graffiti, cities nationwide are trying a different tactic to combat gangs: They're suing them.


Fort Worth and San Francisco are among the latest to file lawsuits against gang members, asking courts for injunctions barring them from hanging out together on street corners, in cars or anywhere else in certain areas.

The injunctions are aimed at disrupting gang activity before it can escalate. They also give police legal reasons to stop and question gang members, who often are found with drugs or weapons, authorities said. In some cases, they don't allow gang members to even talk to people passing in cars or to carry spray paint.

"It is another tool," said Kevin Rousseau, a Tarrant County assistant prosecutor in Fort Worth, which recently filed its first civil injunction against a gang. "This is more of a proactive approach."

But critics say such lawsuits go too far, limiting otherwise lawful activities and unfairly targeting minority youth.

"If you're barring people from talking in the streets, it's difficult to tell if they're gang members or if they're people discussing issues," said Peter Bibring, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "And it's all the more troubling because it doesn't seem to be effective."

Civil injunctions were first filed against gang members in the 1980s in the Los Angeles area, a breeding ground for gangs including some of the country's most notorious, such as the Crips and 18th Street.

The Los Angeles city attorney's suit in 1987 against the Playboy Gangster Crips covered the entire city but was scaled back after a judge deemed it too broad.

Chicago tried to target gangs by enacting an anti-loitering ordinance in 1992 but the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1999, saying it gave police the authority to arrest without cause.

Since then, cities have used injunctions to target specific gangs or gang members, and so far that strategy has withstood court challenges.

Los Angeles now has 33 permanent injunctions involving 50 gangs, and studies have shown they do reduce crime, said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

The injunctions prohibit gang members from associating with each other, carrying weapons, possessing drugs, committing crimes and displaying gang symbols in a safety zone — neighborhoods where suspected gang members live and are most active. Some injunctions set curfews for members and ban them from possessing alcohol in public areas — even if they're of legal drinking age.

Those who disobey the order face a misdemeanor charge and up to a year in jail. Prosecutors say the possibility of a jail stay — however short — is a strong deterrent, even for gang members who've already served hard time for other crimes.

"Seven months in jail is a big penalty for sitting on the front porch or riding in the car with your gang buddies," said Kinley Hegglund, senior assistant city attorney for Wichita Falls.

Last summer, Wichita Falls sued 15 members of the Varrio Carnales gang after escalating violence with a rival gang, including about 50 drive-by shootings in less than a year in that North Texas city of 100,000.

Since then, crime has dropped about 13 percent in the safety zone and real estate values are climbing, Hegglund said.

Other cities hope for similar results.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued four gangs in June after an "explosion" in gang violence, seven months after filing the city's first gang-related civil injunction.

Fort Worth sued 10 members of the Northcide Four Trey Gangsta Crips in May after two gang members were killed in escalating violence, said Assistant City Attorney Chris Mosley.

"Our hope is that these defendants will be scared into compliance just by having these injunctions against them," Mosley said.

However, some former gang members say such legal maneuvers wouldn't have stopped them.

Usamah Anderson, 30, of Fort Worth, said he began stealing cars and got involved with gangs as a homeless 11-year-old. He was arrested numerous times for theft and spent time in juvenile facilities.

Anderson says if a civil injunction had been in place then, he and his friends would have simply moved outside the safety zone.

"That's the life you live, so you're going to find a way to maneuver around it," said Anderson, a truck driver who abandoned the gang life about seven years ago and has started a church to help young gang members.

The ACLU and other critics of gang injunctions favor community programs. The Rev. Jack Crane, pastor of Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, is helping Anderson's group provide gang members with counseling, shoes and other resources needed to help them escape that life.

"We don't want to lose another generation," Crane said.

Some residents in the Fort Worth safety zone say they feel better with the injunction in place.

Phoebe Picazo, who recently moved to the city to care for her elderly parents, said she hears gunfire almost every night.

"This has always been a quiet community with a lot of seniors, but now we're having to keep our doors locked," Picazo said. "With the injunction, I feel better for my folks."





Christianity vs. Islam  

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Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world and they have many points of contact. Both inherited from Judaism a belief in one God who created the world and cares about the behavior and beliefs of human beings.

The Prophet Muhammad knew Christians in his lifetime and respected them along with Jews as "People of the Book." Because of their monotheism and roots in the revealed Jewish Bible, the Prophet and his successors extended conquered Christians (and Jews) more freedoms than conquered pagans.

In the approximately 1,300 years of history since the life of the Prophet, the relationship between Christianity and Islam has rarely been harmonious. As it spread, the Muslim Empire quickly conquered much of the Judeo-Christian Holy Land and the Christian Byzantine Empire. The Christian Crusades of the 11th through 13th centuries, waged in large part against Muslims, served only to widen the divide between the two faiths. Constantinople, the "New Rome" and the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, fell to the Turks in 1453 and has lived under Islamic rule ever since.

In recent centuries, mutual distrust between Christians and Muslims has continued to grow. On the other hand, some have pointed out that the conflict has more to do with political tensions and divergent cultural worldviews than with religion, and efforts have been made by both Christians and Muslims to find common ground and engage in respectful dialogue.

To illustrate the similarities and differences between the two largest religions of the world, the following chart compares the origins, beliefs and practices of Christianity and Islam. Please note that numbers are estimates and beliefs and practices are oversimplified for brevity's sake.

History & Stats
Christianity
Islam
date founded
c. 30 AD
622 CE
place founded
Palestine
Saudi Arabia
founders & early leaders
Jesus, Peter, Paul
Muhammad
original languages
Aramaic and Greek
Arabic
major location today
Europe, North and South America
Middle East, Southeast Asia
adherents worldwide today
2 billion
1.3 billion
adherents in USA
159 million
1.1 million
adherents in Canada
21 million
500,000
adherents in UK
51 million
1.6 million
current size rank
largest in the world
second largest in the world
major branches
Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant
Sunni, Shiite
Religious Authority
Christianity
Islam
sacred text
Bible = Old Testament (Jewish Bible) + New Testament
Qur'an (Koran)
inspiration of sacred text
views vary: literal Word of God, inspired human accounts, or of human origin only
literal Word of God
status of biblical prophets
true prophets
true prophets
status of Jewish Bible
canonical
noncanonical but useful as a (corrupted) inspired text
status of Jewish Apocrypha
canonical (Catholic);
useful but noncanonical (Protestant)
noncanonical
status of New Testament
canonical
noncanonical but useful as a (corrupted) inspired text
summaries of doctrine
Apostle's Creed, Nicene Creed
Six Articles of Faith
religious law
canon law (Catholics)
Sharia
other written authority
church fathers, church councils, ecumenical creeds (all branches);
papal decrees, canon law (Catholics)
Hadith
Beliefs & Doctrine
Christianity
Islam
ultimate reality
one creator God
one creator God
nature of God
Trinity - one substance, three persons
unity - one substance, one person
other spiritual beings
angels and demons
angels, demons, jinn
revered humans
saints, church fathers
prophets, imams (especially in Shia Islam)
identity of Jesus
Son of God, God incarnate, savior of the world
true prophet of God, whose message has been corrupted
birth of Jesus
virgin birth
virgin birth
death of Jesus
death by crucifixion
did not die, but ascended bodily into heaven (a disciple died in his place)
resurrection of Jesus
affirmed
denied, since he did not die
second coming of Jesus
affirmed
affirmed
mode of divine revelation
through Prophets and Jesus (as God Himself), recorded in Bible
through Muhammad, recorded in Qur'an
human nature
"original sin" inherited from Adam - tendency towards evil
equal ability to do good or evil
means of salvation
correct belief, faith, good deeds, sacraments (some Protestants emphasize faith alone)
correct belief, good deeds, Five Pillars
God's role in salvation
predestination, various forms of grace
predestination
good afterlife
eternal heaven
eternal paradise
bad afterlife
eternal hell, temporary purgatory (Catholicism)
eternal hell
view of the other religion
Islam is respected as a fellow monotheistic religion, but Muhammad is not seen as a true prophet
Christians are respected as "People of the Book," but they have mistaken beliefs and only partial revelation
Rituals & Practices
Christianity
Islam
house of worship
church, chapel, cathedral, basilica, meeting hall
mosque
day of worship
Sunday
Friday
religious leaders
priest, bishop, archbishop, patriarch, pope, pastor, minister, preacher, deacon
imams
major sacred rituals
baptism, communion (Eucharist)
Five Pillars: prayer, pilgrimage, charity, fasting, confession of faith
head covered during prayer?
generally no
yes
central religious holy days
Lent, Holy Week, Easter
Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, month of Ramadan
other holidays
Christmas, saints days
Mawlid, Ashura
major symbols
cross, crucifix, dove, anchor, fish, alpha and omega, chi rho, halo
crescent, name of Allah in Arabic

Islam invades the U.S.A  

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http://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/hello-world/

Sounds a little like NWO talk to me  

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Islam’s founder was a warlord who rose from nowhere and who by his death was the undisputed master of Arabia Peninsula. The holy book he produced is filled with commands to use violence in the service of its religion and nation. This potential for violence is similar to that possessed by Judaism except it is immensely augmented by the fact that Islam views itself, like Christianity, as a universal religion meant for all peoples in all countries. It also makes no distinction between church and state and is thus a political as well as religious ideology.

As a result, Islam has been willing to employ violence on a massive scale, as illustrated by the first century of its existence, when the Islamic Empire exploded outward and conquered much of the known world.

The attitude of Islam toward using violence against non-Muslims is clear. Regarding pagans, the Quran says, "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and merciful" (Surah 9:5). This amounts to giving pagans a convert-or-die choice.

Regarding violence against Jews and Christians, the Quran says, "Fight against those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe in neither God nor the last day, who do not forbid what God and his messenger have forbidden, and who do not embrace the true faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued" (Surah 9:29). In other words, violence is to be used against Jews and Christians unless they are willing to pay a special tax and live in subjection to Muslims as second-class citizens. For them the choice is convert, die, or live in subjection.

The Quran also has stern words for Muslims who would be slow and reluctant to attack unbelievers: "Believers, why is it that when you are told: ‘March in the cause of God,’ you linger slothfully in the land? Are you content with this life in preference to the life to come? . . . If you do not go to war, he [God] will punish you sternly, and will replace you by other men" (Surah 9:38-39).

We have seen the roots of Islamic violence in the life and teachings of Mohammed. We have seen that world events have conspired to place Islam and Christianity in a conflict of civilizations that has stretched from the sixth to the twenty-first century.

What the future holds is unknown. What is known is that Islamic civilization has a strong tendency to violence that stretches back to the days of Mohammed and that has begun to flare up in resurgent terrorist and revolutionary movements.

The conflict with militant Islam may last a long time—centuries, potentially—since even if curing Muslim society of its violent tendencies is possible, it would involve ripping out or otherwise neutralizing a tendency that has dominated Muslim culture since the days of its founder.

This is not an easy task, for Muslims willing to make the change would be portrayed as traitors to their religion, amid renewed calls to practice Islam in its original, pure, and more violent form in order to regain the favor of God. The signs of the times suggest that we are, indeed, in for a "clash of civilizations" that will be neither brief nor bloodless.

Teens Shown in Young Girl 'Ecstasy' Video Did Not Give Girl Drugs, One Says  

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One of the teenage girls in a video featuring a young girl acting strange — leading some to say she was given the drug ecstasy — said Tuesday that the girls did not give the youngster any drugs.

Texas authorities located all of the the teens from the video Tuesday, according to MyFoxHouston.com. Harris County Lt. John Martin said investigators are currently questioning the teens — all from the Houston area — about what happened that day.

The video, which was posted under a heading "Mother Gives Ecstasy to Child," shows the young girl rolling her eyes into the back of her head as she rides in the backseat of a van filled with teen girls. One girl waves an iPod in front of her face and pinches her cheeks.

Now, one of the teens told investigators they were driving back from South Padre Island and shot the video because they were bored. The teen said the little girl is impressionable and that does whatever she is asked to do. She insisted that none of the teens in the van gave the child ecstacy or any other drugs.

Now that the teens have been located, officials with Child Protective Services will now investigate the child's welfare.

The video broke earlier Tuesday and drew guesses from officials about if the girl was on drugs.

"From her actions, from her physical look, it's possible that she was given, and in fact it's even mentioned on the video, that she was given a hit of ecstasy," Jackson County Sheriff Andy Louderback told FOX News on Tuesday.

The teens in the video allude to drug use. "Look at her, she rollin' hard," one of the girls said.

"Stop rollin’ girl," one said to the child. "You shouldn’t have popped a full x."

A pamphlet in a pocket of the vehicle's front seat led Texas officials to believe that the video was shot in the Houston area. The van is also tuned to KHCB-FM, a Christian radio station in Houston.