Is Ron Howard Afraid of Offending Muslims?
Ron Howard has managed to perfectly illustrate where Hollywood divides popcorn entertainment from the intolerable and the inflammatory. He has shrugged off the risk of insulting a billion Catholics. When it comes to Muslims, though, he has a very different policy: hands off.
Howard’s choices on how to adapt Dan Brown’s novel Angels & Demons speaks more loudly than anything in the film itself. (Incidentally, Angels & Demons takes place before and was written before Brown’s first blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, although in the movies the order of the two stories is reversed.)
Brown’s novel, clumsily written as it is (“So we meet yet again” is a typical line of dialogue), gives characters deep backgrounds and ample motivations. The girl in the book, for instance, is a scientist who is out to find who killed her colleague and father. In the movie, the murder victim is simply her lab partner. Simplifying the book and eliminating characters is necessary, but there is no reason for Howard to de-Islamify the book’s central killer.
In Brown’s pages we learn that the anti-Catholic group the Illuminati inspired a cult of crazed killers with a fanatical hatred for the church known — after their fondness for hashish — as Hassassins. (Strike the H and the word is still in use.)
Their modern agent is a man Brown clearly designates as an Arab and a Muslim. A witness to one of his crimes says he’s an Arab. He speaks Arabic. It is his precision-timed killing spree of four high-ranking cardinals (each of whom is to be dispatched at a designated spot among symbolic Illuminati sites in Rome) that Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is trying to foil. In the midst of his rampage, which he expects to end with the destruction of the entire Vatican, he pauses to raise his eyes to the dome of St. Peter’s. Writes Brown, “‘Your final hour,’ he said aloud, picturing the thousands of Muslims slaughtered during the Crusades. ‘At midnight you will meet your God.’”
It matters that the Hassassin is an Arab. With the world watching his every step as he operates in public places in the middle of a media frenzy in Rome, he is at enormous risk. But he is driven by a psychotic frenzy and ancient hatreds. In the movie, Howard doesn’t bother telling us anything about the killer’s motivation, his background, or his identity. He’s coolly played by Danish actor Nikolaj Lee Kaas, who speaks fluent Italian and English. With his rimless glasses he looks as threatening as the assistant manager of an Italian coffee bar.
Every so often we see the killer fiddle with a computer that tells him payments are being processed into his bank accounts. So this bland nobody is putting his neck on the line with the world watching and carrying out a scheme of bizarre torture-murders because … he’s getting a paycheck.
The film of The Da Vinci Code — a sluggish adaptation of a cracking good yarn — posited a massive Catholic Church cover up of a line of direct descendants from Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Pure entertainment, Howard claimed. The thing wasn’t to be taken seriously. Fair enough.
In Angels & Demons, the film isn’t about Church-sanctioned misdeeds, and Catholics shouldn’t find it particularly offensive. But (minor spoiler at the end of this paragraph) just as being unwilling to offend Catholics would have taken the heart out of The Da Vinci Code, being unwilling to offend Muslims presents Howard with a problem he never quite solves. A thriller has to have an interesting bad guy, but Howard’s serial killer is such a nonentity he turns down a chance to murder some of his pursuers because he says he isn’t getting paid for that. What self-respecting James Bond villain would be so blasé?
Howard becomes annoyed whenever a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Catholic faith huffs about being offended or murmurs something about a boycott. What ought to offend all of us, though, is that Hollywood is so craven and out of touch as to rule out of bounds any attempt to show bad behavior on the part of even one Muslim.
Howard needs to drop the “Happy Days” diplomacy with the Muslim world. I’m tired of hysterical anti-Catholics. Brave? No. A movie on women’s rights in Syria would be brave.
Perhaps he is afraid of losing his head?
Islam is a wicked ideology that OBLIGATES ALL Muslims to either convert, kill, enslave or subjugate all non believers.
Mohammad declared eternal war on all of mankind untll this along with the imposition of Sharia law upon all of us is accomplshed.
Liberals seem to enjoy this while a substantial amount of conservatives are ignorant of this fact.
Since 9/11 we have increased the levels of legal immigration of Muslims into our country every year. So each year since 9/11 we have become LESS safe than the preceding year.
I can’t remember ever hearing one conservative talk show host or politician ever discuss Islam in a manner that indicates that they have read the Islamic texts.
This why you hear such nonexistent nonsense as “Islamofascism”, “extermists”, “radical Islam’, “war on terror” and the like.
In order to win a war you must not only define but also know your enemy. We have done neither. Islam is at war with us. It always will be like or not. We must keep Islam out of the West.
Forget about the Left. They are in bed with Islam.
Perhaps if we Catholics routinely walked into crowded shopping malls with explosives strapped to our chests, shrieked “Death to America!” and then blew ourselves up, taking twenty-odd shoppers with us, we’d get more respect from the likes of Opie Cunningham.
The real act of disrespect–and it’s directed at everyone, regardless of creed or color–is that anyone ever had to pay to see The Da Vinci Code. They took a dumb book and made it into a dumber movie, and sequels being what they are, I’m sure Angels and Demons tops its predecessor in terms of stupidity.
Opie is a Dhimmi.
Is Ron Howard afraid of offending muslims? Well, he’s an intelligent guy, of course he is. Certainly, he knows what happened to Theo Van Gogh. Strangely enough, he’s pretty safe from avenging Catholics and murdering Illuminati who only exist in Dan Brown’s imagination.
Is Ron Howard afraid of offending muslims?
Of course.
He knows they cut the heads off people who dare to disagree with them or ask them serious questions, like Daniel Pearl.
Just like the fraud POTUS, when push comes to shove where muslim terrorists are concerned, Ron Howard actually does understand.
Well, if Howard’s afraid of offending Moslems, Brown may have been too.
The Hassassins were not created by the Illuminati; they sprang out of Islam itself, and the majority their victims weren’t Crusaders, but other Moslems who offended their leader, Sheik al-Jabal (the “old man”), or whom they considered insufficiently stalwart defenders of Islam. Sorry, you can’t blame them on the Illuminati.
Par for their cowardly course, self professed liberal progressives are the most reactionary in their thinking, despite all their bellicose protestations to the contrary.
A true liberal would NEVER aid-covertly or overtly-those who go through life waging jihadi genocide.
In this regard, it is pathetic and craven to witness the so called Hollywood elite pandering to the enemies of western civilization, as if we are the ones who have something to apologize for.
As if….
Liberals are ALWAYS AFRAID.
This is at the heart (and mind) of who and what they are. They are afraid to be pregnant, afraid to kill someone, afraid of the weather, etc. etc.
Their only agressive behavior is to snarl and spit and act out in a safely [to them] dangerous manner. They may bomb things and people, burn things and destroy things, but they don’t want anything to do with hand to hand combat or ‘reasoned’ debate.
Howard isn’t even half afraid of Muslims than of he is of the storm troopers of political correctness.
What is offensive to me is that I wasted my time reading the ridiculous book which has possibly the stupidest ending ever. Bad on me for contributing to that tripe.
There’s always the possibility that the bad guy IN A MOVIE could be anyone and being muslim or not adds little to understanding what’s going on.
And then there’s the possibility that the bad guy being muslim doesn’t add anything but pointless controversy, i.e. accusations of needless fear mongering.
Seems to me the denizens of this echo chamber would likely be happier with the villian this time being a godless atheist wreaking mayhem for pay. Atheists are scum; worse than muslims: at least they think they’re doing the will of god. Nothing worse than atheists, you know.
And yet you complain. (sigh)
Alston, the point being made here is that the villain was a Muslim in the book, and Ron Howard changed it for the movie.
Sigh.
They did the same thing with the Clancy novel “Sum of All Fears” where a nuclear bomb goes off in Baltimore. In the book Muslims were behind it…in the movie…right wing whites. Hollywood and “artists” like Madonna don;t have the b*lls to take on the fanatics of Islam because they know this: insult Catholics or Christians in general, you get some outrage and maybe a protest or weak boycott. Insult Islamacists and your head comes off, literally.
G. Alston, Atheists are scum; worse than muslims: at least they think they’re doing the will of god. Nothing worse than atheists, you know.”
Nazi Germany was basically atheist but they did not want to kill everyone, only engage in some brutal eugenics. When you have a religious motivation to kill all but your own people, that is far worse than atheism, because you will never change their minds.
#15 — Alston, the point being made here is that the villain was a Muslim in the book, and Ron Howard changed it for the movie.
No kidding, genius. The movie is being pitched as mystery/adventure with action. In this case the villian working for pay forwards the basic plot better than having a muslim bad guy; think in terms of fewer distractions.
Hollywood changes books all the time for reasons of getting the story to work with a wide audience (half of whom are as bright as you are.) But this time, why, it’s an outrage.
#17 — When you have a religious motivation to kill all but your own people, that is far worse than atheism, because you will never change their minds.
Dang, and I thought atheists were the worst. Oh well.
#16 — In the book Muslims were behind it…in the movie…right wing whites.
Maybe the problem was that filming it that way would make it look more like a repeat of 543 prior military/terrorist films (e.g. Chuck Norris in Delta Force, etc.) How many commando movies assaulting middle eastern types can one watch before it’s all a “been there/done that” blur? In other words, I think they were trying to avoid cliche.
On the other hand, they failed. Would have been better to leave the bad guys alone.
But claiming that Hollywood is scared of middle eastern bad guys is simply laughable.
Howard may dress his wife in a burqua as a sexual thing – who knows. I sure have lost any interest in any thing he and his friends might produce as entertainment. Their interests are not geared to my successful white female middle class rural married to one white successful middle class male life.
Allah Akbar infidels. To question the will of the Most High is to condemn yourselves, off with all your heads !!! Allah Akbar.
I will never buy another ticket to Ron Howard products.
Of course,he’s a liberal,he’s afraid.
#21
Pastor of Muppets……is that you????
“Hollywood changes books all the time for reasons of getting the story to work with a wide audience (half of whom are as bright as you are.) But this time, why, it’s an outrage.”
right, the movie “da Vinci code” had quite a success in muslim countries
Opie is a coward!
Sounds a little like the Nick Cage movie “Next”, with the vaguest terrorists, ever. They want to blow up LA with a nuke because – um, why? They have a mix of Eurotrash accents, but no ideology or list of demands.
The West and Islam have been at war for the vast majority of our 1400 year co-existence. After Islam was born it spread like an imperialist plague. It took a larger chunk of the world in 100 years than Rome did in eight hundred. Why did we have the Crusades? Islam had taken over the Middle East and what is now Israel. We had to fight to re-establish access to the Holy City. That is basic knowledge. Islam nearly toppled the West via the Eastern Europe. We only repelled them in the 1683, September 11th, battle of Vienna. Muslim’s who know basic history know significance of that date.
9/11
Howard makes a movie that supposedly highlights the conflict between reason and faith, ——————— AND AVOIDS taking on islam in the making thereof, but confines his fire instead to Roman Catholicism, {and by extension, ALL CHRISTIANS as well, so all of you still “protesting” Prostestants out there, you’re getting ripped too…}.
Meanwhile, the Pope just gave a speech that expanded on the theme he developed at Regensburg, proclaiming loudly that REASON MUST BE CENTRAL in any REAL religion.
Howard and this guy Brown raise a strawman, bash and smash that strawman, and now preen as they saunter about the cultural catwalk, flaunting their supposed “reasonable” attire.
Cut us a break!
Sorry Alston -
You are correct that many times books are changed for movies for many reasons. In this case, does ‘murder for pay’ make the story less “distracting”? Arguably, the opposite is true. If the bad guy is fanatical Muslim, it requires zero exposition for anyone. We ALL “get” that. We may despise it, some may cheer it, professors will be all conflicted about it, but no one requires any explanation of it.
Problem here is we all KNOW, and I do mean KNOW, why this change was made. We don’t need to read Ron Howard’s mind (who earned a major soft spot for me with ‘Apollo 13′) We see this same decision made again and again and again. We see it when the Israelis kill ten and world outrage ensues, Arab dictators kill ten thousand, and the world yawns. We see Hollywood burn with outrage to this day over McCarthyism, list those in film who die every year in a role of honor at the Oscars, and totally ignore Theo Van Gogh (Van Gogh!) who got a knife through his chest for making a movie. A right winger kills a leftist filmmaker and Hollywood yawns? Please.
We see ‘Piss Christ’, ‘Elephant Dung Mary’, and plays with Christ as a gay man every other week, and when the Mohammed cartoon controversy erupts, virtually every major news organization (much less artists) pixelates or never shows at all the cartoons… THE very thing at the heart of the matter…. and they refuse to show them…… why? Does it “complicate the story”?
We see Hollywood stars travel to Iran, to be treated to ravings about how the US must grovel and apologize to Iran for insults…. this from the country that has literally made “Death to America” a national slogan…. and Hollywood, their head scarves intact, nod sagely, not say a word in protest then or after, and then come home to celebrate their own tolerance and do-goodism, such a contrast to their troglydidic countrymen….
How much longer shall I go on?
We see this, we see this every single frikkin’ day, from “artists” in particular who really BELIEVE that they themselves are “brave”… oh-so-courageous, because they attack Christians and right-wingers (Ooooooh. Brave!) who will NEVER fight them back, and bow their heads in submission before Muslims who will not hesitiate to cut those heads off if offense is given.
We see it every single day. And we see it here. I like Ron Howard, he has some great work, and I respect him. I can’t “know” why this decision was made. I also can’t “know” that it is incorrect to say that the reason some Democrats want ACORN involved in the census is because they believe ACORN’s expertise will make it better, more honest, and more fair. I cannot “know” that this is not true.
But y’know what? I’m not a freekin’ idiot.
Islam puts alot of money into entertainment these days. Hollywood and New York are so anti-christian and so anti-jewish that islamists can finance picture deals.
I read the book a long time ago, I thought it was alright, and the Muslim assassin was one of the most interesting and exciting characters. The movie is ruined. It’s like taking Darth Vader out of star wars and replacing him with Hayden Christenson
Wow thw Alston guy must be a Moonbat Liberal. He gets a challenge and replies with an insult nice job. As far as Howard somebody must have held him down and forced the Kool Aid down his throat. I met him when I lived in Cal back in the 80′s and he sure didn’t seem like the left wing nut he is now.
Haven’t read it. Won’t see it.
**Yawn**
Two months from now it will be gathering dust on Block Buster’s shelf…
Hollywood is going the way of the car industry. Give it a few years, but we will one day be lining up to watch the latest Bollywood or Japanese movie that reminds us of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Hollywood’s dreary repertoire is based on the way the so-called creative people in LA are making politically correct, unwatchable movies. Got Milk, anyone?
#30 — Arguably, the opposite is true. If the bad guy is fanatical Muslim, it requires zero exposition for anyone. We ALL “get” that.
Do we? I said “wide audience” and by that I figured one could reasonably understand that movies like this are geared to a worldwide audience; you seem fixated on the North American market. Howard’s job is to make money for his employer, not kowtow to your rather insular prejudices.
Ironically it’s people just like you and Kyle Smith who screech the most about free markets, yet when Howard makes a movie designed to make money, you claim that he’s scared of muslims.
#33 — Wow thw Alston guy must be a Moonbat Liberal.
Did you make that up all by yourself? Impressive.
#35 — Hollywood is going the way of the car industry.
Movies are making more money than ever, so I’ll guess that your prognostication is but some flaccid wishful thinking (if you can call it that) on your part.
One reason why Howard can get away with this sort of stuff is because so many Catholics , like the President of Notre Dame, are political liberals anf theological modernists. Back in the ’20s, the students of Notre Dame actually took on the KKK when the Klan dared stage a parade in South Bend. The pinkos who now attend the school really don’t take their faith seriously enough to defend it. But don’t blame them: the priests, nuns and teachers freed them a lot of drivel rather than the faith of their fathers.
Watch out Opie for Maynard T. Bass and the Muslims!
Hearing leftist apologists spew I believe I now understand their point. It is not important that the bad guy is the same bad guy in the book, he does not have to be muslim anymore. Instead, maybe an Italian with a mustache. And the Catholic Church being the focal point could just have well been the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City Utah. And the hero could just as well have been Joe the Plumber. You see, liberals have convinced me that none of it really matters.
What did you expect You dare not offend Muslims.
The reason we claim that leftist artists, jounralists, and acedemics are “scared of Muslims” is because they are scared of Muslims.
The reason bullies stop being bullies is because they are quite suddenly confronted with a fearful price for their bullying. They will not stop for any other reason, and they almost inevitably will stop for that very reason, and only that reason.
The mentality is the same.
Why is everyone so worried about offending muslims? What the heck makes muslims so special? Or, could it be offending muslims could put one in harms way?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the cure for the disease that is fundamentalist theocracy is just good old fashioned Capitalism. You give these so called “Islamofascists” the opportunity to make some green, get an Amex gold card, buy a house, get a Porsche and send their kids to a posh university, and you can bet that middle eastern terrorism will be a .
Once you give these guys a reason and and opportunity to become invested in the system, they’ll understand that it is to their detriment to try to blow it up.
If we were really committed to ending the war on terrorism, we’d be dropping iPods on Afghnistan instead of bombs.
#40 — Hearing leftist apologists spew I believe I now understand their point.
Link? Which leftists? Care to point one out? I’m interested in hearing what they may have to say; it might be good to hear the lefty viewpoint for once.
1. Nothing is really stopping you guys from pooling your money and making some really right-wing film that portrays all Muslims as blood thirsty killers, etc. etc. It does seem somewhat disconnected that you are condemning Ron Howard for not doing what in fact you’re not doing either. Don’t give me that “we don’t have the money thing”, the owners of this site have a lot of cash, and with current digital film technology, films can be made rather cheaply (Slumdog Millionaire cost less than $15 million, but for your hypothetical “oh noze, Mooslims” film you wouldn’t need to aim that high in terms of aesthetics I guess)
2. To the person who suggested that the religion of Islam be “kept out of the West”, just HOW EXACTLY would you go about doing such a thing? Do you feel such a plan would run into a problem in the US with the whole 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion thing?
3. To the person who brought up Notre Dame, the school routinely hosted GOP politicians who openly defied Catholic teachings prohibiting the death penalty in all cases.
4. I normally don’t like to violate Godwin’s Law on blogs, but if you substituted the word “Jew” for “Muslim” in these comment threads, the sentiments would resemble the 1930′s.
5. By the way, clowns, you do realize that Hollywood actually DID put out a film that was extremely critical of Islamic theocracy. It was called “Persepolis”, and it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2008, and did well at the worldwide box office. But I guess because the film dared to portray normal Iranians as actual human beings, you must have given it a miss.
I don’t think Opie is afraid. He is in it for the money and fame, and this is what the people – unfortunately – want
On May 11, The Middle East Online run an article, “Has Hollywood helped generate hatred towards Arabs?,” which claimed that out of 900 Hollywood movies featuring Arab characters about 12 had positive portrayals of Arabs.
This may be true due to the fact that it is hard to portray a positive image of a terrorist.
After Opie demonstrates that he has the balls to put The Satanic Verses on screen, I think people will take him a little more seriously when he whines about stuff like the Vatican running interference on his attacks against the Catholic Church.
#31
Hollywood is anti-Jewish ??!!!!!!
On what planet? I see lots of movies that are anti-Christian, but have NEVER seen a single one that shows Jews in a bad light. Ever.
Can you name some for me please? Besides the historically accurate and often bashed Passion of the Christ ?
I’m really surprised to find out that Ron Howard is such a jerk. I used to enjoy watching Happy Days and thought he was such a nice guy. Radical liberals like Howard don’t believe in God until they are dying and then the last two words they say are, guess what “Oh, God”.
Amazing, isn’t it!
47. So, are you saying that all Arabic people are “terrorists”?
48. Yeah, but the Satanic Verses was an unreadable book. Not sure how well it would film.
49. Yeah, “historically accurate” as long as you overlook how the script wove in text from 19th Century mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, whose writings contained some rather inflammatory passages about Jews.
#46. Pete, When was the last time a group of radical Jews took down a skyscraper in a major US city? Our fear of not repeating the horrors done to an innocent people because of age old superstitions and lies should not prevent us from recognizing where the terror comes from, and calling it for what it is.
And while not all Arabs are terrorists, almost all terrorists are Arab, or some Muslim ethnic group. Muslims demand respect. Some wring their hands and suggest how much Muslim/Arab culture has contributed to the world. I would suggest most of what the Arabs gained was from subjugation and appropriation of other cultures. Sure, they invented zero. For that last thousand years the good they have given the world has been exactly zero.
The libtard progressive statists always have their heads up their rear ends in denial or just spinelessness. Look what happened to the show 24 when the Muzis felt offended by “24″ portraying the Muzis as barbaric terrorists. So 24 pulled their stories offending the Muzis and now show them as victims and the whites as the evil doers.
Screw the spineless coward hollywood liberal elite. Just wait till the bombs go off again, they will be begging for the military to rescue them.
Yes, it’s so obvious how petrified of Islam the leftie agnostic/atheist crowd is. The standard line from one of these wimps is they don’t protest Islam because they’re living under Christian oppression. Oh such a handy dandy excuse, eh? Were they to try the same hijinks in an Islamic state, their heads would be rolling down the streets faster than you could say “Nick Berg”.
Any takers on when ol’ Opie is going to start filming an “R” rated love story featuring the romantic escapades of that pederastic prophet Mohammed and his bevy of lusty pre-teen burkha barbies?
Don’t hold your breath …
This has been a steadfast position by those in Hollywood since the beginning of film. Two reasons for this that immediately come to mind are fear of Muslim reprisal and the unending attack on Christianity by the leftists who’ve come to run things in H-Town.
There are those of us brave enough to buck the norm though. You can see parts of a screenplay I am writing about the life of Muhammad here at a blog I write for:
http://fountainheadzero.com/2009/05/movie-id-like-to-see-produced.html
Until more writers and producers grow a set you’ll continue to see the same, tired, Christians are evil sort of films that Opie has now put out.
Later,
Musing Lew
To all the libtards out there, Moral relativism is the last refuge of the morally retarded.
Yes.
#54 — Yes, it’s so obvious how petrified of Islam the leftie agnostic/atheist crowd is. The standard line from one of these wimps is they don’t protest Islam because they’re living under Christian oppression.
Link for that assertion, please?
#56 — To all the libtards out there, Moral relativism is the last refuge of the morally retarded.
Clever. Define it then. Let’s hear what you think it means.
#52 — I would suggest most of what the Arabs gained was from subjugation and appropriation of other cultures.
And you can substantiate this… how? The Borg-like appendages?
You have to think most of today’s Hollywood elites were traditionalist while growing up, but after years of being subjected to left-wing clap-trap, they look down on what they once valued. A good example would be George Clooney having to leave the USA during Christmas, because he finds the holiday so repulsive. I’m sure he did not fill the same way as a young man.
Some of you are being to kind towards Ron Howard simply because you like his work ( he has made several fine movies). I do believe he has an agenda, maybe not as extreme as Sean Penn or Danny Glover, but there certainly is an agenda.
Hollyweird is part and parcel as guilty of the B.S. machine propelled by the MSM.
HELLO?
Sunny one day.
Oops. The next day.
Obama is for Obama.
The sooner the douche-tards wake up, the better.
#58 G Alston: Would a widdle linky winkie make you sleep better at night? Link this you pimple on the a$$ of progress!
G. Alston
“Do we? I said “wide audience” and by that I figured one could reasonably understand that movies like this are geared to a worldwide audience; you seem fixated on the North American market. Howard’s job is to make money for his employer, not kowtow to your rather insular prejudices.”
Isn’t Dan Browns job ALSO to make money for his publishing company and for himself? Why then did he put a MUSLIM as the assassin in his book? Obviously he was NOT worried about the impact this was going to have on the books popularity or profits. I am also sure the book was aimed at more than just the North American market (unfortunately I cannot give you a link for that assertion, I am using applying common sense here). So why then did Ron Howard change such an important character if not to avoid offending Muslims? Please, I await your answer with baited breath.
Well everyone knows that you can say anything about, or level accusations at any Christian denomination, and you won’t get a car bomb in front of your house, or end up being the star of a beheading video. Hollywood is afraid of them, but strangely enough Hollywood, and our culture in general is hated by them, and is continually used as an example, of why they should exterminate us.
@Pastor of Muppets #44:
Really? Osama, al-Zawahiri, and any of a number of other high profile Al Qaeda have been materially lacking? Who knew?
I think you not only misapprehend, but ultimately disrespect the nature and level of belief held by committed Islamists.
islam is the religion of peace,just ask any suicide bomber.
#61 — Link this you pimple on the a$$ of progress!
Face it, I’m a lot better at insults than you are.
Next.
I get tired of Hollywood and their never ending attacks against the Catholic church.They attack so much and hate it so much,I was thinking about joining.As for the attacks on the priests>Look who they are overlooking.
Long list of Jewish Child Molestor Rabbis gets no media coverage and Jewish homosexual pedophiles are undisturbed.
Filed under:Homosexuality Jewry, “Israel”, Zionism…
September 20, 2003 – 21:38
More evidence that these people who claim to be Jews are God’s enemies and not His chosen people.
King of kings’ Bible – Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [I know] the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are NOT, but [are] (Idumeans) the synagogue of Satan.
http://jahtruth.net/kofkad.htm
Know a tree by the fruit it bears.
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into The Fire.
7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
http://jahtruth.net/kofkad.htm
Cases of Clergy Abuse
Case of Shlomo Aviner (Rosh Yeshiva, Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva, Rabbi of Beit El, Israel)
Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner (Convicted of child molestation. The original charges included 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree, a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years’ probation.)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (Accusations about sexual inappropriate behavior with children started surfacing in the 1980′s. Rabbi Bryks is currently a member of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. The Vaad is a Rabbinical committee that makes important decisions within an orthodox community.)
Case of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (Accused of several cases of child molestation, and sexual assault of young women)
Case Rabbi Perry Ian Cohen – Montreal and Toronto Canada (Accused of sexual abuse of a seventeen year old. Fired for sexual impropriety with congregants)
Case of Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen (Accused of sexually harassing students at Bar-Ilan University)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg – Boca Raton, Flordia (Pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of exposure of sexual organs in a washroom at a Palm Beach Mall.)
Case of Rabbi/Cantor Sidney Goldenberg (Convicted of molesting children. The first complaints came in 1971. He was finally convicted in 1997.)
Case of Cantor Joel Gordon (Convicted of having keeping a house of prostitution and involvement in a prostitution ring.)
Case of Rabbi Israel Grunwald (Accused of molesting a 15 year old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia to LA. The charge against him were dropped after agreeing to perform 500 hours of community service and to seek counseling. Grunwald was the chief rabbi of an Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn, known as the Pupas).
Case of The State of Israel Vs. Sex Offender (Convicted of repeated rape and forced molestation of his graddaughter.)
Case of Yehudah Friedlander – Rabbi ‘s Assistant (Accused of molesting a 15 year old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia to LA. Friedlander was the assistant to the chief rabbi of an Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn, known as the Pupas)
Case of the Rabbi at Hillel Torah, Chicago, IL (A teacher at the Chicago school was accused of child molestation. His name was not released. The school did everything correctly in attempting to keep the children safe once accusations were made.)
Case of Rabbi Solomon Hafner (Accused of sexually abusing a developmentally disabled boy)
Case of Rabbi (Alan J.) Shneur Horowitz (Convicted and sentenced to 10 – 20 years in prison for sodomizing a nine-year-old psychiatric patient. Allegedly, he has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is an Orthodox rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D. A graduate of Duke University, and was a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).
Case of Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)
Case of Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum (Accused of child pornography on the internet)
Case of Rabbi Robert Kirschner (Accused of sexually exploited or harassing three congregants and a synagogue employee)
Case of Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch (Convicted of molesting students at Rosh Yeshiva, Netiv Meir yeshiva high school)
Case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner (Convicted – child molestation.)
Case of Rabbi Jerrold Martin Levy (Convicted of two counts of soliciting sex through the Internet and two counts of child pornography. He was sentenced to six years and sex in prison. He was caught in the “Candyman” year-long sting operation by the US government.)
Case of Rabbi Pinchas Lew (Accused of exposed himself to a woman.)
Case of Rabbi/Psychologist Mordecai Magencey (lost his license to practice in the State of Missouri because of his sexual misconduct with his patients.)
Case of Rabbi Richard Marcovitz (Convicted of indecent or lewd acts with a child, and sexual battery)
Case of Rabbi Juda Mintz (Convicted – internet sting on child pornography)
Rabbi Yona Metzger (Accused of sexually misconduct with four men)
Case of Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz (Accused of two counts of sex abuse with boys at a special education school in New York)
Case of Cantor Howard Nevison (Accused of molesting his nephew)
Case of Rabbi Michael Ozair (Accused of sexual molestation of a then-14-year-old girl)
Case of Cantor Stanley Rosenfeld (Convicted of molesting a 12-year-old boy he was tutoring.)
Case of Rabbi Charles Shalman (Accused of sexual misconduct toward female congregational members)
Case of Cantor Robert Shapiro (Accused of three counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault and battery to a mentally retarded woman)
Case of Cantor Michael Segelstein (Accused of attempted rape; Chabad – Las Vegas, Nevada)
Case of Rabbi Ze’ev Sultanovitch (Accused of sexually molesting a number of adult yeshiva students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva)
Case of Rabbi Melvin Teitelbaum (Accused of three counts of sex crimes against two boys under the age of 14, and one count of assault with intent to commit rape against one boy’s mother. The charges were dropped for lack of evidenced)
Case of Rabbi Isadore Trachtman (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)
Case of Rabbi Hirsch Travis (Rabbi in Monsey, accused of posing as a Brooklyn doctor specializing in infertility problems, and allegedly sexually abusing and assaulting a patient.)
Case of Rabbi Matis Weinberg (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)
Case of Rabbi Yaakov Weiner (Accused of molesting boy at Camp Mogen Avraham, New York)
Case of Rabbi Don Well
Case of Cantor Phillip Wittlin (Convicted of molesting two girls)
Case of Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov (Convicted of sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys)
Case of Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman (Violated guidelines concerning “sexual ethics and sexual boundaries,” )
Case of Rabbi Max Zucker (Accused by three women of improperly touching)
And Other Trusted Officals (Parents, Teachers, Camp Counselors, etc.)
Case of Arie Adler and Marisa Rimland, NY (Arie Adler was accused of molesting his daughter. Marisa Rimland murdered her daughter, and then committed suicide).
Case of Simcha Adler – Ohel Counselor, NY (Plea-bargained charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child down to attempted sodomy.)
Case of Eugene Loub Aronin – School Counselor, TX (Convicted in 1984 of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy)
Case of B’Nai Torah Congegation – Hillel Community Day School janitor, Boca Raton, FL (Accused of child molestation)
Case of Chaim Ciment (Accused and charged with first-degree sexual abuse, after allegations were made that he fondled a 17 year old girl in an elevator).
Case of James A. Cohen – Jewish Youth Group Leader (Convicted child molester, sentenced to 9 years for assaulting 4 boys)
Case of Larry Cohen – Soccer Coach, Lake Oswego, OR (Accused of molesting two individuals.)
Case of Lawrence Cohen – School Teacher, NJ (Convicted and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for transmitting child pornography through his home computer).
Case of Phillip “Eli” Cohen, London, England (Accused of 13 charges of indecently assaulting a boy and four offences of indecently assaulting a girl)
Case of Stuart Cooperman, MD – Pediatrican, Merrick, New York (Accused of molesting six female patience).
Case of Delaware Family (Father accused of alleged child molestation)
Case of Mordechai (Morton) Ehrman – Simcha’s Play Group, Brooklyn, NY (Accused of molesting dozens of students).
Case of Hbrandon Lee Flagner (Convicted of the kidnapping and aggravated murder of Tiffany Jennifer Papesh a 8-year-old girl. Flagner also claimed to have molested hundreds of girls during his life. While in prison, Flagner convert to Judaism by an Chasidic rabbi.)
Case of Arnold and Jesse Friedman (Capturing the Friedmans) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of Richard “Steve” Goldberg (Allegedly engaging in sex acts with several girls under 10 in California. He is on the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives list)
Case of Ross Goldstein (Convicting of sodomy in the first degree (three counts) and use of a child in a sexual performance. He was Sentenced to four concurrent indeterminated terms of 2 to 6 years imprisonment. Also see: Case of Arnold and Jesse Friedman)
Case of Several Child Sex Offenders in Har Nof 0 Jerusalem, Israel (Outlines several cases of alleged child sex offenders in the charedi town of Har Nof)
Case of David B. Harrington – School Principal / Big Brother, Rockville, MD (Convicted sex offender. Cases from the 1960′s – 1980′s.)
Case of State of Israel Vs. a Sex Offender (Convicted – 68 year old Israeli religious man pled guilty to repeated molestation of his granddaughter, was sentenced to 19 years in jail.
Case of Eric Hindin – Jewish Big Brother Volunteer, Newton, MA (Convicted of 35 counts of child rape. He was sentenced to 20-22 years in prison).
Case of Judge Ronald Kline, CA (Accused of possessing child pornography and for allegedly molesting a neighborhood boy 25 years ago).
Case of the Kosher Butcher in Chicago (Accused of molesting children for over 30 years)
Case of Lawrence Nevison – (Convicted of molesting his nephew. He is the brother of Cantor Howard Nevison)
Case of Stuart Nevison – (Convicted of molesting his cousin. He is the brother of Cantor Howard Nevison)
The Case of the Students of Ner Israel Yeshiva in the 1950′s (Students accused of sexually molesting a younger student)
Case of the New York Society for the Deaf’s Home (Accused of treating disabled patients “like animals,” beaten, drugged and robbed of their government checks).
Case of Ozzie Orbach, M.D. (Accused of molesting his daughter)
Case of the Rogers Park JCC, Chicago Illinois (This was the first case of alleged mass molestation recorded in Illinois to involve accusations of sexual abuse by a group of adults, consists of 246 allegations that staff members abused children enrolled at the center, according to the Illinois Department of children and Family Services).
Case of Jonathan Rosenthal – Community Police Liason, London, England (Acquitted of sexually assaulting a few children, after a jury used ancient common law right, deciding evidence wasn’t strong enough.)
Case of Adam Theodore Rubin – Teacher, Coach and Girl Scout Coordinator (Accused of using a computer to solicit sex with a minor, possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia).
Case of Georges Schteinberg – Teacher, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Accused of possession of child pornography. Charges dropped when Schteinberg fled the country).
Case of Aryeh Scher – Israeli vice-consul, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Accused of possession of child pornography. Charges dropped when Scher fled the country).
Case of David Schwartz – Camp Counselor, Culver City, CA (Convicted and sentenced to one year in residential treatment and five years’ probation for molesting a 4-year-old boy in his care at summer camp. A six-year prison sentence was suspended).
Case of Jerrold Schwartz – Scoutmaster, NY (Convicted and sentanced to 8 years in prison for multiple counts of sodomizing his former scout ).
Case of Irwin Silverman – Chief Counsel to U.S. secretary of interior 1933-53 (Accused of molesting his daughter Sue William Silverman. )
Case of Paul Slifer – Teacher (Accused of sexually assaulting a several students, and impersonating a doctor. )
Case of Ari Sorkin – Synagogue Youth Worker, Elkins Park, PA (Accused of molesting a 16 yr. old girl)
Case of Tel Aviv Arts School, Tel Aviv, Israel
Case of Dr. Saul and Judith Wasserman (Accused of molesting their daughter)
Case of David Douglas Webber – Mashgiach (Kashrut Supervisor), Canada (Convicted and sentenced to six years for possessing child pornography and molesting seven boys over the past eight years).
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/clergyabuse
i just read the 5 pillars of islam,and the content is noble.i believe in jesus christ as my saviour,and i don’t believe he would condone my last statement.many americans are ignorant in respect to islam arabs and muslims.we need to stop hating and misunderstanding each other,and deal with our differences and what divides us.in addition i am not naive,these differences are enormous.the bottom line is we are not as bad as they think we are,and they need to respect our laws and customs as we respect theirs.either we find a way to get along together or we perish.2,000 years ago jesus said treat others how you would like to be treated and this message is cardinal to all religions,and look what we have done since that time.i don’t know maybe i’m wrong and war is inevitable and the answer.
Liberals such as Howard are big and brave urinating on Christians because it is tolerant. But, they are absolute cowards when dealing with Islam. They are afraid and bow instinctively in total submission because they are spineless.
This is hysterical… Ron is scared cos he doesn’t want his head chopped off? Hollywood is to soft on Brown people (code for Muslims)? Insidious. There are thousands of episodes of contemporary tv series and movies that have shown Muslims worse then dogs, all 1.8 billion of them, and all their heads are still attached on. Cretins!
“Four legs good, two legs bad.” George Orwell was a real prophet.
hey ron howard, “Sit on it!”
Sounds like it was seriously watered-down. I mean, in the book there was a scene were the Hassassin was going to force the female-lead to preform oral sex on him, and afterwards he was to slit her throat. The villain was seriously hardcore. This villain sounds weak.
#66 – Gallstone, you’re so gay!
Islam, and all those who practice it can blow me.
G. AlstonL:
“Do we? I said “wide audience” and by that I figured one could reasonably understand that movies like this are geared to a worldwide audience; you seem fixated on the North American market. Howard’s job is to make money for his employer, not kowtow to your rather insular prejudices.”
That’s really telling, isn’t it? Now, why would a movie with a Muslim villain be less marketable than one which features villainous Christians? Whose insular prejudices is Hollywood kowtowing to? Hmmm….
#52 Buff:
“Sure, they invented zero.”
Not even that. Hindus gave us the zero.
So why then did Ron Howard change such an important character if not to avoid offending Muslims?
~~~
It isn’t just the fear of sudden bodily detachment, but profits – Hollywood movies tend to be popular in muslim countries (even if they’re black market). Offend muslims, middle eastern profits go down. (and, there is that pesky risk of “sudden detachment syndrome”)
“No. A movie on women’s rights in Syria would be brave.”
..And unwatachable, which would make it a good project for Ron “Backdraft” Howard.
#76 — Now, why would a movie with a Muslim villain be less marketable than one which features villainous Christians? Whose insular prejudices is Hollywood kowtowing to?
That’s a very good question to ask the studio. Ron Howard is a director, and he works for a studio. He has a boss, and whatever plan Howard’s team submits has to meet approval or the bosses don’t hand him the $150 million. The studio is a for-profit company; this is how they make a living. Just throwing this out there… but my guess is that decisions of what to change and what to show are driven by the bottom line.
Or, you could simply make absurd and pointless assertions on echo chamber websites and claim that Ron Howard is all powerful and answers to nobody and called all the shots and made changes because he’s a gutless, politically correct, gay loving liberal who is scared of muslims. Of course, if you did that, you’d sound like Kyle Smith.
To Steve and others:
For anyone that haven’t heard one conservative talk show host ever mentioning the true hidden dangers of Islam, you have to know about this man name Michael Savage.
Look for him everywhere in the internet.
Are you tired of Hollywood? Are their never-ending assualts against your way of life getting you down? Here’s a thought; don’t go! Don’t go to the movies you might enjoy as well as the ones that drive you crazy. The cash goes to the same folks in either case.
Skip Star Trek. Read a book. Hollywood is a vapid wasteland that spits out just enough mainstream movies to keep fair-minded people in theaters, but know this: the receipts are collected by the same self-aggrandizing, socialist crowd. You support an industry that is hellbent on the transformation of the American landscape no matter what you watch. Don’t go. . . or make your own movies, whatever, but there is really no point in telling Opie how to make his.
I think we’re all missing the joke with G Alston. He’s done a note-perfect imitation of a suburban teenager arguing with his parents, who are like so stupid and middle-class. The snarling and snapping at everyyone, the hilarious arrogance, the insults, the seething hostility, the siiiiighing … perfect. And he’s kept it up without breaking character for more than 24 hours. If only this were a live performance, we could watch him stomp off to his room and slam the door.
Ron H. is the embodiment of lefty pussification. Puhlease! This d-bag is in the tank for O! Nuff said?
No worries though. ‘Whitey hating’ is still a-OK amongst the PC police. -And fugettabowt 0bama’s white half, that doesn’t count no mo cuz only hiz black side is politically correct.
Justice involves judgment. Every person must judge for themselves whether or not they will attend a movie for whatever reason. To say that someone, be they Catholic priests, Rabbis or Mullahs are escaping judgment is ignorant of the fact that they are being judged as we speak and have been exposed and judged in the past. They will not be spared for they have been entrusted with the innocent. Try real hard to imagine the level of anger that must be withheld to protect the innocent.
The behavior of evil men does not invalidate the word of God concerning the Christians, the Jews or the Arabs. He has prescribed their paths and set limits on their times and seasons all for His own purposes.
We can and do complain and He hears us but He will not be moved from His purpose.
Look outside its getting lighter by the day, the wickedness of men is being exposed more and more as the day dawns. Some say it’s darkest before the dawn and our recent history proves it.
Be really concerned for yourselves and your own condition first then worry about your brother.
You think we bitch and complain a lot? What about the victims of the evil b**tards whose blood cries out for revenge? That cry must be hard to bear. How violent will the final judgment need to be? Can’t even begin to imagine the volumes of pent up anger.
There has been blood, there will be judgment.
Pray for mercy and grace.
opie is a liberal hollywooder whose head is up his……..so “let’s all kiss and make-up”…..uva65
A sad story; “Cretinisation of Hollywood – from Cecil B.Mile to Ron Howard (and Olivier Stone and George C.loony and and Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg and Brian La Palma, and Jack Nicholson, and, and, and…)
Or “from Hollywood to Sovietwood – factory of crap, factory of lies, factory of a Communist propaganda, factory of TREASON.”
“movies like this are geared to a worldwide audience… not kowtow to your rather insular prejudices.”
Because of course the irrational notion of Islamist psychos who use Islam as the basis for their sanguinary hobbies is a peculiarly American shibboleth. Nobody else has ever heard of it: not Indians, certainly not those of Mumbai; nor in London or Madrid, nor Buenos Aires; completely unknown in the Philippines, or East Timor, or Nigeria; surely not Egyptian Copts, or Sudanese animists…. nope, only insular Americans have this silly notion that there is some connection between Islam and jihad.
Alston: In all your gibberish you haven’t made a single coherent point. Immature mind. Childish views. Go to bed. Mommy and daddy need some alone time.
#87 — Because of course the irrational notion of Islamist psychos who use Islam as the basis for their sanguinary hobbies is a peculiarly American shibboleth.
Or because studios have experience enough to know what sells in what markets and are able to construct entertainment that works in those venues. Did the notion that movies are entertainment designed to make money somehow escape your notice?
Ron and Tom ought to be happy, but they no seem so.
I am still waiting for a response from G. Alston from a previous question that I asked (No 62). Please answer. I am running out of breath waiting.
This is possibly the worst movie I have seen in a long while. A plot line that was unbelievable, atrocious acting by all the leads. IOnly the scenery was interesting
I can’t agree with the rest of what you write, but completely agree with this.
Is any Dan Brown novel not tedious?
For those of you who believe that Hollywood is afraid to insult Islam.
Hollywood’s bottom line is the bottom line. They have not been afraid to cast Muslims as villains in many movies and television shows. Take a look at how many Muslims are protrayed in Hollywood (+ Burbank, Studio City, etc) productions and look at how many of those portrayals are of terrorists, spousal abusers, or other intolerant or violent stereotypes. Make a real effort and then see if your position that Hollywood mollycoddles Muslims holds water.
If that is true then there is no REAL religion. At the center of every religion is faith and that faith is paramount. Reason is at best secondary in any religion and there is no convincing evidence from any of the primary texts that indicate that Christianity is more rational than Islam. The difference in rationality between states where Islam plays a strong role in government vs Western Democracies is primacy of religion, not primacy of a particular religion. The countries that are now referred to as Western Democracies or the Developed World are all fundamentally indebted to the enlightenment and the concomitant move toward the primacy of rationality and away from the primacy of religion.
An unavoidable problem there is education. Literacy rates are generally south of 70% and lower even among women. When poverty is high and literacy is low people are more easily manipulated to direct their anger outward to some other to blame for their circumstances.
So, none of you people have seen Persepolis then? One would think that a movie such as that which was extremely critical of Islamic theocracy would have been at the top of your list.
Again, you are all criticizing Ron Howard for not making the film that you yourselves haven’t made either.
You know, someone could make a LOT of money making movies that didn’t falsify recent history. Imagine a film about 9/11 and subsequent events. You could follow several young men and women who join up in the days after. You could follow an Australian and a British soldier as well, just to broaden the international appeal. You could show Bush agonizing over the decision to ask Congress for the AUMF, and the CIA deciding that the WMDs were a “slamdunk.”
You could show Hussein telling one of his advisors why it was so important to keep the WMD pretense going–to keep Iran afraid. You could show the barbarism of our enemies–and the damage that the war does to soldiers having to confront death and suffering. Maybe one of the soldiers comes home and commits suicide (a very real problem). You could show the monsters that we are fighting. You could show the horrible miscalculations the Bush Administration made about the occupation.
You could show Pelosi and other Democrats being briefed about enhanced interrogation–and then show them turning it into a political game.
I think it could be very entertaining–and very educational. And I think it would sell a LOT of tickets. But unfortunately, there are no rich conservatives to bankroll making a movie like this.
Not only Ron Howard but other directors are staying away from any bad guy themed movies where the bad guys are Muslims. Why?
Look at Europe and the Islamization that is happening over there. Why are they doing this? Don’t they realize they will lose and Eurpoe will become Eurabia and be ruled by Sharia. The same is true for Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and UK. They daily move closer to being Islamic countries and you ask why? Why does the US allow more Muslims to emigrate every year? Why are the Muslims allowed to have a special day in Hawaii while no other religion does. Why is multiculturalism being rammed down our throats?
Here is the answer:
If you wanted to control the world what would make that control possible?
Would a free thinking Europe and West be easily controlled?…NO
Would a world governed by a cult that has it’s own government, laws and behavioral rules that cannot be changed be easier to manipulate and manage?…YES
If the game has a set of rules that never change, the rich and powerful can easily stay that way and the huddled masses are as sheep and told what to think, eat and do.
Bilderberg and other groups with wealthy and powerful members are able to cause change…real change in the world and thus direct the world’s future path. Obama is part of that mechanism of change.
I always thought we would be pushed into a sort of THX1138 world but I can see we are headed back to the 7th century. When rights such as freedom of speech and the right to arm and form defensive militias are abolished, there is no verbal or physical resistance left to the people.
It’s not that the West is bad and Islam is better or that Christianity is good or not. The fact is that the powerful rulers of Islam have complete control of the people and that is the goal for the whole world. They are not concerned with our immortal souls or belief systems. They only want to control us and Islam is the best way. There has been a serious shift in power over the last 50 years to the Middle East driven by the petrodollars. Why has the US not told us who started the run on the markets that initiated the collapse of the financial industry. Sure there were sub-prime toxic loans but what really triggered the world economic meltdown was the 3 hour run on the stock market. Our government knows who that was and refuses to even discuss it.
We are being manipulated and Hollywood is not going to make itself a target and that included Ron Howard.
#97 — The fact is that the powerful rulers of Islam have complete control of the people and that is the goal for the whole world.
“Nothing, but nothing, can stop our evil, nefarious plot! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haa!”
[Kids... never, ever do drugs.]
Alston’s points are all very reasonably worded and would convince me if I wasn’t aware of Rushdie, the Dutch film maker,….Daniel Pearl,… Hirsi Ali….
His very reasonable sounding claim that movie studios seek profits, and “how could you think that any studio would be deflected from profit by worrying about crazed knife wielders outside their house,” resonates less effectively if one remembers old busts like Heaven’s Gate, Town and Country, Ishtar, Sorcerer, Rendition, Sryiana and others suggesting that producers produce what they want to much of the time.
And gosh, I wonder who some of the investors might be in this movie? Or in the studio? Did Howard receive letters or asides objecting to the original theme in the book? No? Really? Even if I can’t link to evidence I dont have, I am no less inclined to suspect it may have happened. A book got Rushdie a fawtwa; what would someone get for a offensive movie?
I wouldn’t even think of pointing out that Mel Gibson (pre-outburst) had to fund Passion of Christ himself–the profit-minded studios –the shrewd ones that discern a profit where one exists to be made–wanted nothing to do with it. Bring on “Rendition,” which didn’t even recoup its budget.
Newspapers exist to make a profit too, yet the LA Times systematically eschews local news and takes positions that drove many people to become former readers. As Michael Crichton used to say, he dropped the LA Times with “no discernable effect.” Yet the LAT insists that it knows best.
MSNBC and CBS presumably exist to make profits too, and we know how both are paying overall for installing crack journalist Katy Couric as lead anchor over Bob Shieffer and having the Keith Olbermann–only man more offensive than Animal Houses’ Neidemeyer–as the network’s own Jacobin.
And based on everything Alston has posted in months past, I think he agrees: he’s just toying with people again.
97 G Alston…
Do you have anything constructive to add or are you just another TROLL.
Are you aware of the goals of Islam?
Are you aware of reality in Iran and Pakistan for the people.
The profit motive only goes so far but I guess you like all the others are short sided. Not one constructive criticism or intelligent response.
I guess you own this place….
I seriously doubt Ron Howard will ever address the issue of Islamic extremists in his films. Picking easy targets (political and religious) as villains is Hollywood propaganda. May all involved with these films one day awaken to find truth and reality (apparently they are either unaware exactly who terrorists have consistently been or afraid of repercussions from them).
#99 — Do you have anything constructive to add or are you just another TROLL.
Read the discussion that took place before you came, genius. Oh, and the troll is the guy who says we’re all headed back to the 7th century because a hollywood studio changed a villian.
#100 — Picking easy targets (political and religious) as villains is Hollywood propaganda.
Yet making claims like this isn’t social conservative propaganda. Check.
Let me guess: a GED, right?
Ron Howard, like many in Hollywood is a communist and shares the common goal of Islamists to destroy Western civilization. This can only be accomplished by first eliminating Christian influence, the only power that has ever succesfully deafeated the Muslim Caliphate and stopped the spread of Marxism.
The best way to stop radical islam in taking over the world is to hit them hard, I say drop the big one. For those that hate the USA they can always move to Africa, China, Cuba, Mexico, Middle East, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela,etc…… Im pretty sure they will be more than welcome in any of those countries.
You people are all so god damn ignorant, its unbelievable.
Do a little research into Islam, you’ll see that 99% of Muslims aren’t radical. This type of prejudice is almost worse than what went down before the civil rights movement in the 60′s. You all think you are so god damn patriotic, you all sound like a bunch of scared shitless pussies, afraid of something you don’t understand. It probably figures that you’re all old, uneducated bible-bangers.
Get out of my religiously and politically free country, because obviously you don’t understand what fundamentals America was founded on. Talk about a bunch of hypocrites, you all make me sick.
Nate,
“99% of Muslims aren’t radicals”
Then 99% of Muslims aren’t Muslims. Try doing a little research yourself. The writings and commands of the Quaran are clear. Muslims MUST make war against ALL non-Muslims. They are commanded to:
Quaran 9:29″Make war upon such of those whom the scriptures have been given as they believe not in Allah, or the last day, and forbid not that which Allah and His apostle have forbidden…”
You are 100% correct Nate. Let’s forget about the 2 jets that crashed into the twin towers – it was actually the CIA. Let’s forget about the celebrations that took place in Muslim countries following 9/11. Also, let’s overlook the bombings in London and Indonesia, all in the name of Islam. Also, let’s forget the Koran which gives every Muslim religious justification in killing for their beliefs.
You will LOVE living in the great old USA under Shari law Nate.
So what? 99% of Nazis hadn’t killed a Jew.
BTW unlike you we have read the Koran and Muhammad’s life
101. G Alston:
That’s what I thought…you have nothing to add except insults.
104. Nate:
It is painfully obvious that you have not studied Islam. I say painfully because you are pretty atypical of the majority of Americans. Good tax paying Americans hoping for a good life and trusting the Politicians to do right by them. You cross all the religions and socio-economic groups. Unfortunately the comment you made clearly shows those that DO understand Islam that you are ignorant on the subject unless we think you are just acting ignorant and playing us for fools.
Your understanding of Islam comes from the propaganda that the Muslims have been spewing out for 1400 years. It is called taquiya and that is the Islamic sanctioned misinformation to fool one’s enemies into complacency.
Islam does not mean peace, it literally means SUBMIT. Submit to the will of Allah or submit to Islam or submit to Sharia is all the same as Islam is both a religion/cult with a judicial branch (Sharia courts) and a legislative branch (Fatwas issued by Imams). The goal is to resurrect the executive branch which is the Caliphate. In order to do that, Islam must make the world submit. All Muslims pay zakat or give money to charity in the Christian sense. The zakat is used to pay for the training, planning and carrying out of both promoting Islam through deception (taquiya) and waging holy war. Jihad for holy war requires funding and the zakat pays for this. So all the moderate Muslims pay for the holy war Jihad and the radical Muslims physically participate in the holy war. There are no innocent Muslims as they all contribute either money or effort in the Jihad of holy war. I know you think Jihad is an inner struggle and that is true but it costs nothing to fight an inner struggle. Jihad is also an outer struggle against the Infidels to force then to either convert, live as second class citizens who pay jiyza (huge amounts of tax) or die.
You need to learn about this cult of death and stop acting as an Islamic apologist.
106. So, considering the fact that the US Constitution clearly lists “Freedom of Religion” in the First Amendment, how would you square your apparent desire to eradicate a RELIGION from the US with the Constitution.
If you treat all Muslims as radical enemies of Western Civilization and make overt threats to commit genocide upon them, then you’ve already lost the whole “hearts and minds” thing that is essential to keeping moderate Muslims from sprinting to the radicals camp.
Again, I take it none of you clowns have seen Persepolis? It was written and directed by an IRANIAN, and it was extremely critical of the mullahs. Of course, the movie and book placed a lot of blame on the mullahs coming to power on the US’s incessant meddling in the region in the decades leading up to 1979.
98. What on earth does William Friedkin’s ill-advised attempt to remake the Wages of Fear in the 1970′s have to do with this topic? Or a shitty Warren Beatty sex comedy that went unreleased for three years? Out of all the films you listed, only Rendition was even remotely on topic.
Oh, wait, I get it. You want films to become WoT proganda screeds. Well, pool your money, get a digital camera, and get cracking.
Pete 106. So, considering the fact that the US Constitution clearly lists “Freedom of Religion” in the First Amendment, how would you square your apparent desire to eradicate a RELIGION from the US with the Constitution.”
Islam is not a religion in the same sense as Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, 7th Day Adventist, Hari Krisna, Hinduism or any other religion on the planet. Read post #109.
Islam is a complete way of life with it’s own executive, judicial and legislative branches and with it’s own army (Jihadi/Terrorists). Islam comes complete and cannot be changed.
If the Mormons waged war upon all non-Mormons, it would be called a cult and outlawed as a cult. What is so different about Islam that we ignore the cult aspects and allow Muslims special status?
Are you an Islamic apologist too? Or are you just a 16 year old troll that is ignorant?
John, how do you reconcile your clearly passionate hatred of Muslims with the First Amendment of the United States, you know the Amendment that guarantees Freedom of Religion? Maybe you’d like a law passed for internment camps?
Ron Howard is a typical liberal sshole as is Andy Griffith, that wanted us to vote for change.
So now whenever I see his old reruns or his movies, I make a list of all the products which are advertised during the airing of his reruns or movies which I will NOT BUY! It is far easier for these Hollywood punks to defame Catholics and Christians that were raised with the Golden Rule, than it is defame Islam and Moslems that were raised to KILL anyone that speaks ill of that child molesting warrior Mohammed. In other words. the punks of Hollywood are not only Howards but COWARDS.
113. Pete: You are ignorant……
Religion is not the same as a CULT.
The People’s Temple led by Jim Jones is a cult.
The Branch Davidians are a cult.
Islam is a cult.
A cult by defination is not a religion and does not have the protection of the First Ammendment.
Go look up the defination of a cult and then look at Islam. I think drinking camel piss as a medicinal substance is a good start.
I would like a law passed to have arsehats like you publically whipped and tar and feathered. Of course that wouldn’t stop your trolling anonymously on the internet.
Pete says:
So, considering the fact that the US Constitution clearly lists “Freedom of Religion” in the First Amendment, how would you square your apparent desire to eradicate a RELIGION from the US with the Constitution.
Do you really think that the First Amendment would be the written in the same terms if the British colonists had been confronted first hand to Islam and Jihadism like they were during the Barbary wars? To hinduism and the burning of widows? To the Aztec religion? (eighty thousand human sacrifices in a _single_ festival). It is obvious that the authors of the Constitution intended only religions conforming to several general principles like: the Golden Rule, all man are created equal and “Give to Cesar what is from Cesar” (implying separation between Church and state: while the Catholic Church was at times far from perfect but it never tried to implement the same kind of totalitarian theocracy who is at the very roots of Islam). What is left? Basically Christianism, Buddhism and some harmless versions of animism. Definitely not Aztecs and definitely not Islam
Now that we have established that the US Constitution would not have protected Islam if its authors had thought about it then we can apply your own theory of a living and breathing document in order to ban it.
113. Pete: You know nothing of passion.
I do not hate Muslims….I do not hate anyone no matter how much they get under my skin and make me angry. They have the right to tick me off so that I also have the right to believe the moon is made of green cheese if I want to.
I hate Islam….Islam the cult of death that takes away the individual’s right to think freely and replaces it with mindless obedience.
How can you hate someone that has a disease. Hate the disease, not the individual.
Hmmm…so John, you are interpreting the First Amendment as only meaning Freedom of Christianity? I’m sure there are many American Hindus who would be interested that you (and presumably others) don’t feel the First Amendment applies to them.
Leaving aside your curious position on the First Amendment, just how exactly would you go about “banning” the religion of Islam in the US? Would people have to register their religion with the state authorities? If a US citizen practiced Islam, would they be jailed? Would their citizenship be revoked? I’m curious as to how you plan on “banning” a private belief that a person could easily practice behind closed doors. Just the number of religious monitoring officers you’d need would be immense.
While it would be easy to point out that attempting to “ban” a religious belief sort of smacks of Hitler or the Chinese obsession with that Yoga group, it would be more constructive to point out that granting the government the power to ban a religion in the name of safety would enable a future regime to potentially ban YOUR religion.
Seriously, you need to stop surfing Stormfront so much.
115. Isn’t it fascinating that whenever conservatives can’t win an argument on facts and ideas, they overtly threaten people they disagree with? My guess is that if you’ve got a family, you’ve smacked your wife and kids around a few times for backtalking. Seriously, what kind of sociopath posts that he would like to see a stranger “publicly whipped”? Remember when I said that conservatives had a scary authoritarian streak?
By the way, chuckles, unless your full name is “John”, then you are also posting anonymously.
John at 112. Aw, dude. Playing the “16 year old card”? Really?
So, Catholics believe that when a priest gives an incantation, a piece of unleavened bread actually becomes the physical manifestation of the body of a man who died 2000 years ago and the same incantation turns wine into the blood of the same man. Remember, the official Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation says that this LITERALLY happens. Does this little quasi-cannibalistic magic act strike you as rational or cult-like? Of course, many Protestants DO think Catholics are a cult. Would Catholicism be a candidate to be banned by your curious reinterpretation of the First Amendment?
Pete, Islam is not exactly a religion but a complete system of life that included religion, politics, culture and traditions put together out of Arabia. It is the world’s largest and very well-structured Arabian cult. Its practitioners and followers has the means, the motivations, the goals and the opportunities to impose Islam all over the planet and peoples.
I draw the line at that. The world does not belong to Islam. Period.
By the way, I saw “Persepolis” and I thought it was a well-done piece. However, the movie is less about Islamic theocracy and more about a young girl growing up to become a woman in a 1980s misogynistic, religious-dominated society that doesn’t treat females well. At the end, the female character did not even renounce her religion of birth, only lessened it to the point of irrelevance in her adult life. I know a young lady friend who’s a Muslim, yet she has the same real-life dilemma as the main female character in Persepolis. She can’t leave her religion out of fear from her family and a lot of Muslim cousins who have a very, very low tolerance of Jews and Christians in general. Sad.
117. So, you don’t hate Muslims, you just hate their religion?
By the way, when’s the last time you ever heard of a Sufi Muslim blowing up anything? Oh, that’s right, you haven’t. Or do you actually understand the whole Sufi/Shia/Sunni thing?
So Pete…I included every religion in the world except Islam and you accuse me of only including Christianity.
You really take the cake for trollism.
Hmmm…so John, you are interpreting the First Amendment as only meaning Freedom of Christianity? I’m sure there are many American Hindus who would be interested that you (and presumably others) don’t feel the First Amendment applies to them.
If you had a brain, you’d be dangerous!
Just for fun, let’s go back to the original topic.
As a Catholic, I was actually more insulted by how badly written the books were than any of its conspiratorial hokum. I never worried about the films because Ron Howard as a filmmaker is about as adventurous as a bowl of corn flakes.
Really, when it comes down to it, you could take literally ANY movie and write this exact same blog post condemming it. I’m surprised we haven’t seen “Why won’t J.J. Abrams condemn Muslims in Star Trek. What’s he afraid of”.
Again, nothing is stopping you guys from making your own film, and it’s pretty silly to blast a filmmaker for not making the movie that you yourself haven’t made either.
121. Bob, if you read Persepolis, you’d note that the author was very likely a Zoroastrian. The book more than the movie showed the utter depravity of the Iranian theocracy. I suspect that the reason the movie wasn’t championed in the PJ Media universe is because both the book and the movie were extremely critical of Western meddling in Iran.
The fact that Islam has theocratic governments doesn’t exactly mean that it’s not a religion. You had a Calvinist theocracy in Geneva, obvious Catholic theocracies across Europe, the obvious intermingling of church and state in modern Israel (the Orthodox have a lot of pull in their government) as well as fairly overt merging of Church and State in pockets of Colonial America. By this argument, Christianity wasn’t a legitimate religion because until modern times it too was a complete system of life. An awful lot of American values went by the wayside in our decade long freakout after 9/11, let’s not throw the First Amendment over the side as well.
123. John, I mistook JFM’s screed against non-Christian religions not being covered by the First Amendment for your words because both you and JFM apparently feel that the First Amendment’s declaration of Freedom of Religion has some sort of loophole when it comes to Islam. It’s hard keeping extremists who want to ban a religion straight sometimes.
By the way, when’s the last time you ever heard of a Sufi Muslim blowing up anything?
The ideologuue of Sudan’s genocidical junta is a Sufi. Let’s talk too about the strong Sufi influence in the Turkish empire when it was perpetrating its worst atrocities. Same thing about Barvbary coast pirates.
You can find truly “peaceful” varieties of Islam but Sufism isn’t one of them. And those truly peaceful varieties have something in common: they are considered heretics or non Muslims (eg Ahmedists) and they take such liberties with Muhammad’s teachings and Koran you can wonder if their Muslimhood isn’t just a cover in order to be left alone.
As it could be expected from Pete he willfully lies and distorts what I said. I will pass upon his laughable attempts to mix the interferences between religionand state in Christain countries (who by the way wxere reciprocal) with Islamic theocracy (BTW theocracy ever found strong resistances from within the Church) were state is considered a mere instrument for expansion of Islam, people are forced to pray five times a day, where religion regulates how you must clean your a..,,, where schoars regualte the shape of toothpicks as islamic or unislamic and whare when there is a discovery about the life of the pink dotted shrimp it _must- be in Koran.
But as I said he distorted my post about religions and Constitution. I didn’t say that only Christisnism was compatible but that the writers in the Constitution obviously didn’t envision religions who practice human sacrifice, burn widows or preach subjugation and racketting of infidels. Had they thought about such religions they would have obviously included restrictions in First Amendment. They only envisionned basically (not perfectly, basically) benevolent religions. I also explicitly mentionned budhism as one of the religions they would have considered compatible thus Pete is merely lying when he says I restrict First Amendment to Christian religions. Howcver given that liberalms like him have come with teh theory that Constitution is a living documant (menaning that a mere judge can amend the will of the people) I see no reason he would oppose to applying his theory to that part of the Constitution called First Amendment and meaning that after 9/11 First Amendment applies no more to Islam just as it would not apply to the Aztec cult.
127. JFM:
I’m with you on the idiot Pete and his distortion and mixing up of the content we post.
He seems to have little to do except TROLL for confrontation.
I read your posts and I understand your viewpoint and the exceptional effort you used to express your views clearly and thoughtfully. You have been heard loud and clear by the silent majority. Don’t bother to try to clean the mess Pete leaves behind. I already gave up on him.
I’ve tried to debate the Muslims on Utube with the same results as Pete. They just seem to be reading something other than what was written. There is no educating them and certainly no “open” discussion. They either start or end each post with an insult just like Pete does. He says he was brought up a Catholic but I suspect he is an Islamic plant!
I haven’t seen the movie, but I was terribly offended by the book. Dan Brown’s primary premise seems to be that everybody except his hero is an idiot.
In the book there was a ticking time bomb, which could be viewed over the internet, but couldn’t locate, because the camera that was broadcasting its picture was a stolen wireless security camera, and of course, there’s no way of detecting where it had been moved to.
???
Conservatives know of the murderous ways of the muslims, actually, I find most libs are clueless on all this. The next muslim slaughter probably won’t wake them up either.
The rino’s do pc under the guise that they are making friends and winning supporters from the left, the mccains of the world never catch on.
Yeah! remember when restaurants had labels that read NO DOGS, NO JEWS? its obvious that they r tarnishing the muslims’ and arabs’ image just to make people forget them!
By the way …the original hashassins terrorized Muslim civic society. Typical of todays terrorists, they murdered governors etc. However, their ideologiy is three times removed from Islam thats why they were busy killing muslims in the good ol days. Their leader Hasan Ibn Sabah followed a weird occult who negated prayers and the Koran and thus his own followers killed thier own leader. It also must be remembered that The Hashashi’ins fought the Muslims , payed tribute to the Crusaders yep you got it ..the Templars , the great muslim warrior “still” negotiated on their ( Hashashin) behalf on signing a truce with the Crusaders. Also, please allow for “no muslims allowed signs” just contact your congressmen adn if it must come to it ….we hope you guys give us a priori warning before using ovens for us …or internment camps ! Thank You !