{"id":92,"date":"2008-11-03T15:51:27","date_gmt":"2008-11-03T15:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html"},"modified":"2008-11-03T15:51:27","modified_gmt":"2008-11-03T15:51:27","slug":"refuting-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html","title":{"rendered":"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"obsession_cover.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/75\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px;float: right\" width=\"236\" height=\"351\" \/><\/span>As I noted in my <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/free-speech.html\">statement on free speech<\/a>, the best answer to bad speech is not to restrict speech, but more speech. In other words, refute it, don&#8217;t silence it. This is why in <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/free-speech.html\">my coverage of the Obsession DVD<\/a> I have never suggested that there should be some means of regulating or banning such blatantly racist propaganda, as there are in Europe, where hate speech laws are common.<\/p>\n<div>As it happens, there is a Jewish group devoted to First Amendment issues called Jews on First, who embody this ideal of more speech, not less: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jewsonfirst.org\/\">Jews on First<\/a>. And they&#8217;ve produced <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mt-static\/html\/editor-content.html?cs=utf-8\">a comprehensive rebuttal and refutation of Obsession<\/a> that completely dismantles the arguments therein and reveals it to be no less than a slander against all muslims and the entirety of the Islamic faith, despite the producers&#8217; lame disclaimer otherwise in the opening segment. They&#8217;ve even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jewsonfirst.org\/obsession\/s1.html\">distilled the rebuttal down to a 13-slide presentation<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>This is a fantastic resource and I encourage everyone to share the link with others. <\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, if anyone has a copy of the DVD, I&#8217;d really like to borrow\/steal it from you. Please let me know in comments if you&#8217;ve a copy you can part with!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I noted in my statement on free speech, the best answer to bad speech is not to restrict speech, but more speech. In other words, refute it, don&#8217;t silence it. This is why in my coverage of the Obsession DVD I have never suggested that there should be some means of regulating or banning&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100,92],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-read-this","tag-islamophobia","tag-obsession-dvd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Refuting Obsession: Jews on First - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As I noted in my statement on free speech, the best answer to bad speech is not to restrict speech, but more speech. In other words, refute it, don&#8217;t silence it. This is why in my coverage of the Obsession DVD I have never suggested that there should be some means of regulating or banning&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-03T15:51:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/files\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aziz Poonawalla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First - City of Brass","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First - City of Brass","og_description":"As I noted in my statement on free speech, the best answer to bad speech is not to restrict speech, but more speech. In other words, refute it, don&#8217;t silence it. This is why in my coverage of the Obsession DVD I have never suggested that there should be some means of regulating or banning&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html","og_site_name":"City of Brass","article_published_time":"2008-11-03T15:51:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/files\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg"}],"author":"Aziz Poonawalla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html","name":"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First - City of Brass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/files\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg","datePublished":"2008-11-03T15:51:27+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-03T15:51:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/files\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/files\/import\/obsession_cover.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/refuting-obsession.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Refuting Obsession: Jews on First"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/","name":"City of Brass","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Aziz Poonawalla","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb","name":"Aziz Poonawalla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","caption":"Aziz Poonawalla"},"description":"Aziz Poonawalla is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}