Alleging Fascism

In October 2008 a movie was sent to 28 million people in the United States, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War on the West. Filming, producing, and distributing a movie on such a wide scale must have been very costly. It was done for a reason.

The video was not sent to publicly known free thinkers like me. I obtained it from a mentally ill client whose symptoms include delusions of being the archangel Michael or even Jesus Christ. The movie disturbed him and it took quite a bit of talking to get him balanced out again. While my client is mentally ill with religious delusions, I wonder what effect such a film has on people in general.

Up front it is stated that the video was produced by The Clarion Fund, an “independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to educating the public about national security matters.” Over the last eight years we have learned that wording can mask intentions. For example, how many people read this description yet fail to consider that non-partisan isn’t the same thing as unbiased? And how many jump down a level and consider when security is named as an issue that insecurity is the problem, and if this is true then why aren’t we working to increase America’s self-concept? As to the claim of independence, I haven’t researched where the money came from to produce and distribute this video. If we had investigative journalism it would be an interesting assignment.

At the beginning and the end of the video the point is made that many Muslims are decent, peaceful people, and the video is not about them. However, slyly stuck in the middle is the fear-producing comment that radical Muslims are sprinkled over the entire world population and you can’t tell the difference. Therefore, every Muslim must be suspect. And when they criticize Hitler for wanting to kill Jews I wonder what their rationale is for advocating the killing of radical Muslims, who can’t be distinguished from the mainstream?

The movie continually shows images of the desecration of the national symbols of the United States, Britain, Israel, and a few other countries. While the language being spoken over the images was purposefully ‘moderated’, a good many people will have emotional reactions to the desecration of what they consider national or sacred to them and they are unlikely to hear words.

The video follows the national trend to confuse opinion with fact. The historians in the video present accurate facts from history but then draw conclusions that are opinion; other historians considering the same historical facts come up with different conclusions.

It became obvious that those decrying radical Islam are oblivious to radical Christianity. Halfway through the movie I kept thinking of the old saw ‘the pot calling the kettle black.’ For the rest of the video I was able to insert ‘Christian extremists’ in place of ‘Muslim extremists’ and it fit just as well. When they go on and on about Muslim radicals following the Nazi ideal of world domination I keep thinking about the Project for a New American Century that has the same goal.

I agreed with the recommendation at the end that education of the people about religious extremism was necessary to keep jihad from playing out. Yet the logic was shattered when the early segments that showed Muslim radicals shouting “Death to America!” was replaced with Americans shouting “Death to terrorists!” as part of the solution. You cannot douse a fire with gasoline.

It didn’t surprise me when the term ‘Islamofascism’ was introduced about three-quarters of the way through. That’s what everything was leading up to. And it confirmed my suspicion: this whole issue isn’t about Muslims. Or religion at all. It’s about the King of the Mountain.

It’s a bunch of well researched phenomena. Those who continually allege hatred and malice toward those whom they refuse to meet are projecting their own unacceptable traits. The two most socially acceptable areas to mask one’s dark side yet play out its dictates are government and religion. When religious practice becomes extreme – and violates the strictures toward peace and love – one is only using religion as the storefront and deals sin from the back. In reality we are not dealing with Christianity or Islam; we are dealing with unacknowledged and unaccepted hatred. In King of the Mountain, as is well illustrated by history, when one player sets himself up as the unassailable master it provokes others to prove he’s wrong; in more practical matters when one player oppresses others the others will speak out, and if not heard at the editorial level will find ways to make themselves heard up to and including violence. Finally, though it never made it to the psychologist’s diagnostic manual, a disorder that was well researched after Hitler fell is termed authoritarian personality disorder, and includes an orientation toward fascism. Personality disorders know nothing of national boundaries. It can happen in America.

A quick search of the Internet reveals fourteen traits of a developing fascistic state. Without going over them here, in the last eight years the United States has been incorporating several of them, including militarism, secrecy, stealing elections, industry profit over the public good, and government control of the banks. Our reluctance to believe that this could happen to our nation gives the power brokers time and material to turn things this way. In 1925 no German would have said that they could end up in a dictatorship like Hitler’s within fifteen years.

Obsession is a good word for the video. It was distributed to sway those who are still ambivalent about who to vote for on Nov. 4. Yet we must be fair and recognize that it applies not only to Islamic fanatics but also to the Christofascists who have control of our nation at the moment. It is urgent that we recognize this so that we may remove them from power, partner with the other nations and religions in the world to remove them from elsewhere, and pursue the real tasks of cultivating peace and elevating humanity.