Thread: Campaign launched against Islamophobic radio host:M Savage

Campaign launched against Islamophobic radio host
By Zeyad Maasarani

SAN FRANCISCO – Radical right wing radio personality Michael Savage of "The Savage Nation" recently stirred controversy on the airwaves when he told a Muslim caller on his show, "I don’t want to hear anymore about Islam. I don’t want to hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind. I’m sick of you."

As hate radio fills the AM airwaves, tired of the rants and tirades against Muslims and other groups, Hate Hurts America Interfaith and Community Coalition launched an organized campaign to oppose such hate.

Their first target was Savage’s program, which is based here in the Bay area.

The coalition is a civil rights activist group that defends American minorities.

In conjunction with the Interfaith Freedom Foundation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR, and other anti-hate groups, its current campaign against "The Savage Nation" aimed to weed out the show’s corporate sponsors and force Savage’s broadcast off the air.

In a statement released on Dec. 4, members of the coalition stated, "We stand in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters against bigotry. Therefore, we call on advertisers with the ‘Savage Nation’ radio show to distance themselves from Mr. Savage’s hate-filled views by stopping all advertisement that support the show."

The campaign has already met with success. The coalition’s Web site states that a number of advertisers, including Citrix Systems, Inc., Trusted I.D., Office Max, JCPenney, AutoZone, AT&T and Wal-mart have dropped their ads from the show.

Even Savage himself has felt the pinch. A spokeswoman for his show told The Associated Press that advertisers had canceled due to the campaign. Savage has said that he has lost $1 million in revenue.

In a countermove, Savage filed a lawsuit on Dec. 23 against CAIR for copyright infringement over its use of a 4-minute medley of clips of his show on its Web site in which he called the Qur’an a "book of hate."

The suit also charged that CAIR was a political organization funded by terrorist groups.

Dismissing the claims, CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper said the lawsuit appears to be a "legal rhetorical rant."

The clips were posted on CAIR’s Web site for purposes of public education and to promote an interfaith campaign to urge advertisers to stop sponsoring the radio show, he said.

Savage has a long history of verbiage against Muslims. In 2004, he stated, "I think [Muslims] need to be forcibly converted to Christianity ... It’s the only thing that can probably turn them into human beings."

In 2006, he even suggested an "outright ban on Muslim immigration" into the country, and also recommended making "the construction of mosques illegal in America."

Also in 2006, Savage encouraged listeners on his nationally syndicated talk show to "kill 100 million [Muslims], then there’d be [only] 900 million of them. I mean ... would you rather us die than them?" He added: "Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you’re going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later."

Amina Rubin, CAIR communications coordinator responded, "Michael Savage obviously cares little about the safety or civil rights of American Muslims, but the stations that carry his hate-filled rants do care about listeners’ attitudes toward advertisers who pay to air commercials during his program."

She encouraged all Americans to contact any local station that broadcasts Savage’s show to say they will not buy the goods or services of his advertisers.

Rubin pointed out that hate-filled words like these can and do lead to violent actions against American Muslims.

CAIR’s latest annual report on the status of American Muslim civil rights showed a 9.2 percent increase in the total number of complaints of anti-Muslim hate crimes from 2005 to 2007.
http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/18716/135/

"I don’t want to hear anymore about Islam. I don’t want to hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind. I’m sick of you."

So, what's the problem???

I have never heard his show, and cannot say how good or bad this guy is, but I can say, if he is actually advocating violence against other citizens (immigrated here legally?), then he is very irresponsible, though he is entitled to his opinion about the religion and that religions outlook on it's dealings with non-believers (we all know that there is truly no such thing as a moderate Muslim, they simply do not speak up when it comes to Islamic radicalism, which makes many wonder if they agree, but do not have the guts to actually act on it?).

Again, I cannot agree with him about acting out against people with potential violence, or talk of violence, that is wrong.

Quote(In 2006, he even suggested an "outright ban on Muslim immigration" into the country, and also recommended making "the construction of mosques illegal in America."Quote


Think about this if we had done the above prior to 911 could we have prevent what occurred, plus a war in Afghanistan,Iraq and the death of many young American men not to mention the thousands serious injured.

As we grow in population over 300 million now we will have to face certain facts about immigration or America will fail as we know it, one only need look at England, France to see our future.