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Censorship has reached small town America
'Dreams from My Real Father' proves hot to handle for tiny Midwest city
WND
Drew Zahn
10/19/2012
Excerpt:
A tea party group in Fairfield, Iowa, had put up posters, advertised and spoken on the radio, excited about bringing filmmaker Joel Gilbert to town to show and answer questions about his Obama exposé, “Dreams from My Real Father.”
But then rumors of complaints began to circulate in this small city of 9,464, and controversy erupted. Only days before the Oct. 13 event, The Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, where the film was to be shown, cancelled the event until its board could evaluate whether such a politically hot-topic film would violate the Center’s non-profit status.
“Censorship has reached small town America, not just major metros where Democrats have more control,” Gilbert told WND at the time. “Iowa’s the middle of country; if we have censorship in little towns there, is there any hope for the First Amendment?”
Gilbert told WND the tea party group was suddenly out all its advertising dollars, and the plane ticket to Iowa he held in his hand was rendered pointless.
Four days after the event was scheduled to take place, however, the Center relented and agreed the film could be shown after all – with a few conditions.
“The promoter must present a clear disclaimer stating that the viewpoints represented in the film are those of the filmmaker and do not represent the viewpoints of the Center and that the movie contains subject matter that may be deemed offensive by some viewers,” the Center’s board of directors announced. “In turn, the Center will continue to offer others the right to rent the facility on the same basis, including standard rental fee, as it is being offered to this promoter. In addition, the Center will not sell tickets or promote or publicize the film in any manner.”
“We don’t want to limit political speech,” Rob Steinberg, the Center’s chairman of the board, told the Fairfield Ledger, “but limit the manner in which it is presented, because we don’t want to engage in political advocacy.”
Even though a Center donor reported the facility had previously shown “An Inconvenient Truth” from Al Gore and Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911,” Center Director Rustin Lippincott told the Ledger he’s never received the amount of public feedback that this screening of “Dreams from My Real Father” has prompted.
“This is something that has never come to us before,” Lippincott said. “This is uncharted waters.”
Gilbert’s description of the film may reveal why it’s so controversial: “‘Dreams from My Real Father’ demonstrates that Obama has a deeply disturbing family background, which he intentionally obscured, to hide a Marxist political foundation. ‘Dreams from My Real Father’ is the story Barack Obama should have told, revealing his true agenda for ‘fundamentally transforming America.’”
Gilbert’s film shows how Obama sold himself to America as the multicultural ideal, a man who stood above politics. His father was a goat herder from Kenya, he told the electorate in 2008, so he would bring people together. Folks perceived Obama as a nice man with an inspiring family story.
In reality, Gilbert contends, Obama’s real father was Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA propagandist who likely shaped Obama’s worldview during his formative years.
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View the complete article at:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/censorshi...-town-america/
'Dreams from My Real Father' proves hot to handle for tiny Midwest city
WND
Drew Zahn
10/19/2012
Excerpt:
A tea party group in Fairfield, Iowa, had put up posters, advertised and spoken on the radio, excited about bringing filmmaker Joel Gilbert to town to show and answer questions about his Obama exposé, “Dreams from My Real Father.”
But then rumors of complaints began to circulate in this small city of 9,464, and controversy erupted. Only days before the Oct. 13 event, The Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, where the film was to be shown, cancelled the event until its board could evaluate whether such a politically hot-topic film would violate the Center’s non-profit status.
“Censorship has reached small town America, not just major metros where Democrats have more control,” Gilbert told WND at the time. “Iowa’s the middle of country; if we have censorship in little towns there, is there any hope for the First Amendment?”
Gilbert told WND the tea party group was suddenly out all its advertising dollars, and the plane ticket to Iowa he held in his hand was rendered pointless.
Four days after the event was scheduled to take place, however, the Center relented and agreed the film could be shown after all – with a few conditions.
“The promoter must present a clear disclaimer stating that the viewpoints represented in the film are those of the filmmaker and do not represent the viewpoints of the Center and that the movie contains subject matter that may be deemed offensive by some viewers,” the Center’s board of directors announced. “In turn, the Center will continue to offer others the right to rent the facility on the same basis, including standard rental fee, as it is being offered to this promoter. In addition, the Center will not sell tickets or promote or publicize the film in any manner.”
“We don’t want to limit political speech,” Rob Steinberg, the Center’s chairman of the board, told the Fairfield Ledger, “but limit the manner in which it is presented, because we don’t want to engage in political advocacy.”
Even though a Center donor reported the facility had previously shown “An Inconvenient Truth” from Al Gore and Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911,” Center Director Rustin Lippincott told the Ledger he’s never received the amount of public feedback that this screening of “Dreams from My Real Father” has prompted.
“This is something that has never come to us before,” Lippincott said. “This is uncharted waters.”
Gilbert’s description of the film may reveal why it’s so controversial: “‘Dreams from My Real Father’ demonstrates that Obama has a deeply disturbing family background, which he intentionally obscured, to hide a Marxist political foundation. ‘Dreams from My Real Father’ is the story Barack Obama should have told, revealing his true agenda for ‘fundamentally transforming America.’”
Gilbert’s film shows how Obama sold himself to America as the multicultural ideal, a man who stood above politics. His father was a goat herder from Kenya, he told the electorate in 2008, so he would bring people together. Folks perceived Obama as a nice man with an inspiring family story.
In reality, Gilbert contends, Obama’s real father was Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA propagandist who likely shaped Obama’s worldview during his formative years.
............................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/censorshi...-town-america/