Obsession: a persistent disturbing preoccupation

Essay by travelnroseCollege, UndergraduateA-, May 2009

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Obsession: a persistent disturbing preoccupation (6)

The word obsession is very often misused. I didn't realize just how misused it was until watching a movie of the same name. We toss it around a lot in America. "She's obsessed with shoes." "He's obsessed with the Steelers." "They're obsessed with Harry Potter." Obsession is something Americans think they understand. Very few actually do. For the people of the "Middle East, Islam it is [their] identity, is [their] political life, is [their] social life, is [their] life (5)." The movie Obsession tries to demonstrate the dangers of this Middle Eastern obsession.

Obsession documents the immense threat that a conspiracy on the part of radical Islam to eradicate all "kuffars" poses to not just the west, but to all people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Islamists plan to bring this new world order to pass through global jihad. This holy war is what the interviewees of Obsession believe will eventually tear the world apart unless all the rational, moderate people stand together and put an end to it.

Even though at its core Obsession is a propaganda film itself, it does a very good job of representing the facts.

Evidence for the claims of the interviewees is overwhelming. Web sites like the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and MEMRI TV have amassed intimidating amounts of articles, cartoons, photos, and video clips of anything ranging from suicide terrorist farewells, to propaganda directed specifically at indoctrinating children. It can be argued that the shear volume of propaganda in predominantly Islamic countries is proof of this conspiracy, or for that matter the fact that the governments in these countries put such a strict ban on anything that goes against their radical worldview, only allowing their people access to media portraying what they want them to believe. The Koran...