Will the O's Fred Stickel allow a hateful anti-Muslim DVD to be distributed with Sunday's Oregonian?

Kari Chisholm FacebookTwitterWebsite

This is unbelievable, but true.

A right-wing group called "The Clarion Fund" has produced a DVD that's been described as a "highly inaccurate, biased and hateful" screed against Muslims. It's being distributed in newspapers across the country.

And according to the Mercury, the office of Mayor Tom Potter has learned that the Oregonian is planning to distribute the DVD in Sunday's newspaper.

Mayor Potter has called the Oregonian's publisher, Fred Stickel, to ask him to reject the DVD. From the Merc:

The mayor reportedly told Stickel: "If you're planning on distributing this, please don't. It contributes to a climate of distrust towards Muslims, and holds the entire Muslim community accountable for the actions of a dangerously misguided few."

If you can stomach it, watch a few minutes of the film on YouTube.

Call Fred Stickel at 503-221-8140. Seems to me that if the DVD does get distributed, they'd should be returned to the Oregonian. Drop yours off (or mail it - just 83 cents!) to:

Attn: Fred Stickel
Oregonian
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201

  • (Show?)

    The group that's responsible for this DVD is uber fringy, it seems.

    NPR had a story on them today.

    Denise Dennis had one on HuffPo a couple of weeks ago when the DVD was bundled with the Sunday New York Times:

    In one light, the film can be seen as a study in unwitting irony. In discussing how terrorists are recruited, interviewees in the film relate that Islamic terrorism is made possible by politically whipped up fear. One talking head says: "One of the main ways to get people to be willing to fight and endanger their lives and to hate the west is to present the war as an act of self defense..." Another one says: "There has to be a good reason to do jihad... the best reason is to defend themselves. There is an enemy out there who wants to get us. America wants to get us. Nothing could be done wrong by Arabs. It's always the west. "

    In effect, the documentary flips these comments on their head. Aimed at voters in the battleground states the week of September 11, the film is more than a scare tactic or a campaign ploy. It smacks of classic propaganda, boosted through this clever marketing deal by association with the authority of the New York Times brand. The point is to frighten viewers and, it seems clear, to frighten American voters across the country in order to raise security concerns ahead of all other issues in the election.

    More here as well.

  • Hmmmm (unverified)
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    I watched that segment, and will go watch the rest of it too. Why is it bad for us to understand the culture and ideology of radical jihadist Islam?

  • meg (unverified)
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    Islam will rule the earth. God Willing. Alha Akbar,

  • mp97303 (unverified)
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    I will never understand why people are so afraid that their fellow citizens are too utterly stupid to see this for what it is. Let your neighbors view the video if THEY choose and then they can decide for themselves. If the people behind the DVD are indeed idiots, it will be readily apparent.

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    I watched the video. I don't know if the people who produced (and paid for) the video are idiots. That seems irrelevant to me.

    But I do know they are engaging in pretty blatant attempts to manipulate, with very little relevancy to the pressing issues facing us. And given the importance of those " other issues," I suspect that the video will achieve very little of its desired impact.

  • (Show?)

    If the Oregonian distributes this obvious hate piece, then the best way to get back is to cancel your subscription, I know I will....

  • mp97303 (unverified)
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    If the Oregonian distributes this obvious hate piece

    How would I know it is a "hate piece" unless I see it?

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    I watched that segment, and will go watch the rest of it too. Why is it bad for us to understand the culture and ideology of radical jihadist Islam?

    What part of that DVD demonstrates evidence that this is actual "radical jihadist Islam" culture? How do you know that those who made this film created an unvarnished look at the culture of Islam, radical or not?

    I'm asking this in all seriousness. Its a DVD that's coming to your doorstep in the Sunday paper. It could just as easily be a copy of Watchtower that the JW's tossed on your front stoop. Is that the definitive tract on the meaning of life because somebody stuck it by your front door?

  • Eric (unverified)
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    As ridiculous as this video may be, I don't think it's our place to try to have it removed from circulation. That seems kind of like a Sarah Palin maneuver to me.

    Let it be distributed. It's doubtful it will change anyone's mind about Islam. People ignorant enough to hate an entire religion based on the actions of a few idiots will just agree with the video, and everyone else will blow it off or see it for what it is: proof that OUR religious right is just as bad as THEIRS.

  • RW (unverified)
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    MPwhatmagiggy: it is inappropriate for that paper to distribute that material. You SHOULD be "finding out it's a hate piece" by accessing it through a neutral channel such as a door to door distribution, a worship site or Islamist bookstore (maybe) or a streetcorner shoe-box campaign. But NOT tucked into the main fishwrap... don't you think? Sure we should all familiarize ourselves, but it does not seem best to distribute such via our pretend-free-press.

    That's just my 0.02, give or take.

  • rw (unverified)
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    1. Wonder how much they paid for this to be included;
    2. Wonder how they managed to talk someone into it if they did NOT pay for inclusion?
    3. Let's have it vetted by local leadership in the Islamic community.
  • (NOT) Senator Gordon Smith (unverified)
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    I worked with Barack Obama to promote interfaith understanding while Jeff Merkley was cooling his heels in that backwater called Salem.

  • (NOT) Senator Gordon Smith (unverified)
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    I worked with Barack Obama to promote interfaith understanding while Jeff Merkley was cooling his heels in that backwater called Salem.

  • ws (unverified)
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    I haven't seen this DVD video, and I can't say I'm that interested in seeing it. This sounds like a gimmick or a con to fool people receiving it with their newspaper, into thinking that they're getting something special, something !!!'free'!!!. Oh Yay.

    I'd like to know why, besides the money the paper stands to make from the deal, the O seems to think they need to aid this group in the proliferation of more junk plastic. The O is a newspaper....can't they just write and print an article in the paper, or put it on Oregonlive.com? I understand DVD's and CD's can be recycled, but I'll bet 90 percent of these things are going, without being viewed, into the trash and then up the Columbia Gorge to the landfill in Arlington.

    If it's actually the kind of right-wing rhetoric the O is somewhat partial to(David Reinhard, for example), I suppose it's not a surprise that the papers management feels that distributing this trash with The Oregonian, is part of its service to the public.

  • AW (unverified)
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    If the Oregonian does send this trash out, I'll be cancelling my subscription on Monday. It's completely unnacceptable for the O to send out something like this in a mainstream newspaper. I can't help wondering if this DVD was directed at the Jewish community, would the O still be sending it out? Um... can we say HELL NO?

  • christopher (unverified)
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    The Oregonian has set up a phone line dedicated to this issue. 503 276-7270. I called and left a message to stop the distribution of this video. I watched it. Its disgusting. Please call the Oregonian. Or cancel your subscription immediately after Sunday if its included. Remember Money walks. Contact advertisers, preferably local ones and tell them to call as well..

  • French Tickler (unverified)
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    So Fred Stickel bans ads for contraceptives in the newspaper, but he'll allow this? And he apparently enjoys over-ruling editorial board decisions on endorsements.

    Just another filthy rich arrogant Republican jack ass, it would seem.

    I like Kari's idea of sending the DVDs back to Stickel, maybe include a condemn, too.

  • dc (unverified)
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    Referring to the groups promulgating this blatant propaganda, as "right wing", qualifies as the misnomer of the month.

    These are the same zionist-extremists that brought you and I the very term, "Islamofacism". They are of the swarm which spins night and day to affect your perceptions; their names will be found under any and every rock of neo-corruption. If you do a follow up post, please consider using the following links: Here's a good look at the perps.

    and here is a website that offers a critical analysis of their hate-dvd

    I wonder if the R-G was offered the opportunity to litter the community in this way, also. Carry on~

  • Demand accountability (unverified)
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    I wonder where the moral midgets with the biggest mouths claming to be Democrats (Kulongoski, Brown, Merkley, Westlund, and most importantly Kroger who would be Atty General) are in speaking out against this DVD as hate speech? Of course, no one expects decency out of the morally depraved right wing, but it would be typically hypocritical to rationalize that is the reason to give would-be leaders on our side a pass.

    And more importantly, how about putting the O publicly on the spot to explain and defend their guidelines for what meets their standards for advertising they will accept?

    Seems to me these could be the most important statements to get on the record now. If down the road things there is any kind of incident traced to this defamatory and inflammatory DVD, Stickel and any writer who defends it could and should find themselves facing legal proceedings. (Now if they truly were 1st Amendment absolutists, which they haven't been historically, and prove it through a full defense of their advertising policies, that would be a different matter.)

  • Demand Accountability (unverified)
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    Forgot to include failed Atty General candidate Greg MacPherson in the cowardly rogues list who has made one pillar of his political career acting like a right-winger undermining strong 1st Amendment rights on various "safety" theories (generally with the support of by Brown and Merkley in 2007 and 2008 session.)

  • RW (unverified)
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    Unfortunately, this goes deeper than merely being terrible hate-speech. With former Israeli diplomats as part of the group that created this product, we are pointed back to the feudal hx existing here -- this is about history folks, and you have to look deeper and appreciate how insoluble the Middle East anomies seem truly to be.

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080926152921.p3wozs19&show_article=1&lst=1

    I do not support the hate-disc. However, please remember, these things are not happening in a vacuum. I am controlling for my bias in two directions now, as I read the links provided above and follow new ones of my own that relate.

  • Miriam (unverified)
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    Just as one doesn't have to put a gun to their head to know that pulling the trigger would be painful if not suicidal; one doesn't need to watch (obsession)- widely promoted as antiIslamic screed. Please, dont hide behind manipulative propaganda if your need is to hate. Admit that you are powerless over your own bias and fear, and prefer to feed the hate demon within, OR learn the truth about Islam, what more than 1 billion people of peace believe..Muslims are the antithesis of this mythology sold as "fact"..thanks to neocons, evangelicals and racist zionists who promote and distribute this crap.

  • RW (unverified)
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    Miriam, be sure you call that tel number. There are nuances to bias, bigotry, the skew of the spew. More than one kind of hating person out there.

    Immediately following WTC, my young son went off to school where his Beaverton teachers were allowing unbelievably idiotic anti-Islam spew in the classrooms. He began a yearlong series of papers and every-chance-I-get presentations to fight that. A little eleven year old who knew what was right and took some heat from the pack of kids around him, those kids supported by moronic teachers' lack of thinking skills and/or the guts to apply them.

    It is the first time in our lives I knew that he had to think about consequences when he spoke, weigh it up and choose. NOT a progressive setting, he courted anomie from above him and around him. We were AIDS activists since he was in diapers, his expectations came from that set. Our conversations were serious, as it could affect how he was graded, adjudicated, managed and also hazed or not.

    He elected to speak out and to challenge peers and authorities in classrooms during a phase in a child's life when they most want to fit in. We need to foster the expectation of speaking up in our kids, with a strong awareness of CONSEQUENCES so as to strengthen and ground their voices.

  • Greg D. (unverified)
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    Wow. Did they repeal that pesky 1st Amendment while I was watching my 401k crash and burn on CNBC?

  • Rulial (unverified)
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    Wow. Did they repeal that pesky 1st Amendment while I was watching my 401k crash and burn on CNBC?

    No. Nobody here is saying that the government should ban the distribution of this DVD. The <cite>Oregonian</cite> has every right to include this as an advertising supplement if they wish. But we have every right to criticize the producers of this DVD as well as the <cite>Oregonian</cite> for distributing the DVD.

    We need to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Islamic world, not this sort of fear-mongering.

  • mp97303 (unverified)
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    If the O were distributing Al Gore's screed of a movie, would you be saying the same things.?

  • RW (unverified)
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    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1063198/Chinas-new-slave-empire--disturbing-eyewitness-account-Peter-Hitchens.html

    Not sure where this belongs... but it is an important story. Since Mr. Clinton lied to the nation and insisted that Favored Nation Trading Status has never been linked to human rights records... well, hell.... THAT hurt him in my eyes more than any number of Monicas could.

    Please read this article. It's worth it. And then maybe we can return to the issues it brings for us when it is time to engage President Obama on the matters of foreign policy, international trade and regulatory accountability. Not to mention human rights. Line this story up next to Tibet, please.

  • Ms Mel Harmon (unverified)
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    Picked up my early edition of the Sunday Oregonian just now....no DVD, so either Stickel listened to the complaints or else its only going out to subscribers or its not in early edition.

  • AW (unverified)
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    The DVD was in the paper today. So long Oregonian! I'll be cancelling my subscription tomorrow and mailing the DVD back to Stickel.

  • De (unverified)
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    Well, I'm muslim woman that lives in Portland, OR and was born in Somalia. All I can say is muslims dont do themselves any favors my having posts saying "Kill the kufars" or ones that say "Behead those who are against Islam" or when they say "Bomb usa, Bomb uk" I dont blame the west for feeling slightly apprehensive and cynical about the future! We need Muslim Scholars like Tariq Ramadan to speak for Muslims.

    Peace, Peace, Peace around the world!

  • Tyrannocaster (unverified)
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    You can call both your distributor (I did) and the 503 276-7270 number listed above, and of course you can email them; whether you agree with the political content of this thing or not, it is not a recyclable part of the "paper". I want someone from the "paper" to come pick it up, as I will not store it forever in my home, nor do I want it to go into the landfill. I did not ask to receive this and as far as I am concerned it does not fall under the terms of my subscription to the "paper". And if the O sends out the poor carrier to pick it up I want him/her to be paid for the trip; it is not the carrier's fault.

    As long as I have this thing I will have to continue to use quotes around the word "paper".

  • (Show?)

    It is always easier to understand where hate speech fits if you consider your reaction if the grouop being condemned were Jewish, or gay, or Catholic. Would the Oregonian distribute similar material that was anti-semitic? This is not a question of free speech, it is a question of commericial decision making and the Oregonian should be ashamed.

    Let us also be clear that the people paying for this distribution are supporting McCain and hope to add fuel to the fears that Obama is a muslim. This is only being distributed in battleground states. This is not randomly distributed across the country. While we expect that Oregon will be safely for Obama, that was not what polls showed a few weeks ago when the buying decisions were made. There are no New York or California papers on the distribution list, but Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, etc. are covered.

  • (Show?)

    I didn't get one in my delivered Oregonian this morning.....

  • Tyrannocaster (unverified)
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    Well, they were being delivered to all the homes around Mt. Tabor this morning - I spoke with the carriers as I was walking my dog. The carriers are really hearing about this, but of course, they're just the messengers. I felt sorry for one I talked to; it's a shitty job, they don't get paid that well and gas has gotten more and more expensive.

    Then there's Stickel's quote in the article on Page 1 of the Metro section in which he claims that distributing these DVDs is a free speech issue, and that the Oregonian doesn't decide what to include based on content. Well, unless you're a contraceptive maker (but somehow, he forgot to mention that little issue). So I guess Trojans don't get free speech like these Neocon fascists do.

  • (Show?)

    Ty --

    Can you provide more details on this contraceptive angle? I hadn't heard about it before.

  • Mister Deadtree (unverified)
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    So, let's assume I want to cancel my O subscription, but still get weekly dead-tree news of some kind. What do I replace it with? The obvious candidate (NYT) also ran the disc.

  • JustAsking (unverified)
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    Does Fred Stickel not understand that the right to free speech is not absolute?

    You would think someone with his job description would know the basics.

    HATE SPEECH IS NOT PROTECTED SPEECH UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

    Duh.

    Call your lawyer, Fred.

  • JustAsking (unverified)
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    Dear Fred Stickel:

    You can't have a Constitutional violation without state action.

    Is the Oregonian a governmental entity? Is that why you think you have some sort of obligation to provide a forum for non-protected hate speech?

    What a load of B.S. from this guy - "there's a free speech issue". This guy publishes the Oregonian? That explains a lot.

  • patty (unverified)
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    I don't see this as any worse than anything Michael Moore has done. It is all about manipulating facts to make people fearful.

  • MF (unverified)
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    I will never buy another Oregonian so long as Stickel is it's Publisher.

    Allowing this in the paper, especially at election time, which of course WAS the reason they place it, is unforgivable.

    And to those who say that we shouldn't be afraid to allow people to see it; it is this kind of thinking that is responsible for that past eight years. Propaganda is used because it works and it's been proven time and time again that it works.

    It isn't that those of us not wanting to see propaganda are scared folks! The point of this DVD was to create fear in YOU, in all swing states where McCain will likely lose (which is WHY they are ONLY being distributed in those states. Look it up). It's another right wing ploy just like the conveniently placed video of OBL just prior to the last Presidential election!!!

    Bush won BECAUSE folks allowed themselves to be scared - WAKE UP AMERICA! McCain will give us more of the same.......are you willing to stay afraid your entire lives? Bush was going to make it all better, remember? And yet....we're being fed more fear and doom and gloom and look! Just in time for ANOTHER election! Anyone catching on?

    ...........and gee folks, how's THAT neocon way of life been going for us???

  • MF (unverified)
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    Please tell us what Clinton has to do with this DVD. I suppose he's to blame for this propaganda too?

    Congrats to all Clinton haters; Never mind our paper is shoving propaganda at us. Never mind that Bush has run this country into the ground. As long as you have Clinton to hate, nothing else matters, right?!

    Ignorance is bliss I suppose. Your rights are disappearing, but you don't mind. Lucky for fascists there are so many clueless people around. Makes their job easier. First they demonize liberals, then teachers, then judges and lawyers and the media (except their own hacks!).........when they run out of these people to demonize, I suppose they'll have to come after their own.

    Have fun when it's your turn :o{

  • RL (unverified)
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    Equating Moore to this is pathetic. Spoken like a true right winger.

    Hate speech of this sort is in no way like anything Moore has done, and I don't even like him!

    I've had it with the ignorance is bliss crowd. I'm sick of demonization of Liberals from fascists and their clueless followers.

    Go away fascists.

  • Clifford Tracy (unverified)
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    I sometimes wonder, if radical anyone takes over the world, in the name of Allah or whoever, what are they going to do with it? Is Portland going to look like Cairo? Are the illegal Mexicans and radical Islamists going to fight about who is going to re-roof all the Wal-Mart stores?

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