The Occupation of the American Mind
PRESENTED BY: Wedgwood Meaningful MoviesPLEASE NOTE: A few days before the scheduled screening of this film, the church that gives the Wedgwood Meaningful Movies the space to screen our movies, was contacted by an organization called StandWithUs. The representative of that group alleged that the movie is anti-Semitic and propaganda. The church leadership was made uncomfortable by this allegation, and so the Wedgwood Meaningful Movies group made the decision to cancel the screening. Wedgwood Meaningful Movies and other groups that are part of the Meaningful Movies Project, are considering other opportunities to screen this film. Please check on the website for possible future screenings.
“The Occupation of the American Mind” focuses on American media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it is shaped by the U.S. and Israeli governments and lobbying-groups in Israel’s favor. “The film traces the development of pro-Israel ‘hasbara’ – or propaganda – efforts in the U.S. over the past four decades, ranging from government information campaigns devised after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980’s to the specific media strategies implemented during Israel’s more recent bombardments of the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupation. The film is less about the details of the conflict than it is about how the conflict has been framed to the American people by U.S. news media and political leaders of both parties. The point of the [propaganda] effort is to make sure nobody questions U.S. support for Israel, and there’s no question it’s been amazingly effective. What we’re [the film’s producers] trying to do with this film is simply clear some space for rational and balanced discussion about the conflict and U.S. support for Israel.” [quotations from: mediaed.org/occupationmovie]
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI was just informed that this film, in fact, was not screened due to pressure from the group/organization “StandWithUs.” How sad. How predictable. Shame on whoever caved in to this pressure. Maybe in the future whoever was in charge of this decision will see what an awful choice they’d made. Meaningful Movies? Meaningful decisions. Meaning you’re on the wrong side of history.
P.S. – Yet you still display this film on your site as if you’d screened it? Looking for some street cred without doing the work? What a drag…
People who attended the event heard a detailed explanation from a Wedgwood Meaningful Movies representative regarding the cancellation. The decision to cancel was not taken lightly. It was made out of concern for the leadership of the church, who has graciously provided their space every month for 5 years for the Meaningful Movies to show films. Meaningful Movies has provided a brief explanation of this matter on our website here https://meaningfulmovies.org/events/the-occupation-of-the-american-mind-2/ and has also posted a comment on StandWithUs-Northwest’s Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/pg/StandWithUsNorthwest/posts/.
The regrettable attempt by “StandWithUs” to possibly suppress the screening of the film “The occupation of the American mind” could in fact be converted into an opportunity.
Perhaps one can have a panel discussion at a future screening of this film which includes one “StandWithUs” member where the group is asked to rationally debate as to why exactly the movie might be anti-Semitic. That would give them a forum to provide a counter point but it would also challenge them in their possibly rather expanded definition of what Anti-Semitism. If they declined such offer, they would speak for themselves in refusing a debate.
Unfortunately this accusation of anti-Semitism seems leveraged against anyone who dares to critique Israeli policy, even if it comes from liberal Jews itself. Inflating this definition cheapens the actual suffering past and present from anti semitism.
I have not seen the movie, so I withhold my own determination until I see it, which I hope can still happen.