News-Record.com

To Jihad watch:
I think all of the radical islamist should receive a DVD from us of the hippies on the street corner asking people to honk for peace, and people honking in return. They would then realize how silly Americans truly are and decide we are not worth their time. They can then go back to killing each other like they have for thousands of years.

To the guy in Miami worried about G'boro:
We are fine here in our pre 9/11 world bless our hearts. The only thing we consider radical is the 915 skate park and the wakeboarders on Belews Creek. Hopefully nothing terrible will happen because the other major cities in NC will be prepared, thanks to Obsession, and we will be caught unawares.

I was once married to a radical Baptist -

I realize you were not on that decision, but I wanted to thank the newspaper.

It seems that making over a billion people seem like terrorists and playing up on the fears of many people just before the electinos, a dirty trick at best, is not something that was ethically worrisom to most people.

As you said, just because you can publish something does not mean one should.

Muna

While McCain has long railed against Islamofascism (whatever that is) as the No. 1 danger facing Americans, the financial markets have melted down, thanks in no small part to his economic soul mate Phil Gramm and the "no regulation allowed" Republican Party.
And now he's got the No. 1 energy expert in America as his running mate. You couldn't make stuff like this up.
God save us all.

This is all of little consequence for your own Lex Alexander has publicly and quite authoritatively called 'The American Taliban' the far greater threat to us all.

Brewing within our borders, this group -- according to one of your own editors (who might now be a reporter) -- is the real enemy we need to fear.

Just look it up on his blog -- it's all very well documented (unless someone pulls an 'Obama' and scrubs parts of a website to fit current thinking as was all done as part of the Pastor 'ridin dirty' Wright controversy .

Of course, let the flaming begin. What I write here is nothing but fact that shows insight into the newspaper decision makers.

Rodney, I don't think I've ever said any such thing. If you're referring to my book review of Michelle Goldberg's "Kingdom Coming," you might want to re-read it. Carefully.

For the record, I think both groups pose a threat, albeit at different levels and in different ways.

I have a couple of serious questions: Do you, Mr. Robinson, and does the editorial board of your paper believe radical Islam is a threat that is serious enough to deserve public attention and dialogue? If so, how would you promote such dialogue? If not, what has happened since 9/11 to make you think the threat
from jihadis isnt serious? RSVP to me e-mail
address. Thank you.

Since I know you Lex, I want to be as polite as possible, while still disagreeing with you. So, I really don't want you to take any of this the wrong way or to seem flippant or mean spirited in any way.

But, given the lack of book reviews in the News & Record since 2006 (specifically from you) about books concerning al qaeda, Radical Islam or the Taliban, one can only judge the implied severity of the threat from the "American Taliban" based on your "review" of this book.

I would also say that this is actually not a book review. Many, many paragraphs of it are stated from the book and then afterward you say either you agree or "can't disagree" or believe that the point and danger is grossly understated the by the author.

You also back all of this up with your credentials that move this well beyond just a book review.

I've never read anything like it that is called a review -- be it for a movie, book or any body of work.

I tried to find a definition of what a book review consists of and -- unfortunately -- Wikipedia was the best "answer."

Your fact-based article concerning the book (not a review) seems to go well beyond most of the criteria for what makes up an actual book review. I try to think of how movie reviews are written and -- while they are obviously different media -- the structure of the reviews should be similar. This strays as far off as possible from a review and becomes an advocacy piece.

In fact, the kicker of asking people to think seriously about who they vote for a mere 4 weeks before an election is so over-the-top that I can't comment on it without knowing it will or might hurt your feelings (something I really don't want to do.)

I unfortunately find that 2 years later this very unobjective look at a book now makes the News & Record appear quite silly and similar to the boy who cried wolf.

A college and current friend of mine, Jeffrey Weeks, who commented under a pseudonym of Jim Wilson, was largely on the mark during the original comments -- although he does lack some tact. I have spoken with him and he has given me permission to finally "out" him in these comments.

I would say that two years on, there is now adequate reason for readers and subscribers to continue to question why they bother to spend money on a product that so shamelessly is focused on problems that are well beyond the mainstream or even tertiary issues real people deal with every day.

If you were such a religion scholar since 1997, where were your warnings about Radical Islam back then -- between 1997 and 2001 (about 6 years)? How many Taliban and al qaeda murders have there been around the world in the last two years? How many American Taliban murders have there been in the last two years?

Judging from your "sky is falling" pseudo review of a book from two years ago, you clearly believed our American Taliban was more of a threat. Or maybe I missed the "review" you did of books about the other Taliban, Radical Islam and al qaeda that was far more critical of those groups.

I think the far greater problem here is that this all just shows is the huge disconnect between readers and fringe issues that are pushed to the forefront by reporters who have an agenda to pursue. I think it is hard to not read this and think that about your "review" of this book.

I really don't mean to be critical or hurt your feelings, but this issue does not pass the straight-face test... sorry... and -- in the end -- it contributes to readers wondering why they continue to pay for a product that does not resonate at all with reality.

I have seen and experienced the rabid bigotry against Islam and Muslims that seems to have covered this country like a wildfire. Muslim-bashes get particularly nasty and out-of-control as we get closer to elections largely because fear-mongering gets the public's attention and support.
In such a climate, it is extremely reassuring to see that there are editors and even marketing people, as in News & Record, who can resist toe jingle of silver to take a stand for what is right and what helps the public good; I cannot thank the people at News & Record enough for having the courage of thier convictions and rejecting bigotry.
I have seen "Obsession"...twice. Once at a Republican club and once at a church. It pained me to see the pastor talk about Jesus and the love that he preached and then to show this film without missing a beat.
I am Muslim. I can tell you that there is NOTHING in this film that is really truthful. By this I mean, there are enough grains of truth to lend credibility to the false fear-mongering of this film...I challenge anyone to a public discuusion of this film, piece by piece, to establish just hhow credible it is. I have issued this challenge locally, but in the past 2+ years, I have had no takers.
People who are involved in fear-mongering and bigotry, have a deep eversion fo truth; hysteria is the preferred choice for them.
May God bless the people at News & Record for their honesty and for their sense of truth, you are what should make America proud.

Wait a minute, Rod. You're selling the notion that Jim Wilson, a commenter who wrote as if he knows the inside and out of things that went on at the N&R during the time you worked here, is not you but someone else? Hmmph. What, did you just tell him all that stuff and he just happened to remember it and feel so strongly about the many wrongs we committed that he was compelled to comment so often?

Sorry. You can sell it, but I ain't buying.

Actually, yeah.

We're best friends and have frequent conversations about things that happen and happened at the N&R. He knew many people there and was at some of the N&R parties back in the day -- and knows many of the players (although they certainly wouldn't remember him)

It's not as if it's Skull and Bones at the place.

When new items with quite interesting backgrounds would make rounds on the blog, he and I would frequently talk about "the truth" behind the matters... sometimes he posted what we would talk about. I didn't learn of this until a few weeks after you and I talked about it.

Sorry you don't believe it... I'm not exactly trying to sell anything, to tell the truth, because I really don't care. I didn't realize there was some sort of selling I had to do anyway.... Mr. Weeks is his own man and can do what he wants -- well, sort of.

Nice try to change the subject on the American Taliban, though. :-)

Taking you then at your word, why did he stop commenting after all this time of being a regular and you suddenly start?

Having discovered what he'd done, I spoke to him and we decided it was best that he tone it back some.

I mean, really, what was the point? From what I could read he was barely making one -- and I think you threatened to delete all his future posts anyway...

I think that was months ago... I'm not sure when he stopped -- I don't keep track of such things.

With him stopped -- and a few months in between -- I felt I could actually comment myself... in, obviously, a more restrained manner about more select issues.

Of course, that probably just strangely deepens the mystery for you, I'm sure....

I guess if I don't make my case right here, I'll be hauled into Comment Count by the Comment Police, right? You've certainly met the bare minimum for probable cause. (Just kidding... I have no idea what that would be...)

OK. Pleased that he stopped under a fake name, allowing you to comment under your real name. Happy to have you.

Wow, this could be a plot for a novel, a bad novel, but a novel none the less. I wish I was blogging back then so I could have a better feel for what went on. It sounds juicy!!

Well, it's mainly a lot of 'inside baseball' stuff that boiled down to gossip (although true gossip) at the paper and the web site...

A lot of it I haven't even seen since Weeks (Wilson) comments I didn't find out about for quite some time -- and they don't seem to be easily searchable on this blog... I'd actually like to see how it all got boiled down myself.

Weeks was a great writer and reporter in college (was also student body president - FWIW) and still has a writing gig, so I would trust his versions of our conversations -- the only problem is that he and I go back 20 years so we have little to no censoring when we talk about most subjects.... it's typically a wide-open discussion.