Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West, an hour-long movie describing Islamic extremists, made the news as it hit 70 major newspapers across the country, including The News & Observer.
This movie is one-sided and portrays only a portion of the complex issue surrounding international events. Students should look for other sources like the Muslim Student Association’s table in the Brickyard for more information during Islamic Awareness Week and scholarly sources.
Sara Haddad, president of the Muslim Student Association, said there are approximately 2,000 Muslim students on campus, which is about 6.67 percent of the student body. Haddad felt this DVD presented a biased image of Muslims that portrayed the majority as violent radicals and made the moderates seem like a silent minority.
It also reinforced a label that associated the idea of Islam with violent extremists. She compared such labeling to using the Ku Klux Klan as representation for all Christianity.
The DVD selectively shows television clips containing violent images and speeches condemning Western nations. The DVD also contained interviews of people who almost unanimously spoke about the threat of radical Islam and provided no alternative view.
The Obsession DVD was a paid advertisement. Jim McClure, vice president for display advertisements at The N&O, said the publishers reviewed and accepted the DVD for use in a paid advertisement, and the DVD was separately packaged from the newspaper, thus distinguishing it from actual coverage. The underlying issue behind this DVD, McClure said, was freedom of speech.
This is absolutely correct – freedom of speech is a constitutionally guaranteed right. But this works both ways, and all sides of any debate or issue need to have an equal say in informing the student body. The N&O may want to take caution, as the inclusion of such materials may be difficult to distinguish from actual coverage.
The University, like all institutions for higher learning, is a bastion for the free flow of ideas and informed discussion of issues.
The MSA’s table in the Brickyard is an excellent opportunity for students to ask fellow students questions about Islam and get to know other Muslim students. Students need to use such resources as much as possible if any substantial debate on the matter is going to happen. Campus leaders need to get students informed about where to find these sources.
