The Blogosphere And CAIR

YouTube has enjoyed a reputation of upholding the right to freedom of speech. Last week, however, in the space of two hours, I twice attempted to leave a comment to this YouTube video relating to Ahmed Bedier, the Executive Director of the Tampa Chapter of CAIR. Both times, the following message appeared:

"Your comment will be posted once it has been approved."

My comment has never appeared, even three days later. What I attempted to post read somewhat as follows:

"From what I've read, some of the incidents reported by CAIR were not confirmed.

"Frankly, Americans showed remarkable restraint following 9/11."

Today, I left a comment asking why my comments had never appeared. That comment has also not appeared. Apparently, all of my comments were deemed inappropriate. But the following comments to that particular video were acceptable:

fmm3 (3 days ago)
When did arson attacks on churchs become terrorist attack ? see [2.00 mins]. Seems like every crime a muslim does now days is a "terrorist attack".I would expect Fox news to use every opporunity to insite people to hate muslims, i wish you would stop using Fox news clips.
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bedier (3 days ago)
fmm3, If Muslims have a problem with what is displayed on FOX News, then they have to work harder to be on those clips and making a difference. Ignoring that media outlet will not help change the negative perceptions.
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Supkem (3 days ago)
Another excellent point.
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fmm3 (2 days ago)
An excellent point made and i can see CAIR is working hard, but with Fox news broadcasting soo much anti-muslim newsclips those clips making a difference are often a drop in the ocean and often broadcasted on local Fox stations. For example sice your president used the term "Islamic-fascists" Fox news has made this a popular term and is now used frequently and the average person is lead to believe they are a strong ideological connection.
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bedier (3 days ago)
fmm3, If Muslims have a problem with what is displayed on FOX News, then they have to work harder to be on those clips and making a difference. Ignoring that media outlet will not help change the negative perceptions.
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Supkem (3 days ago)
excellent point.
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Supkem (3 days ago)
It is nice to see so many americans reaching out to Muslims in an effort to embrace peace.

The street runs both ways though. Is Islam doing enough to intergrate into socity? or do they cry wolf to often?

As far as I see there are far more "I'm a victim" stories, and not enough, condemnation videos. the ratio is about 10-1 right now. and that is a fact. Sorry but true.
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bedier (3 days ago)
Watch more of our videos. We're condemning and doing it often. The "I'm a victim" stories are more because there is sooo much hate in our nation against Islam and Muslims and people are acting that hatred out. We will continue to speak out on both topics.
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fmm3 (2 days ago)
The news channels don't seem to broadcast Muslims holding conferences and demostrations denouncing violence because simply "peace" is in some ways boring and does not attract viewers, you know, who wants to watch muslims hold a conference on community relations when they can see flag burnings in Pakistan, India etc. They want to see the people insiting violence so their stereotypical views can be confirmed.
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fmm3 (2 days ago)
I think the real question is, are American doing enough to understand Islam and muslims ? Maybe most people are too lazy to go down to the book shop or library, it is far easier to pick up the remote control. In some ways Bedier is right, the influx of "victim Stories" on your television is simply because arguebly most Americans hate Islam and muslims are the those with the extremist views buy a sniper rifle and use mosques as target practice.

On Saturday, October 21, 2006, blogger Steve Harkonnen posted the following, which relates to what has been going on with Bedier’s material at YouTube:

“From the actions of the past week against a known terrorist supporter that claims he's working for a civil rights group that still supports fundraising groups that aid and abet terrorist factions in the Middle East, it's basically proof-positive that on his youtube.com site, where he posts his propaganda videos that tout how "good" his organization is, there is active post-screening going on, and 9 out of 10 posts are showing support for his group.

“Simply put: he's screening out truths - truths on recorded quotes, truths that his group is an illicit organization that is hell-bent on instituting Sharia Law in the United States and making it into an Islamic Theocracy….

“[H]e's obviously trying to hide the truth that:

“His group was birthed from Hamas and that his group has close ties with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“Several of this group's officers have been arrested for terrorism, and they were employed by this radical group during the time of their arrest.

“This was the thesis of what I was trying to post over on youtube.com but the comments weren't coming up. If they were, they were quickly snatched away by the propagandist that sits behind this site...."

The following provides some additional information about Ahmed Bedier (Go HERE to access the links):

December 13, 2005

CAIR-FL SPOKESMAN SAYS "NOTHING IMMORAL" ABOUT ISLAMIC JIHAD

BEDIER PRAISES SAMI AL-ARIAN'S ACQUITTAL

(Coral Springs, FL) Last Thursday, on a local Tampa Bay, Florida television program, Ahmed Bedier, the Communications Director of CAIR-Florida, stated that, prior to 1995, there was "nothing immoral" about the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization.

The show, WTVT's 'Your Turn with Kathy Fountain,' featured a discussion about the recent acquittal of PIJ leader Sami Al-Arian. Bedier, who has been acting as Al-Arian's long-time unofficial spokesman, was asked a series of questions by the host of the show.

One of the questions dealt with the morality behind Al-Arian's connection to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Fountain asked, "If he was associating with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, doesn't that seem immoral, in your opinion?" Bedier responded, "To a certain degree. Now, before 1995 there was nothing immoral about it."

Bedier's answer is startling, given the fact that, prior to 1995, Palestinian Islamic Jihad took credit for five terrorist attacks, which resulted in the murders of eight innocent people. This includes a suicide bombing in the town of Netzarim Junction, in November of 1994.

On December 7th, the day prior to the TV show, Bedier didn't hide his praise for the acquittal of Al-Arian. He said that the verdicts were "a huge relief, and people are just jubilant."

About Bedier's statements, Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate, said, "It is disgraceful for Ahmed Bedier to make light of a cold-blooded terrorist organization, as he has about the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is offensive to the memories of all those that died at the hands of this monstrous group! It is equally offensive for Bedier to describe the acquittal of terrorist leader Sami Al-Arian in terms of 'jubilation.' Our organization calls on the news media to not seek quotes from this man, but to instead denounce his irresponsible statements."

Several other articles about Ahmed Bedier can be found HERE.

Additional information covering developments with YouTube and Blogger over the past few days can be found HERE, the final sentence of which reads as follows:

This is interesting stuff and the blogosphere should be made totally aware of what is happening.

Be sure to go HERE to read Joe Kaufman's most recent statement. If you have time, you might want to read all the postings at Joe Kaufman's blog, which, as of this moment, shows a total of seven postings.

Addendum: Please see what Pim's Ghost has posted, HERE and HERE.