We must not let these propaganda films go unchallenged. We Must NOT be SILENT!
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Unity Productions, the co-producer of this documentary, at first look seemed to be the typical ‘progressive’, building-bridges liberals promoting Islam. However, after the screening, with a bit of research there were a few surprises. The New York screening on November 10, 2009, was at the Scholastic Auditorium ( described on-line as “combining corporate design and (and corporate sponsors) style with a touch of schoolhouse whimsy…”
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So now we have the venue, but the title, “Inside Islam:What a billion Muslims Really Think”, was really all we needed to lure us downtown, to the wrong address thanks to the ticket agency, but in the company of other lost-patrons we managed to find our way to the screening . Thought this was going to be a quick evening, in and out, just another documentary promoting Islam (that misunderstood Religion of Peace).
The synopsis: Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a new documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization.
The Trailer
Some thoughts we had regarding the film as well as statements made at the talkback :
The Gallup poll said no one they interviewed used the Quran as a reason for 9-11.
Terrorists hate us for our Freedom. Frustrated because they have no power only fear. Hate us because we meddle. They just want a Democracy. Unrelated to religion.Dislike that we treat them like children (referring to Iraq) When 9-11 happened Bloomberg’s Commissioner, Fatima Shama, and the female narrator in the film, Dalia Mogahed said they were so fearful the perpetrators might be Muslim.
Dahlia, also happens to promote Sharia (…says it’s misunderstood)
John Esposito had a lot of face time as well (director of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal center for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown University.)
Fatima Shama was so thankful for Bloomberg’s administration and the diversity; the tolerance; his good example. Shama also quoted Obama (who had been at Ft. Hood that day) “No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor” . This of course brought self-congratulatory applause from the audience (which was white, Jewish, western-dressed Muslims, a few hijabs and blacks.) It seemed at a glance like more of the black women were in hijab compared to the others.
Vets and PTS were mentioned…of course….related to Ft. Hood. Stress of war…
LOTS of children through out the film. Always in prayer groups (a circle) reading happily the Quran
KKK, IRA, McVeigh…always get mentioned as examples of all religions and countries have terrorists
M.E.C.C.A. is an outreach organization in midtown Manhattan for Christian to Muslim converts (oh, my)
Change the Story, Intersections, something called 20,000 dialogues were all about talktalktalking. We can make peace happen if we would just talk. Talking means we would learn there is no reason to fear Muslims or Islam.
The review of the screening in Chicago was actually critical
BTW, the talk-back had implied they would be taking questions from the audience. That was so NOT on their agenda. An hour of tedious patting on the back from the producer and the director, Rob Gardner 
(Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, Egypt: Quest for Immortality) on making this important film and then after about 15 minutes of let’s pretend that we’re finally taking questions (NOPE) back to long-winded speeches from the panelists. After about 80 minutes of this, we’d heard enough.
Here’s some info on the panelists:
Keynote Speaker
Alex Kronemer, Executive Producer & Co-Founder of UPF (bio)
The bio makes no mention of the fact that he’s a Muslim convert (which he goes in to detail here) but he made no mention of this during the talk-back.
Panelists
– Rev. Robert Chase – Intersections International and Change the Story.net
Intersections, is a new justice-based global initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York. Previously, Chase served as Director of Communication for the 1.2 million member United Church of Christ. (an apologist for Christianity)
– Shamil Idriss – Soliya has merged with the UN–established Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund.
Soliya (CNN video ) on the Middle East
Our mission remains the same using new media technologies to foster cross-cultural understanding and the thousands of young alumni and volunteers who give life to our programs in 25 countries.
Mr. Idriss served as Executive Director of the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund which merged with Soliya in 2009.On video re the Alliance of Civilizations:
In 2005 he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Deputy Director of the Alliance of Civilizations. He served on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and as COO of Search for Common Ground, a global conflict resolution organization. He is a member of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders and of the ASMA Society’s Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow.
– Fatima Shama – Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. As Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Commissioner Shama currently serves as Senior Education Policy Advisor in the Mayor’s Office, where she previously served as the Health Literacy and Language Access Coordinator.
Born in the Bronx to immigrant parents – her mother is Brazilian and her late father was “Palestinian” – (as she spoke….she was all about The Hair…no hijab for this one)
– Moderator – Zeba Iqbal – Muslim Public Affairs Council NYC. She is the Vice-Chair of CAMP International (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals). Additionally, she was the conference manager for CAMP’s 2008 and 2009 conferences.
Found this interesting article she wrote about being Muslim and unmarried here>>
Click after click on the computer took us through the sponsors, the producers, the speakers (the film) and revealed a web of organizations deeply embedded in our schools and colleges. Ft. Hood has exposed, again, how seriously this indoctrination (this one-sided propaganda) has corrupted our schools, our libraries, our media and our military. And just this week Columbia and Princeton have reinforced this one-sided non-critical revisionist view of the Islamic World History by refusing outright and shamelessly canceling last-minute the appearance of an “unapproved” speaker, Nonie Darwish. Her list of ‘dangerous’ speakers includes(amongst many others) Geert Wilders, David Horowitz and Robert Spencer , who was assaulted this week while speaking at NYU. (For the latest outrageous cancellations and assaults of these reputable and respected critics of Islam, go here> )
This screening and its sponsors’ have reinforced how critical our timing is with this relentless RE-‘education’ of the West the doors to transparency are creeping shut. And those present at this screening are a microcosm of the machine that is responsible. We must not cease to expose Islam and to challenge these Islamic Revisionist lies. Their man is in the White House so they confidently intimidate with accusations of hate-speech. Sadly, this censorship combined with our own self-censorship has gone deadly as the murders at Ft. Hood have revealed. They own the message, for now, but we must NOT relent. Look for this film. It’ll be on PBS in February and probably in our schools and our libraries. FIGHT BACK . The books , their speakers and the films must be challenged. Demand the right to be heard. Our future depends on it.
UPDATED with some additional thoughts: Regarding the meet and greet energy of those handing out the programs and the brochures: very friendly; very nice. But, so are Scientologists (til they’ve ‘got you’ and all your money) then try to ask questions about what you are being taught? “No comprende.” The ‘new’ and predictable Q and A was a s predictable as the Democrat controlled Town Hall meetings we witnessed this past summer (Anthony Weiner and Tom Duane come to mind) The ruse of collecting index-carded questions which are then carried to the stage and….then…ignored was routine. The pplan was always to bore you to death with long-winded speeches til you just want to go home and forget the Q and A!…they have. And that was exactly what became of the Q and A after the screening. Nada. No Q and A, just lots of speeches
And lastly, the ‘face’ of Islam in this film was young, female and also many children (who seemed purposefully non-Arabic) and the ‘voice’ of Sharia Law (it’s just misunderstood,remember) was the on-camera narrator, Dalia Mogahed. We spend so much time with her that to reject Dalia or any of these nice muslims, to reject their presentation of Islam as a Religion of Peace, would make us all racists, bigots: Islam-bashers.
So, what’s the message? No questions allowed about apostasy. None about womens’ and gay rights nor sharia law. Islam is just like any other religion. This is a ‘fact’ not to be questioned And, one more thought, regarding all that nice diversity the preach about Take a good look at our police, the mta,cab-drivers (service employees) it’s like a segment of “V’: They’re HERE and things may not be so nice in a pinch…think about it….does Ft. Hood come to mind? Let the Muslims live in a parallel universe in OUR country and eventually, once we’re the minority in our own land, we will be completely dhimmi-fide. It’s already happening. Can we stop it? Or is it too late? It’s up to us to decide….
These are the materials they handed out:
This is an interesting and challenging article. The challenge for us is to respond to the Muslim “nice” side in a way that does not discredit us as human beings, while not losing our focus on the “not nice,” which they ignore.
For example, the essay by the single woman is really quite touching and honest. She speaks freely about the limitations she experiences in Muslim society, calls for a better deal for women in some ways, and overall has what I would call a spiritual rather than tightly religious approach. She is a force for aerating the rigid tightness of Islamic society that cripples critical and innovative thinking.
Also, the Soliya project of having college students from the two different worlds get to know each other can also be educational for both sides, giving a fresh experience of a real person on the other end of the modem instead of some abstraction they read about in a news story. The potential drawback, however, is that the dark side might get left out. If only leftist American students are picked for this project, they might never bring up the distressing realities that led up to 9/11, Mumbai, Fort Hood and so much more. Then they could be influenced by an anti-American mind set and end up as part of the vast fifth column within America. Cross-cultural exchange and diplomacy itself only make sense if one is grounded in what is in one’s own national interest, and that includes staying in touch with the traumas we have suffered at the hands of radical Islam.
Now, onto my main point. Putting out this film about the nice face of Islam does a lot of things. It can indicate to young Muslims that peace is an acceptable way to go. (Good.) It covers up the embarrassing aspects of Islam for Muslims who do not want to do jihad. (Not really my business.) It can attract new converts. (Not good.) And lastly, in a way that has not been discussed so far, it contains a hidden challenge to the counter-jihadists to make a response that does not disqualify them in the P.R. wars.
If every aspect of Islam is seen by us as horrible and nothing at all is seen as humanistic, we easily lend ourselves to being stereotyped as unthinking fear and hate machines. Then we turn off the receptivity of our countrymen whose votes we need to change national policies that allow further infiltration.
We need to be flexible, continuing our exposure of jihad, sedition and terrorism while giving at least a nod to the common humanity of progressive Muslims whose actions show that they are not a threat to us.
What a great post!
In regards to the post above. This is all a con, to whitewash Islam and believing that some form of “moderate” Islam is coming to the rescue is part of the reason that we are losing this war.
Islam cannot reform as the Koran is supposedly in Allah’s words and mere man cannot change them.
010.064
YUSUFALI: For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; no change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity.
There is also the seal of the Prophets.
033.040
YUSUFALI: Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.
The whole “moderate” Islam thing is nothing but false hope. There are Mosques of hate across America, do you see Muslims protesting them?
There are dozens of Islamic terrorist camps here, any protests against them?
CAIR got a way with posing as a “moderate’ group for over a decade and now look at all the damage that they have done. We need to be stern and end all Muslim immigration. We also need to officially ban Sharia Law. Then arresting and deporting if possible any Muslim that calls for it after the law is passed. Pro-Sharia Muslims are too be looking upon as enemies of the state. Just as Nazis were.
Films like this only hurt us, as people continually buy into the Islam is a religion of peace con.
For the record the Fort Hood attack had everything to do with Islam.
From the “Justice” chapter of Reliance of the Traveller
A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law
THE RULES OF WARFARE
o9.10
It is not permissible (A: in jihad) to kill women or children unless they are fighting against the Muslims. Nor is it permissible to kill animals, unless they are being ridden into battle against the Muslims, or if killing them will help defeat the enemy. It is permissible to kill old men (O: old man (shaykh) meaning someone more than forty years of age) and monks.
Some people drive their car in one gear only. If they drive at all. Usually they sit in their armchair, directing wars, assuming they are superior to people actually engaging the enemy. (sigh)
Hey Chris, if you study any successful campaign, you’ll see it was fought on every level.
@Madeline….thanks for showing just how ignorant you are. Because we are not even close to winning this war. I recently had a debate with a US Army Captain and have questioned staff members of politicians about Islam. They know nothing about Islam. Apparently you do not either.
This is not a successful campaign, and great work on avoiding all the facts that I pointed out. Makes you justifying your stance easier, I understand.
Hey Madeline, “moderates” irrelevant. and PC wars cannot be won.
Madeline, why don’t you explain how the whole “moderate” Islam thing is working out for the UK?
But you keep promoting failed policies, that is the best the weak West can do. Thankfully some people like Geert Wilders get it.
Christopher, if only you had better reading comprehension we might be able to talk. I can’t take you seriously and I suggest that you don’t either. Why should I when your attitude blows right past what I actually wrote?
So you cannot refute I thing that I stated, as in your previous post.
All I did was comment about the “moderate” Islam thinking at first, and you are the one who immediately brought on an attitude.
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I actually attended this event and I must admit It was very interesting and informative. Just wished that the many ignorant people would have attended this fabolous film.
Well produced and interesting…but informative? …..propaganda does not educate…
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Why no actual, diverse quotes from the Koran, Hadiths, etc., an in-depth historical discussion of what Mohammed believed and actually did? Where are the references for converting, conquering? This religion/ideology has remained essentially unchanged since its formation. Wahhabism accepts no changes after 950 AD. It’s essentially a fight between modernity and ancient totalitarianism cloaked in a religion. The Koran centers on tribal wars, taking others’ wealth and enslaving infidels. Mohhamed borrowed some concepts from Judaism and Christianity. When they wouldn’t accept Islam as the one true religion, he set about villifying both. Where is any historical context on what Islamic leaders have done on many continents in conquering other nations? It’s always about us dhimmis accommodating them, with no corresponding set of responsibilities on their side– to respect our religions, our cultures, our soveign borders, rights as human beings and independent nations! We are not to set foot on their land, while they are ‘commanded’ through their own texts to move into every land to establish a global Caliphate. That doesn’t sound like a fair deal for infidels! They infiltrate to reshape our American high school and university systems adversely, but we are allowed no such entry and are rarely privey to read Wahhabist mosque and madrassa literature–what they’re actually teaching. I’m sure it’s very reasoned and moderate! This is another propaganda effort, which neither informs or guards against the most dangerous aspects of what Muslim believe, support or do. Why don’t they refer to the Day of Judgment, a central tenant of their faith and a lovely holiday, mainly centering on stoning Jews to death, who will be found cowering behind trees. There are no corresponding ‘holidays’ within other faiths.
We need to arm ourselves with the truth; they’ve been at this for 1,400 years, now aided by the Internet, out of control political correctness and all the money we’ve given them through insane energy/oil policies to fund the very terrorism directed against us.
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