MSNBC: Olbermann Calls Out Bill O'Reilly, Steven Emerson

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's worst persons in the world list yesterday included Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly (with a clip of his interview with yours truly), topped off with the discredited shadowy operative Steven Emerson who was recently exposed in an article in the Tennessean - along with internet sociopath Robert Spencer and others - for cashing in big bucks off of spreading hate and fear of Muslims.

Speaking at Major Islamic Conference in Chicago

Today, I was happy to attend an all-day Islamic conference in Chicago organized by the Council of Islamic Organizations of greater Chicago and  The Muslim Public Affairs Council, two phenomenal organizations leading the Muslim community in civic engagement.  The conference brought in many organizations and luminaries from the American Muslim community. I spoke in three sessions including the opening session which itself was about civic engagement. The other two sessions I spoke at where about the Media, and Islamophobia.

Here were the sessions I spoke at:

Intro Session – Civic Engagement: Our Duty, Our Opportunity
When/Where: 10:00 – 10:45 AM in ROOM 5
Moderator: Mohamad Nasir
Speakers: Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Dr. Salam Al- Marayati, Ahmed Rehab, Hatem Bazian, Safaa Zarzour, Dr. Aminah McCloud, Abed Ayoub

Workshop: How to Make Yourself Heard in Media & Deliver an Effective Message
When/Where: 10:55-11:55AM in ROOM 5
Moderator: Kiran Ansari
Speakers: Edina Lekovic, Ahmed Rehab, Sadaf Syed
Synopsis: Using a case study of the anti mosque climate, this session will demonstrate how to frame issues effectively and address attacks on Islam.

Roundtable: Addressing Islamophobia – Local and National Experiences

When/Where: 4:45 – 5:45 PM in ROOM 6
Moderator: Dr. Zaher Sahloul
Speakers: Abid Malik, Prof. Cherif Bassiouni Ahmed Rehab, Salam Al-Marayati, Dr. Hatem Bazian, Safaa Zarzour

Synopsis: National and local leaders will be discussing their experience in proactively addressing Islamophobia.

Neo-Communication: The Amazing World of Viral Videos

The nature, mediums, and reach of communications are ever-evolving. Once upon a time, candidates running for public office could only speak to small mobs of people at makeshift stages making their way from town to village. News traveled as slow as their entourage and only as fast as the printing and distribution of fliers and newspapers.

Several technologies later - Radio, Television, the internet, and now Youtube - the communications revolution is in full effect.

Only hours after a TV campaign commercial is broadcast for Christine O'Donnell, a group of young talented artists are able to create a hypnotic musical version and upload it to even larger audiences. Before anyone knows it, the spoof itself becomes the story. Thanks in part to the artists' raw talent, their video quickly becomes an instant hit and goes viral. Before you know it, another group of equally talented young people takes the first group's now famous tune and creates a cover for it that quickly attains its own fan club. Now you are two levels deep in commentary, each level reaching millions.

Call it the phenomenon of meta-commentary in an age a democratized media in which anyone has access to everyone and information travels at lightening speed.

But what are the pros and cons of this phenomenon?

Sure, information exchange is now subject to free market rules of supply and demand more than ever before. Is that a good thing or bad? As this phenomenon grows and edges corporate media out of the lion's share of the media market, will we better off  for it or worse off?

How about in this case, should Christine O'Donnell worry about the ridicule, or does she benefit from the massive free exposure and the notion that no publicity is bad publicity?

The talented work of the Gregory Brothers and their famous Autotune the News project:


A catchy cover of the first one by another talented group (from Sweden) by the name of Roomie:


The original campaign ad by underdog Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell:


The Gregory brother's most famous autotune is the bed intruder song that targets an otherwise low profile local news story, earning them 34 million hits! Their song was also covered by roomie among hundreds of other covers (This one played on only two strings is fascinating).

Internet Sociopath Robert Spencer Wants to Debate Me

These days, the internet is booming with shady characters raking up big bucks in the Bash-and-Cash Islamophobia business.

One such person is an individual by the name of Robert Spencer who runs an amateurish website by the name of JihadWatch.org.

Spencer claims to be a scholar of Islam, Islamic Law, and Theology but holds no degrees in any of those subjects and has never even published a single peer-reviewed paper. Actual scholars see him as something of a joke.

Spencer is actually an anti-Muslim advocate with no interest or capacity for objective scholarship. He spends his time cherry-picking the internet for evil acts or bad behavior by Muslims (whether they do it in the name of Islam or not) and then laundry listing them as representative of normative Islam. That's all he does, day-in day-out, same exact procedure.

The fake scholar has built up a cultist presence on his blog that acts as an echo chamber of gullible angry people who believe anything their little leader tells them.

Now comes the humor. Apparently this guy heard me on the Michael Medved show earlier today where I disagreed with Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar for storming off the stage during a debate with Bill O'Reilly. It is something I would not do. Spencer who had invited me to a debate before, ran to his blog and put up a piece complaining that if that is the case then how come I "ran away" from debating him.

Surfing through JihadWatch.org, it doesn't take much to figure out that Spencer is an odd fellow. His rhetoric ranges between the sensational, the simplistic, the superficial, and in many cases the delusional (such as in this case). yet still, until today, I thought he was smarter than that.

Apparently Spencer does not know the difference between storming off from a debate, and never gracing the debate with your presence in the first place.

Spencer, I never agreed to debate you in the first place, and it is highly unlikely that I ever will. If I did for some odd reason, I assure you I would stomach your delusional diatribes throughout the length of the debate and not storm off.

I have debated people in the right wing. So Spencer is probably wondering why I am ignoring him? Well, it's pretty simple really.

There needs to be three criteria present for me to actively want to set up a formal debate with you:

1. That I disagree with you. (Why would I want to debate someone I agree with?) Spencer Check.
2. That you are a reasonable individual who is a truth-seeker. Spencer Fail.
3. That I respect you. Spencer Fail.

Debating people who are divorced from reason and for whom I have no respect is a waste of my time. So Spencer will just have to keep telling himself it is because he is so wonderfully right that I am afraid to debate him. He can conveniently ignore the fact that I have debated many people from the right that are actually famous for doing something and that are much more formidable opponents.

But wait, there's more comedy: In order to convince me to debate him, Spencer decides to give us a preview of the deep intellectual skills he is capable of and that I would have to look forward to. Those skills consist of:

1. An allegation that I wear lipstick and eyeshadow.
2. A surprisingly immature "na na na" school yard song (that he apparently thinks is so clever).

I am serious folks. This is real. Now, does that sounds like the sort of respectable scholar you would run to debate? More like a creepy overgrown child desperate for attention.

And now for some irony. Spencer, you are claiming you are ready to debate anyone but that alas no one wants to debate you because no one can. But, is this actually true? Does the name Danios of Loonwatch ring a bell Spencer? You may be burying your head in the sand hoping no one will notice, but a simple Google search on "Robert Spencer debate" reveals your hypocrisy. How come you are ignoring an invitation from another blogger who has challenged you numerous times and whose articles shredding your arguments to pieces are all over the web without a peep of a rebuttal from you? Are you conceding defeat? Are you "running away?"

For the full monty on this sociopath, visit Spencerwatch.com

FOX News Rewards Juan Williams with $2 Million

It's official, Juan Williams' transformation from respected, objective journalist to sensationalist infotainer is complete.

In the immediate wake of the anti-Muslim comments that saw Williams fired by NPR, he has been offered a $2 million contract with FOX News, leaving no question as to where the network lies when it comes to prejudicial language against Muslims.

Had Juan Williams made the exact same comments about Jews or most other groups, there is little doubt FOX News would have distanced themselves. But he makes them about Muslims, and the next day he joins the dozens of other pundits and characters who have cashed in big for bashing Muslims.

And that's not all, so as to leave no shadow of a doubt as to how ecstatic FOX News is with Williams' views, Williams is not only a repeat guest on the O'Reilly Factor tonight but he is hosting the show himself tomorrow.

Meanwhile conservative attack dogs including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich have come after NPR. The same Palin and Gingrich and co. who were either dead silent or who applauded CNN's firing of Rick Sanchez for furthering stereotypes about Jews in the media.

UPDATE: One point is important to clarify because there are a lot of people out there using the freedom of speech card to defend Juan's comments:

Of course, Juan is fully entitled to express his views. But remember: freedom of speech goes both ways, Juan can say what he wants, we can say what we want. We would not have it any other way. He was free to stereotype, we were free to criticize him for it.

We did not fire him, NPR did. He was bad for their business, NPR does not pay free compliments to Muslims because they adore us, they do what's good for their business, he was terrible for their image, even before this incident, and I believe they've been looking for an opportunity to end their working relationship with him in order to protect their business.

The AP reports: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller said Thursday that Williams had veered from journalistic ethics several times before Monday's comments. In a memo to her staff and affiliate stations, Schiller said the comments violated NPR's code of ethics, which says journalists should not participate in news media "that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis."

Keep in mind NPR received over 3000 complaints from their listeners about his comments. While Williams was helping FOX gain viewers, he was helping NPR lose listeners. While I hate to see anyone lose their job, I think NPR cannot be blamed for not wanting employees who breech their editorial objectivity and cause them to lose their core support. Juan seems to be faring quite with 2 million reasons not to sulk about it.

So it's a bit hypocritical when those who defend Juan's intolerance under freedom of speech accuse us of intolerance when we use our own freedom of speech to point out that his intellect failed to reign in his irrational fears. Is he free to talk and we're free only to listen and agree. Well for those who believe that, we're always happy to disappoint them.

NPR Fires Juan Williams Over Anti-Muslim Comments

NPR finally realized that Juan Williams, who moonlights as a FOX News paid polemicist, is an embarrassment to the objective professional journalistic standards NPR holds itself to. NPR's decision to fire him was justified in that Juan's controversial comments about Muslims at large on the O'Reilly Factor amounted to little more than pure prejudice anyway you look at it. Even if they were honest, they were honestly prejudiced and ignorant.

By implying that he is somehow justified in feeling "nervous" when he sees an average Muslim on a plane who identifies as Muslim, he is in effect equating all Muslims with terrorists and sanctioning bigotry and prejudice. He was basically saying that a Muslim is scary and threatening by virtue of being Muslim (not by virtue of bad behavior).

One wonders, does Juan Williams also justify white women clutching their purses when they see a black man enter an elevator, just because he's black?

Juan Williams's "fear and nervousness" towards average Muslims is the result of his closed-mindedness and limited horizons; he does not belong with NPR, a respectable news services that seeks objectivity and that caters to a discerning audience.

UPDATE: I saw that there are people debating whether Juan Williams' statements were bigotted. So let me ask you, if Mr. Juan Williams or another NPR senior editor is running around national TV telling people "I feel scared and anxious when I see a Jewish person, looking all Jewish in their Yarmulke and sideburns and identifying as a Jew first," or "I feel scared and anxious when I see a Black person, looking all Black with their afro and Fubu gear and identifying as a Black person first," don't you think the absurdity of those comments would be self-evident to all and we would not be having this conversation. EVEN if that person was genuine and honest and really feels this way and is just expressing an opinion.

That is because we as a society have learned - very well - that negative generalizations amounts to prejudice and that prejudice is ignorant and that people who feel this way need to seek help rather than pontificate on TV. But it seems some are still struggling to see Muslims in that same light due to being desensitized by constant Media vitriol that deems it "still ok" when it comes to Muslims.

Now let me be clear, Juan Williams has as much a right to be prejudiced and to openly share his prejudices just as much as anybody else. But in the same vein, NPR has a right to say thanks but no thanks, this breaches our trust of your character and judgment and our policy that our journalists should represent fact-based analysis not emotional, speculative ones.

NPR Fires Analyst Over Comments on Muslims

By BRIAN STELTER | New York Times

Published: October 20, 2010

NPR has terminated its contract with Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made comments about Muslims on the Fox News Channel.

NPR said in a statement that it gave Mr. Williams notice of his termination on Wednesday night.

The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O’Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.” Mr. O’Reilly said, “The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.”

Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O’Reilly.

He continued: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Mr. Williams also made reference to the Pakistani immigrant who pleaded guilty this month to trying to plant a car bomb in Times Square. “He said the war with Muslims, America’s war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts,” Mr. Williams said.

NPR said in its statement that the remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

The public radio organization said it thanked him for many years of service. Mr. Williams did not immediately respond on Wednesday night to an e-mail seeking comment.

Mr. Williams’s contributions on Fox raised eyebrows at NPR in the past. In February 2009, NPR said it had asked that he stop being identified on “The O’Reilly Factor” as a “senior correspondent for NPR,” even though that title was accurate.

Alicia C. Shepard, the NPR ombudswoman, said at the time that Mr. Williams was a “lightning rod” for the public radio organization in part because he “tends to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox.”

Ms. Shepard said she had received 378 listener e-mails in 2008 listing complaints and frustrations about Mr. Williams.

Inside North Korea, A Fascinating Look

I recommend that after you go home today, you find a quiet corner of your home, and you sit down to watch one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking documentaries you are likely to watch: National Geographic's "An Inside Look at North Korea." [Video Below]

The documentary is not only a rare look into one of the most elusive countries, but a journey into the depth of the human mind and soul.

North Korea represents an intriguing phenomenon on many levels.

It is the world's most isolated nation-state. Virtually everything is state controlled, there is no internet, cell phones, and its borders which straddle mostly China in the North, the Soviet Union in the Northwest and South Korea in the South are sealed shut under heavy military monitoring. No one is allowed to leave or enter without special state permission. The country has very few foreigners and those who are allowed to enter, do so briefly and are escorted under the watchful eye of specially designated state agents at all times. During the last World Cup, North Korea opted to send Chinese actors posing as North Korean fans supporting the North Korean national soccer team, rather than risk exposing their citizens to the outside world, and so risk defection.

North Korean life is rooted in intense regiment and communal submission to the head of state who is something of a God-King. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as it is formally known, was founded by Kim Il Sung, who introduced the Juche ideology of self-reliance that continues to shape the nation's political and social outlook today. Known as the "eternal president," his son, Kim Jong Il, now carries the torch and enjoys a similar stranglehold over everyday life.

Korea enjoyed independent rule for most of its history until it was brutally colonized by Japan after the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. Following World War II, the North moved toward Soviet-sponsored communism, while the South aligned itself with the US to resist communist rule. The 1950 Korean war raged on for three years and saw heavy casualties but no clear outcome. The North and South today live in a tense and nervous coexistence that represents one of the most stark side-by-side contrasts in any single region in the world today. They two are separated by a heavily militarized zone along their entire shared border that offers many intriguing stories in its own right.

Given the traumatic experience with what the North Koreans saw as brutal foreign enemies in Japan and later the United States, Kim Il Sung's Juche ideology sought to restore pride, dignity, and power to the Korean people through complete self-reliance. But with that came an iron fist that Kim saw necessary in order to maintain total control. The results are more complex than mere fear and tyranny. The North Korean people who can be described as proud, disciplined and productive are likely driven by fear, but not fear alone. North Koreans have also been exposed to a sort of communal brain-washing, the result of long years of meticulously choreographed state propaganda that dominates the public media, the schooling system from a young age, and the workplace. As a result, it is difficult to tell whether the average North Korean simply fears the "dear leader" or is convinced that he is indeed his savior and sustainer. As the documentary posits in its conclusion, the truth is probably closer to a complex mix of both.

One thing is for certain, North Korea runs one of the most brutal systems of mass prisons in the world today that collectively house up to 1% of the total population. These prisons do not only punish those who question the "dear leader" and his regime, but their immediate and extended families as well. While North Korea possesses the world's largest military in the world - not to mention nuclear weapons - the civilian standard of living is very low. Citizens suffer from scarce food sources, poor health care, and very few luxuries that most other states in East Asia take for granted.

As you watch the video, think about the following:

What is going through the hearts and minds of North Koreans today? What motivates them? While the state is undeniably tyrannical and propagandist, do we understand the people's desire for pride, dignity, and self-reliance? While it is easy to demonize them as a people, is it possible to relate to them as human beings who have been put through an entirely different set of experiences and exposed to an entirely different set of ideas from us? Where would we be if we were in their place, living where they are living, and raised as they were raised? What does the North Korean experience say about mass psychology? What are the machinations of such large-scale brainwashing and psychological manipulation, why does it work, how can it be prevented, how can it be undone?



Main Photo Credit: Eric Lafforgue. Visit this amazing photo exhibit of everyday life in North Korea by Eric.

Shilling for the Israeli Occupation: The ADL’s New Mission Statement?

By Ahmed Rehab

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), fresh off of several PR gaffes, recently managed to pull off another head-scratching moment:  It has compiled and released a list of the top ten most influential anti-Israel groups in America.

In other words, an organization that describes itself as “the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency that fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all” is spending its resources decrying American organizations that are not blindly supportive of a foreign government it likes to align itself with.

If that’s not fishy enough, what the ADL’s list really showcases are the top ten most influential groups that take a principled anti-occupation and anti-displacement position and who call for a just peace.

Here are a few thoughts on this list:

• The ADL is slowly but surely shifting its focus from fighting bigotry to doing public relations work for the government of Israel including shilling for its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.

• The list includes many Jews including some who self-identify as friends of Israel, and yet the report still manages to accuse them of being anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic. This is because the ADL hopes it can convince you that anti-occupation is synonymous with anti-Israel and anti-Israel is synonymous with anti-Semitism.

• This latest stunt by the ADL comes on the heels of several other bizarre decisions, including the ADL’s decision to side with far right-wing anti-religious freedom groups like the notorious SIOA (Stop the Islamization of America) against the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero. So much for “fighting all forms of bigotry and defending democratic ideals and protecting civil rights for all”! The ADL is now trying to backtrack from its position on this issue after a public backlash that seemed to take it by surprise.

• Since this list mostly targets organizations that take a bold moral stance against the illegal Israeli occupation and other inhumane policies carried by the government of Israel against the occupied Palestinians, J Street ought to take a deep long look at itself and ask itself why it failed to make the list.

• Jewish Voice for Peace which proudly made the list wrote an excellent five point response to the ADL. If you were to contrast the morally expedient language of the ADL’s report with the clarion values in the JVP’s response, it is self-evident as to who represents the voice of extremism and who represents the voice of reason.

• Other “disturbingly” named organizations that accompany Jewish Voice for Peace include: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, If Americans Knew, Students for Justice in Palestine, and US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Horrifying.

• The list also includes mainstream U.S. Muslim organizations like CAIR. CAIR, like the other organizations on the list, is pro-peace and anti-injustice. CAIR’s work centers on defending civil rights and dispelling misinformation and stereotypes about Muslims – doing for America’s Muslims what the ADL used to do (and should be doing) for America’s Jews. It does not concern itself with the political aspect of the conflict but with the legal, civil and human rights aspects that have repercussions on local constituents here and that are often supported by our tax dollars. CAIR’s position has been one of opposition to the occupation and disenfranchisement of Palestinians. The ADL cannot point to one release from CAIR that can be described bigoted against Israelis as a people, let alone against Jews. CAIR’s releases and rallies have only addressed the occupation and the questionable actions of the government of Israel. But as I mentioned the ADL tries to equate opposition to the occupation and the illegal practices of the Likud government to bigotry and anti-Semitism in order to create a chilling effect.

• The ADL’s report is announced on the front page of the ADL’s website, right above its decision to honor Rupert Murdoch for his “stalwart support of Israel support” (yet another mind-boggling moment from the ADL).  Why would the ADL who claims to “fight all forms of bigotry, defend democratic ideal and protects civil rights for all” turn around and award the man behind FOX News, a network that is notorious for spewing bigoted material and making a daily mockery of the news industry?

Does the ADL really believe that FOX News “fights bigotry and promotes democratic ideals and equal civil rights for all”? Has Abe Foxman watched FOX News coverage of Muslims , Latinos, or immigrants lately? Why would the ADL offer Murdoch its “International leadership” award? Because the ADL’s awardees selection committee is more concerned with where a candidate stands on Israel, even if at the expense of where he stands on bigotry, democratic ideals, and equal civil rights – once again bringing to light the disturbing shift in the ADL’s mission and raison d’etre.

• Lastly, the ADL’s report takes issue with yours truly:

In response to the Israeli Navy's raid of a flotilla of ships heading to Gaza in May 2010, the executive director of CAIR-Chicago accused Israel of a "failure to apply Jewish values"

The Chicago Tribune piece that Abe Foxman is referring to was decidedly pro-Judaism. I received many thank you notes from Jewish friends and strangers including Rabbis. Given the gravity of the Israel violations at the time, many emailed to say that I was gracious and restrained. So why did Foxman take issue with this piece, you may ask? Well, because the piece was decidedly anti-occupation. Another exhibit for the ADL’s changing priorities.

• Salon.com had a good piece on this story. Read it here.

Joy and Whoopi Walk Out On Bill O'Reilly

Bill gets it completely wrong on The View, prompting Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to walk off stage.

He runs the usual line that: "Muslims killed us on 9/11" therefore Muslims cannot build a mosque near Ground Zero.

In fact, Muslims did not kill us on 9/11. I did not kill us on 9/11. I was coding software that day. My mom did not kill us on 9/11. She was shopping that day. My nephew did not kill us on 9/11. He was cozying up in a uterus that day.

Al Qaeda killed "us." That's right I, my mom, my nephew, and my fellow American Muslims are part of the "us" Bill is referring to - and yet today, American Muslims supposedly can't build near Ground Zero but other "types" of Americans absolutely can.

Do you think America is a society that advocates for first and second rate citizenship depending on race or faith or whatever else? Worse yet, advocates for that type of society claim that this needs to be done out of "sensitivity"? You see something obscenely wrong here?

Coming Soon…

This will be the home of my new running blog...