Rodney Nelson: Anti-islamic “movie”

To the Editor:

In with the ad supplements to Sunday’s Forum (Sept. 28) was the “prerelease one-hour” DVD of a television movie, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”

There is nothing new in this melodrama and much that has gotten very old. Why did American viewers in Sept. 2008 need to be reminded of certain Muslims’ active hostility toward the West?

A presidential campaign is going on; the U.S. may have to limit its foreign-aid spending; and whoever wins the White House, a reduced American military presence in the Middle East seems likely. “Obsession” is the product of worry.

The Muslim branch of Middle Eastern monotheism dominates that region; the other two main versions are dominant here and have their own ultraist “tip of the spear,” the so-called religious right.

Although nearly every one of the pundits interviewed in “Obsession” is of foreign origin, the movie has been given an American reactionary twang.

“Movie” is inaccurate. The filmmakers’ use of Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey-style showmanship and sales techniques--hype your product, smear and misrepresent the competition/enemy--make it an agitprop infomercial with no connection to adult political discourse.

However, if it is possible to daze or bore viewers into a warlike frame of mindlessness, “Obsession” may achieve its objective. Maintaining the status quo, i.e., war in the Middle East, seems to be part of that.

One way the U.S. might counter radical Islamism in the region and move toward peace is by giving up its partisan hand and showing an even one. Joining in with worry and “Obsession” would only make things worse.

-Rodney Nelson
Fargo