Hate Crimes Against Dayton, Ohio Mosque
By Nicole Belle Sunday Sep 28, 2008 8:15pm
There's been a huge debate within the newspaper world -- and beyond -- about a fiery DVD targeting Islamic extremism called "Obsession" that over the last couple of weeks has been packaged in newspaper ads and distributed to hundreds of thousands of readers, especially in swing states. (The Philadelphia Inquirer was one of those papers.) Proponents say it's an honest portrayal of anti-American jihadism, while critics said the video would stir up hatred toward decent God-fearing Muslims, not just those involved in or supporting terrorism. Some wonder if it's all just a big ploy to help John McCain and the GOP, who want to focus the campaign on the threat of Islamic extremists. [..]
There's no more key battleground state in America than Ohio -- and sure enough thousands were delivered there on Monday in a number of newspapers, including the Dayton Daily News, which is in a hotly contested corner of the Buckeye State.
Four days later, this happened as Muslims in Dayton attempted to worship:
DAYTON - Baboucarr Njie was preparing for his prayer session Friday night, Sept. 26, when he heard children in the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton coughing. Soon, Njie himself was overcome with fits of coughing and, like the rest of those in the building, headed for the doors.
"I would stay outside for a minute, then go back in, there were a lot of kids," Njie said. "My throat is still itchy, I need to get some milk."
Njie was one of several affected when a suspected chemical irritant was sprayed into the mosque at 26 Josie St., bringing Dayton police, fire and hazardous material personnel to the building at 9:48 p.m.
Someone "sprayed an irritant into the mosque," Dayton fire District Chief Vince Wiley said, noting that fire investigators believe it was a hand-held spray can.
Many in Dayton are wondering if the mass distribution of "Obsession" has anything to do with this. It's unclear whether or not this was in the works before or after the attack on the mosque, but religious leaders were meeting in Dayton yesterday to talk about the DVD:
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."
I've said that I have some practicing Muslims in my family (as well as Jews, Catholics, evangelical Christians and atheists, we're one big mixed-faith family). This kind of dehumanizing of people sickens me. And you see the result: blind acts of violence on innocent victims. And yet I'm sure that person feels superior to the "terrorists" he hates, rather than recognizing he has become one of them.
Jon Perr has more examples of the GOP getting their hate on.
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Shame on The Philadelphia Inquirer for allowing such a hateful advertisement in their newspaper.
What are we becoming as a society? It's embarrassing and on the part of the terrorists who sprayed into the Mosque, criminal.
I just got a copy of this DVD in the mail today. I guess I was correct to donate it to the trash truck.
Can somebody please tell these morons that Jesus was not white?
Can't believe they let that shit in the paper. How sad for those people.
And WELL SAID xtien . . . Jesus was somewhere between brown to black. He sure as HELL wasn't white with blue eyes. I don't believe he ever existed . . . but I digress =)
I watched this video, there were veiled things like a cleric saying the white house will become the black house and take over the world, and the white house will become the muslim house.
I have no problem with the DVD, as long as every copy is accompanied by another DVD called "Imperialism" that outlines and catalogs all the civilians killed by airstrikes and crtuise missiles since 1979, and information in the 'extra's' that document acts of military aggression committed by the United States since the Islamic revolution took place in Iran.
This will allow the viewer an ability to understand why terrorism exists in the first place.
the "obsession" CD was put in all of the sunday's "macomb daily" here in macomb twp., michigan-I contacted the editorial & the
publisher today complaining & siting the hate problem in ohio-I think we should all complain if we see this sort of hate & scare
program by the republicans-
This crap was actually mailed to homes in Florida (mine included) and most people simply threw it out with the trash. The people I spoke with said they were tired of all this fear-mongering trying to influence their vote. A lot of people have wised up to the ways of the reichwing.
Lisa D @ 5:
I wonder if they didn't actually mean the actual theological term Dar al-Islam (house of Islam)
Which, to quote wikipedia: "is an islamic term used by Muslim scholars to refer to those countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely."
(it's also known as Dar al-Salam - house of peace.. also the name of Sudan's capital.)
Rumor has it that members of the jewish faith are behind this DVD being distributed? Someone is spending a shitload of money to send out this GARBAGE.
That DVD is pure propaganda from what I've heard. The official story is breaking down under scrutiny, and this is just a sorry attempt to put the old fear and thoughtlessness into those that watch it.
this sort of demonization of muslims is exactly why i felt obama should have countered the so-called "muslim smear" with more than just protestations and public professions of his christian faith . . . he should have taken the opportunity to attack the bigotry that motivated the use of muslim identity as a smear
the facts are that muslim and arab americans are some of our most productive, best educated and peaceful citizens . . . and how they endure, despite generations of discrimination and abuse, is a mystery to me
Why isn't this all over the news? It's a terrorist attack isn't it? What do you think would be happening right now if this had happened in a Christian church?
gop = grossly obsessive pricks
I wish someone would explain to me why "Fearing God" would make any sense.
Religion is such a bad idea. Is there any way we can end the carnage?
Damn! This whole incident reminds me of the killing of the four little girls at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963.
Some things never change.
Jo @ 16:
What are you talking about? We have a whole new set of untapped victims to scapegoat for our failed moral values.
Red Headed StepChild @ 13:
When I read about this on Daily Kos I tried to Google it. Nothing came up but the news printed in a local paper.
Where is our fucking FBI? This is an act of terrorism!
That's despicable.
My friend got a copy of the DVD in the mail. We all had a laugh (although we never watched it.) Obviously put out by some Christian-right wackaloons. If there's one group who's opinion of Muslim wackaloons I don't care to hear, it's Christin wackaloons. Pot, kettle, etc.
xoites defends Constitution @ 15:
Saying "all religion is stupid!" as a comment to a story on hate-crimes is rather insensitive. Like.. If you're going to criticize Judaism, wait until the Nazis have left the room.
Lisa D @ 5:
That will definitely get the Repubes a few votes in the hate belt.
On the other hand, here's some great news from Ohio:
State, federal courts uphold early voting in Ohio
Religions seem to have the opposite effect on people than what you would think. It seems somehow to breed bigotry and hatred instead of love.
Just look around the world right now, most of the hatred and violence we see has been brought about by religious ideology. Even in the deep south of America, the churches are separated, they have AME churches for the black people and Baptist etc. for the whites.
The more religion spreads the more we will see fighting and hatred. They say people who are atheist are unhappy, well, I'm not unhappy and certainly not bigoted. These ideas must be preached from the pulpit, they must whip their flocks into some kind of lather and send them out with heart full of hate.
I live amongst Buddhist, I have no problem with them nor they with me, but i think of Buddhism more as a philosophy that a religion. here all life is sacred, the world itself is sacred. I can live with this more easily than i can live with christianity.
This mass distribution of propaganda intended for the SOLE PURPOSE of scaring the public into NOT voting for Obama is a textbook example of why the FCC should break up the media conglomerates.
If you haven't seen this speech from Bobby Kennedy Jr., please watch it:
http://www.truthout.org/video/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rove-has-already-plann...
Hmmm
Where are these FREE movies on non election years??... or 6 months ago???
xoites defends Constitution @ 17:
What I am talking about is that it doesn't matter the race or religion, there will always be the haters of anyone who doesn't look or believe in a white, so-called "christian" country. I may not have put it well, but the men who sprayed into that mosque are just as hate-ridden as the men who planted that bomb and killed those four little girls.
xoites defends Constitution @ 15:
Right on xoites. The first step is to somehow tax all churches, temples, mosques etc. If they do something local that is charitable and non-religious then they claim that as charitable tax thingy. That will at least stop some of the funding that somehow gets to the hate-speech type faithful folks.
What was it Friedrich Niezsche said about staring into the face of the abyss and becoming one with it?
I druther become one with Jacqueline Bisset.
Alexdem @ 20:
Did i say that?
Nope.
What i could say is that we have a serious problem with religion dictating foreign and domestic policy on this planet, not to mention being the "moral" justification to harass, torture and kill other human beings. I can't see any logical reason for people to continue to be superstitious about something when all scientific evidence is unable to support the existence of a God. ANY GOD.
I can easily prove to you or anyone else that believing in God or any God tends to lead some (dare i say "many") people to do irrational and criminal things that are destructive and counter productive.
If that is "insensitive" of me, so be it.
Or as they say in church: Amen.
I hate the term "haters."
Jo @ 26:
That was a snark. I was supporting your position.
ysbaddaden @ 28:
I think the idea of nothingness when you die is a lot easier to handle than worrying whether or not you crossed all the t's for the guy in the sky and whether or not you will burn forever in a hell. Nothing is so much easier than the cruel spirit thing.
And WHY are they never movies like.. Life and Debt... Earthlings .. In Debt we Trust... Wallmart exposed.. Black Gold...
xoites defends Constitution @ 31:
Sorry. I have been Palinized. (the new term for dumbed down lately)
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 23:
American Wacko Christianity is a Cult, not a Religion.
They violate fundamental teachings of their own main man. Jesus told his followers not to follow the hypocrites who pray in public, whether on the streets or in the temples. And yet one of the first things their converts are asked to do is pray together with Reverend BillyBob and the rest of his followers. Thus the new member joins the group of Reverend BillyBob's followers. That is a cult. They follow their leader. That is not a religion, where the individual practitioner is responsible for his own behavior, his own link to the Divine, whatever you want to call IT.
Alas, there are Buddhist Cults too. None of the World's Great Religions is immune, but ALL the World's Great Religions include individuals who attempt to live the simple religious life as described by Jesus, Gautama Buddha, and others.
Here's the real kicker: Extremist Muslims don't necessarily hate the west. They hate US foreign policy. They don't 'hate our freedoms'.
Osama bin Laden himself not only dismissed but mocked Bush for saying that. "If Bush thinks we hate their freedoms," he said, "he should ask himself why we don't attack, say, Sweden." (A country which bin Laden visited as a kid. I guess he liked it. The Swedes were certainly grateful for being 'let off the hook')
Of course, there are quite a few 'inconvenient truths' about US foreign policy.. it'd be a very dangerous thing for the folks in charge if people started realizing what's really going on out there. Like how, as an American, you might not actually get killed instantly on the Gaza Strip. An American friend of mine went there and the general reaction was expressed strongest by a lady who came up to him on the street and said:
"Thank you! Thank you for coming here and seeing for yourself the conditions we're forced to live under!"
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 32:
Human beings naturally know when they are doing the right thing and when they are doing the wrong thing. Psycopaths and Sociopaths are the exception.
It is time for us to take personal responsibility for our own actions and stop blaming/relying on a "Supreme Being" to punish/anoint us.
Jo @ 34:
Here's a Palin answer from a Palin Generator.
***********
Q: How will you fix the economy?
Our economy and putting it back on the side of the people. It's a nice thing about him, too, is he is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be ushered in. democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable and we have been blunders along the way, though. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership comes opportunity to meet heads of state these last couple of weeks it has been allowed to be a comprehensive, long-term solution found for this problem that we work with our allies to help shore up our economy and putting it back on the war on terror.
Here's the LINK for the generator.
Jo @ 34:
No problem. Sorry i upset you. :)
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 32:
I like the Native American way of returning to your ancestors. Being part Native American, I walk among and learn from those who have gone before me. I see many gods in all things natural and in the undying spirit of those who create art and storytelling. I am very peaceful about death. It is a part of Nature. The older I get, the easier it gets to accept my place in the scheme of things.
MountainMan23 @ 35:
We are all responsible for our own behavior, regardless of which groups we belong to.
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 38:
She really said this? She is insane.
29 xoites defends Constitution
Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of deities, because they can't even form a scientific question, and put something quantative under study, that can then undergo verification and replication
In philosophy classes, one of the first things they teach you, using the Socratic method, is that you can't even prove that you yourself exist.
Under solipsism and nihilism it gets even murkier.
And people do irrational and criminal things that are destructive and counter-productive for almost any cause, because their irrationality makes irrational any of the excuses they would make for their behavior.
Aristotle spoke in the Nichomachean Ethics of Primary Goods and Secondary Goods, the Primaries being like prime numbers, indivisible, and so they are the ultimate aim of the secondary goods.
That sounds like a way of describing the infinite without Deism of any sort.
But I would agree that, "we have a serious problem with religion dictating foreign and domestic policy on this planet, not to mention being the “moral” justification to harass, torture and kill other human beings."
And as a Witch we are often tarkets of such harrasment.
Praise Bob!
Jo @ 40:
I like that, that is pretty much the way i feel about life and death. I'm 71, so not to much of the path is left to travel, but i feel ok with that.
I have to go off-line, just got a pop-up window that said anonymityanywhere has been hacked and that is my gateway to the US since the Patriot Act.
Ciao
xoites defends Constitution @ 29:
Yes, it's insensitive because the religious folks are the victims here. Muslims do believe one should fear God.
Your first reaction to the story is apparently to ridicule that. Which is literally adding insult to injury.
In Canada, this would be considered a "Hate Crime". The people responsible for these disks could be prosecuted for promoting hatred toward an identifiable group. The people spraying the chemical could be charged under the same law.
rduke @ 25:
Good point, if I can find mine in the trash I will return it and request Sex In The City instead. In fact, everyone who gets this should bombard them with letters pretending to confuse them with Netflix or something.
Alexdem @ 45:
I see, so because i think Christians and Muslims and Religious Jews are full of crap i am being insensitive to Muslims.
I learn something new every day.
Tell me teach, Does the Universe revolve around the Earth?
Me drunk now, me go....
ashton @ 47:
I have a better idea. Why don't we collect them and rent a dump truck and dump them on their front lawn?
Thank You for posting this Nicole.
Maybe a fleet of dump trucks.
Alexdem @ 45:
By the way my first reaction to the story occured over 12 hours ago when i first heard it. You were not there, were you?
You are not the Holy Spirit are you?
Outwestern @ 46:
What if someone who lurks here @ crooks and liars loses it, and discharges some pepper spray in their local republican congresspersons office, and the people who maintain Crooksandliars...are found to be responsible for promoting "hatred" for republicans? ...that would suck!....no?
Rasputin @ 51:
I second this. When I first heard this story, it broke my heart. This is most definitely what happens in an atmosphere in which fear and ignorance is played up as a virtue by those GOP crooks.
I hope they find these people and throw the book at them.
burpster @ 10:
Before I donated my copy to my Rumpke (refuse collection) representative, I read the inside of the jacket. (No, I didn't watch the dvd.)
I can't tell you that members of the Jewish faith are behind it being distributed, but I am certain that it was created/produced by people of the Jewish faith. If there's any doubt, just use your favorite search engine and find out for yourself.
Here in Portland, the Oregonian distributed these yesterday. Some are framing it as kudos to the Oregonian for Free Speech victory. Even among people I fully respect; this is NOT a free speech issue.
republicans are a bunch of white people desperately hanging on to there power. they will lose all hatred loses sooner or later
I’ve been over this debate for a while (as in – I’m over it).
I do often wonder if the same repertoire was being performed by the Egyptian Priests over Ra, or in the Greek Temples over Hades?
Just substitute these names for Jesus, Mohammad, or Moses and it reveals how silly it all sounds. “Does Poseidon really control the sea?” or “Should we really give our bread to Horus at the Temple?”
One thing remains after these thousands of years though: if you’re unsure, the priests will always be there to sort it out for ya (for a fee)...
odanny @ 6:
There is a video called Hijacking Catastrophe that documents how Neoconservatives have harnessed hate and terror for decades. Not exactly what you described but I think it would be an excellent alternative to Obsession. It shows how similar the Neocons are to the Islamic fundamentalists they supposedly are fighting.
I live in Dayton and know first hand that this kind of hatred is not uncommon in this area. Hate groups have many roots in the Dayton area.
In the nineties, Dayton was home to one of the largest Aryan Nations groups in the country. The heir apparent to the national organization, based at Hayden Lake Idaho, was Ray Redfearin who lived in Dayton. The two assassination plots against Morris Dees were conceived and carried out (as far as they got before being foiled) by people from Dayton. The bombing plot against the Earle Cabell federal building in Texas, that was going to be bigger than Oklahoma City, was conceived in Dayton.
A&E is in the middle of filming a documentary, for their new investigation channel, about the undercover investigation into the AN that took place in Dayton. The documentary is based on a new book, Into the Devil’s Den, a dual memoir written by the undercover agent that infiltrated the Aryan Nations for three years and the Special Agent form the FBI who sent him in and barely got him out alive.
Taarak @ 62:
And political power.
Terrorists have attacked within the United States again.
Mike @ 56:
OK, so I googled "Obsession DVD" and "Obsession DVD jew" and didn't find anything indicating this was created/produced by people of the Jewish faith. I did find comments on a Jewish blog decrying the racism of the video and this bit about the rumor that the Jews are behind the newspaper promoting it: "Incidentally, I received a number of queries (or accusations) as to whether
the editors and owners approved this because they are Jewish. The fact is that none of them is. Nor does anyone in management at The Blade want to inflame tensions with Jews or Muslims." from: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/COLUMNIST... Fighting anti-Islam bias doesn't justify anti-semitism.
Dan B @ 66:
Here is a photo of an earlier attack.
milquetoast @ 54:
No, that's normal political dissent in some places. It's already happened at an all candidates meeting where I live.
milquetoast @ 54:
Did you actually say that out loud? As if you thought it made any sense?
Are you sick? Have you seen a doctor recently?
Shane @ 57:
Yeah, great timing too (Ramadan, Eid). I can hardly wait to see what this group does after Rosh Hashanah (or any other major non-Christian holiday).
It wasn't about free speech, it was about money ("I've always felt we have an obligation to keep our advertising columns as open as possible," said Stickel [publisher of The Oregonian], who viewed the DVD. "Our acceptance of anything -- our acceptance or rejection -- does not depend on whether or not we agree with the content. . . . There is a principle of freedom of speech involved here. I could find no reason to reject this.")
Yeah, right.
I received this DVD in the mail in Chesterfield, MO, a republican stronghold. The return address is The Clarion Fund, 255 W. 36th Street,Suite 800, NY,NY 10018. The Clarion Fund is an offshoot of Aish Hatorah, an Israeli organization. It's also a 501(c)(3), so how can they get away with this obvious and egregious attempt to influence the election?
Christine @ 69:
If they did not mention a Candidate by name they can do that legally. I have not seen the DVD so i do not know.
xoites defends Constitution @ 70:
I should say "endorse" not "mention." Sorry.
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 38:
F'ing hilarious! We know now how her speeches are written...
xoites defends Constitution @ 50:
If there is a mailing address, put them in envelopes with their address as both addressee and sender, without postage. They will be delivered by USPS with postage due.
fastfeat @ 73:
If you are going to do that wrap it around a brick!
ysbaddaden @ 43:
Again ysbaddaden, thank you for injecting some sense into this convo.
And with that I'd just like to add that religion per se is not the problem so much as it is consciously manipulative or unbalanced people who warp a religious ideology to justify their own ends. The same can easily be said for other, more secular ideals as well (capitalism, communism, and animal liberation groups come to mind).
fastfeat @ 73:
Niiiiice. I know what I'm doing if I get this shit in the paper...