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Moderate Muslim voices silenced
Dallas Morning News ^ | May 13, 2007

Posted on 05/14/2007 3:07:29 PM PDT by nuconvert

Moderate Muslim voices silenced

PBS won't show 'Islam vs. Islamists,' but you should see it, says ROD DREHER

May 13, 2007

I've asked myself a thousand times since 9/11: Where are all the moderate Muslims? We're assured that there's a silent majority of Muslims who want nothing to do with the jumped-up jihadists. But those voices are few and far between.

Here's the good news: The makers of the PBS-commissioned documentary Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Center found some outspoken moderate Muslims and profiled them and their astonishing courage. The film shows these men mounting a lonely resistance against Muslim leaders in the West who are fronting a false moderate face to the public while using oil money from Gulf Arab sources to make their hard-line version of Islam the norm.

Here's the bad news: PBS refused to air the film as part of its recent "America at the Crossroads" series, even though it had been scheduled. I saw Islam vs. Islamists and concluded that it's absolutely vital to informed public debate. That PBS decided not to show, at least for now, such an important film is shocking.

Or is it? Most of the U.S. media has done a lousy job of critically covering Muslim organizations here, of asking serious questions about what their leaders believe and where they get their funding. These folks are quick to shriek "Islamophobia!" when a journalist points out their connections to radical Islam or asks straightforward questions about what they believe. The idea – and it's a successful one – is to squelch a legitimate and necessary public discussion.

As Islam vs. Islamists documents, it's a tactic they use with far less finesse on dissenting Muslims. Tarek Fatah and Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, two of several moderates featured in the film,

(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islam; islamists; jasser; media; mediabias; moderatemuslims; muslim; pbs; tv
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1 posted on 05/14/2007 3:07:30 PM PDT by nuconvert
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To: nuconvert

Most of the U.S. media has done a lousy job of critically covering Muslim organizations here, of asking serious questions about what their leaders believe and where they get their funding.
Yea , no kidding , the left biased MSM NEVER sides with Americans .


2 posted on 05/14/2007 3:10:34 PM PDT by sonic109
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To: nuconvert

The sad thing is that the libtards constantly blame conservatives for upsetting the muslim world. The reality as I see it is that conservatives are far more likely to openly support true moderate muslims who do speak out.

Meanwhile back at the ANSWER rally, the hamas speaker introduces the Fata speaker...


3 posted on 05/14/2007 3:10:56 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: nuconvert

How can I get a copy?


4 posted on 05/14/2007 3:14:38 PM PDT by ozoneliar ("The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants" -T.J.)
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To: ozoneliar
How can I get a copy?

Right now, you can't. PBS refuses to air it. PBS refuses to release it to the producers so that they can show it.

5 posted on 05/14/2007 3:17:49 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon ("An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last." Churchill)
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To: sonic109

Great article. So unjust that PBS won’t air it.


6 posted on 05/14/2007 3:18:41 PM PDT by Vanbasten
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To: nuconvert
Moderate Muslim voices silenced

All four of them? ...wow.
7 posted on 05/14/2007 3:20:36 PM PDT by HEY4QDEMS (Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.)
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To: ozoneliar

You can’t (that I know of). PBS owns it.
You can sign a petition here. As a taxpayer, you helped to fund the project that PBS is refusing to let you see...

http://www.freethefilm.net/home.html


8 posted on 05/14/2007 3:22:41 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: HEY4QDEMS

Turns out they were bowing to jello. It was the pineapples that did them in.


9 posted on 05/14/2007 3:23:16 PM PDT by kinoxi
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To: nuconvert

Moderate Muslims are like ghosts, often talked about, but no can really say they ever saw one.


10 posted on 05/14/2007 3:26:17 PM PDT by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
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To: HEY4QDEMS

Your comment proves the point.
The media refuses to give publicity to moderates, so people like you think there are only “four”
The liberal media brainwashing is working.


11 posted on 05/14/2007 3:27:46 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: The Great RJ

Please read post#11


12 posted on 05/14/2007 3:28:30 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: ozoneliar; Jeff Gordon

The producers should ‘accidentally leak’ a copy of it to veoh.com... (Veoh is kind of like youtube without the technical restrictions).


13 posted on 05/14/2007 3:31:03 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: ozoneliar; Vanbasten; sonic109

Here’s another article on this PBS program posted earlier, by Roger L. Simon

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1833029/posts


14 posted on 05/14/2007 3:31:47 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: nuconvert
PBS, in making this decision, has assured itself a further budget cut.

Take another few million from their coffers!

15 posted on 05/14/2007 3:32:24 PM PDT by Candor7
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To: nuconvert
The liberal media brainwashing is working.

I don't know what liberal media you're watching. The one I've been watching portrays Muslims as peace loving innocents suffering at the hands of the evil US.
16 posted on 05/14/2007 3:33:27 PM PDT by HEY4QDEMS (Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.)
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To: HEY4QDEMS

“I don’t know what liberal media you’re watching. The one I’ve been watching portrays Muslims as peace loving innocents suffering at the hands of the evil US.”

Exactly. That’s why they don’t want to show these moderates who are speaking out against the islamists in our midst who are not really “peace loving”


17 posted on 05/14/2007 3:36:32 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: nuconvert
Ok! Ok! There may be five or six. But I have not heard one mohamadan in the U.S. actually blame another mohammedan of being a terrorist! Not ONE!
18 posted on 05/14/2007 3:41:31 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: nuconvert

Moderate Muslim?

That must be a Muslim who hasn’t yet worked up the courage to pop the spoon and toss his grenade into a classroom full of children....


19 posted on 05/14/2007 3:41:43 PM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: The Great RJ
Moderate Muslims are like ghosts, often talked about, but no can really say they ever saw one.

I know one of the people cited in this article. His battle for a libertarian vision of Islam is a very lonely one.

20 posted on 05/14/2007 3:48:59 PM PDT by BlazingArizona
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