<http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/35094#CurDomainURL
#/blog.cfm> The Iconoclast


Sunday, 22 May 2011

Shelbyville Times Gazette: Film is "disappointing and intellectually
dishonest"

 

by Jerry Gordon

http://www.newenglishreview.org/images/clear.gif

Somali Muslim woman at

Pledge of allegiance ceremony- a scene from

Welcome from Shelbyville

 

An  <http://www.t-g.com/story/1729821.html> editorial in the Sunday edition
of the Shelbyville Times Gazette, "Spotlight on Shelbyville may cast shadow
on city," cited the PBS documentary,
<http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/welcome-to-shelbyville/credits.html>
Welcome to Shelbyville as being " disappointing  and intellectually
dishonest".  It noted the patent distortions in this production that  our
State Department selected to be  shown  in 38 legations around the world.
The film endeavors to portray the problems of 1,100 Somali Muslim emigre
workers hired by giant Tyson Foods at its poultry processing plant in this
middle Tennesse community of 18,000. The film attirbutes the lack of
reception to 'racism and  bigotry' rather than the obvious; the cultural
conflicts that arose from  these un-assimiliable  fundamentalist Muslims
endeavoring to impose their Sharia Islamic obligations on  the core Western
Judeo-Christian cultural values of their fellow non-Muslim workers  and the
community's resident population.

 

Note these comments from the Shelbyville Times Gazette editorial:

 

The filmmakers omitted key events in the film, such as the Eid al Fitr/Labor
Day controversy in 2008 and the federal immigration raid in 2001 - events
that provide more context as to the feelings and comments of many local
residents. Also, many of the "meetings" were scheduled expressly for the
filming.

We believe viewers should watch with a critical eye -- not the individuals
featured, but the narrative and editing of the subject matter.

With a filmmaker who drops in from New York City and believes Bedford County
is named after Nathan Bedford Forrest (it is not), wording on the film's
original Web site that Shelbyville is just a stone's throw from Pulaski,
birthplace of the KKK and, in the screening we saw, shows in the early
minutes of the film hooded KKK marching down a "Main Street" (not
Shelbyville), an objective person must view the film Tuesday with
skepticism.

An educated view of modern-day integration and assimilation both from native
residents and the newcomers is tainted with a "southern racist" overlay.

This is disappointing and intellectually dishonest. Filmmaking is
storytelling -- it's just what story you're wanting to tell.

We hope the final version of the film shown on PBS tells a better, balanced
story.

 

Our colleague Ann Corcoran at Refugee Resettlement Watch (RRW) sent out a
blast email this morning drawing attention to a media campaign orchestrated
by our State Department  boosting the controversial documentary, Welcome to
Shelbyville .
<http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/welcome-to-shelbyville/credits.html>
The State Department campaign is timed  to  coincide with the nationwide
release  Tuesday evening, May 24th of the film  on the PBS Independent Lens
series.  Corcoran has a background
<http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/shelbyville-tn-and
-the-truth-behind-the-making-of-a-propaganda-film/> post on the
controversial propaganda  film on the RRW website.

 

Corcoran noted what we  disclosed in our
<http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/35041> post
Friday, "Welcome to Shelbyville?" about links of the production sponsors to
Islamic advocacy and  voluntary agencies benefitting from the multi-billion
dollar State Department refugee resettlement program.  We also  revealed the
Soros and other major foundation funding of immigration advocacy group,
Welcoming America, a spinoff of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Coalition (TIRRC) that drove the  message for this film funded and
distributed by our government. Then there is
<http://www.newenglishreview.org/Jerry_Gordon/Somalis,_Shelbyville_and_Sever
e_Culture_Shock/> AP-award winning Shelybille Times-Gazette reporter, Brian
Mosely's indictment of the distortions based on his own experience with the
film's team detailed  in a lenghty
<http://www.t-g.com/blogs/brianmosely/entry/41599/> post, "About Welcome to
Shelbyville"  on the  newspaper's  blog,  that we put up yesterday,

 

Everyone! 

 

[We] need help getting the Shelbyville, TN issue exposed.  Briefly, a
Soros-funded filmmaking team went to Shelbyville in 2008 in the wake of the
Tysons/Somali controversy.  They have made a propaganda film that will be
released widely in the US this week depicting what they say is a racist town
that has now seen the light about Somalis.

 

The US State Department is even promoting the film in a conference call to
reporters Tuesday.

 

Yesterday, the Shelbyville reporter, Brian Mosely at the Times-Gazette,
revealed the lies the film makers tell about the town and Mosely (who is the
films villain).

 

Please help get the Times-Gazette story out.  It is really important, Soros
and the State Department want to use this film to shame any town that might
have problems with a huge influx of third-worlders like the Somalis.

Tags:  <http://technorati.com/tag/Brian+Mosely> Brian Mosely,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+About+Welcome+to+Shelbyville> About Welcome to
Shelbyville,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+Shelbyville+Times-Gazette+blog+and+editorial>
Shelbyville Times-Gazette blog and editorial,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+Ann+Corcoran> Ann Corcoran,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+Refugee+Resettlement+Watch> Refugee Resettlement
Watch,  <http://technorati.com/tag/+PBS+Independent+lens+series> PBS
Independent lens series,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+State+department+refugee+resettlement+program>
State department refugee resettlement program,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+NER> NER,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+The+Iconoclast> The Iconoclast,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+Somali+Muslim+emigres> Somali Muslim emigres,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+Tyson+Foods> Tyson Foods,
<http://technorati.com/tag/+middle+Tennessee+> middle Tennessee 

http://www.newenglishreview.org/images/clear.gif

 <http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_comment.cfm/blog_id/35094> Submit
Your Comment

Posted on 05/22/2011 8:08 AM by Jerry Gordon

 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, 
[email protected].
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[email protected]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: [email protected]
  Subscribe:    [email protected]
  Unsubscribe:  [email protected]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    [email protected]

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [email protected]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Reply via email to