Robert Spencer

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Bat Ye'or

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Debbie Schlussel

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Wafa Sultan

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Geert Wilders

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The Nuclear Card

Geller Blasts National Geographic Museum Exhibit For “Romanticizing Islam”

Posted on 07 September 2012 by Ilisha

1001 Inventions

Pamela Geller, serial fabricator and professional purveyor of hate propaganda, recently called the kettle black with a screaming headline: “1001 PIECES OF ISLAMIST PROPAGANDA: FABRICATED EXHIBIT COMES TO D.C.

On her site, Atlas Shrugs, she went on to describe the exhibit as, “an important but little-noted weapon of the Islamic propaganda machine in the U.S.: the whitewashing of the ghastly Islamic present by creating a fictional glorious Islamic past.” (H/T: JD)

Anti-Muslim organizer Pamela Geller has joined forces with Justice Department attorney and author, J. Christian Adams, in a scathing critique of a National Geographic Museum exhibit on the contributions of Muslim scientists, theWashington City Paper reports.

The exhibit, called “1,001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization,” debuted at the Washington, D.C. museum in August and will stay through February. Featuring a video starring Academy-Award winning actor Ben Kingsley, as well as various interactive displays, “1,001 Inventions” aims to explore basic science principles in fields such as optics, time-keeping, hydraulics, navigation, architecture, and math, according to its website.

Geller recently posted an article on her popular blog, Atlas Shrugs, in which she called the exhibit “Islamist propaganda” and “fabricated.”

The historical revisionism of the exhibit, Geller states, is effective and dangerous, subversively brainwashing America’s school children, thousands of whom will doubtless flock to the award-winning collection during its stay in the capital.

“It has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West,” Geller writes.

Sharia enforcement extends far beyond the obvious attempts to silence critics of jihad and sharia. The scrubbing of the 270 million victims of jihadi wars, land appropriations, cultural annihilations, and enslavements from academic texts has been going on for well over a decade. The demonization and smearing of politicians who dare speak against the most extreme and radical ideology on the face of the earth is virtually automatic at this point, as is the self-enforcing sharia compliance of the mainstream media.

Adams, who campaigned vigorously against Attorney General Eric Holder in a scandal involving the New Black Panther Party, calls the exhibit “slick” and “high-tech,” but ultimately misleading.

In an article posted to Frontpagemag.com, Adams writes that the “slipperiness of [the exhibit's language] poses a serious factual problem. “Indeed, language throughout the exhibit, as we shall see, becomes a way to trick attendees. Cleverly chosen words nudge readers toward unsupported conclusions. Myth mingles with science. Rumor becomes history.”

Adams took particular offense to claims that Muslims invented the camera (Kingsley references the invention of camera obscura) and helped to pioneer flight, “1000 years before the Wright Brothers.”

According to Scientific American, a Muslim scientist in Cairo, Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hayt, was the first to describe the camera obscura, the precursor to the modern camera. The anecdote about ancient flight, which references Abbas Ibn Firnas, was included in a History Channel list of “Ancient Discoveries.”

Kathryn Keane, National Geographic’s vice president of exhibitions, seemed unconcerned by the criticisms when approached by the City Paper for comment.

Hillary Clinton opened the touring exhibit at its last home in Los Angeles, where it was seen by half a million visitors. It was also declared the “Best Touring Exhibit” by the Museum Heritage Awards in 2011.

“Different visitors are going to have different reactions and interpretations of that content,” Keane said. “And that’s kind of the point.”

  • http://www.muslimheritage.com Truth Hurts

    The perception of the “Muslim world” as not purely an abstract religious presence, but almost an ethnic civilisation may surprise those who are used to seeing the world in a sense of a division between the secular & the private religion. Europe was once known as Christendom, while some Westphalian nation states are linked with a major religion e.g. India or Russia. Even the rightwing “Clash of Civilizations” author, prof. Huntingdon posits an Islamic civilization.

    Human civilisation & “progress” is not the exclusive preserve of one tribe/nation, but comprises countless exchange of ideas. Alongside that, imperial adventures by demonising the Other to the level of parasitic savages is nothing new. Taking ideas without giving due credit has been seen in history. Greek historians weren’t exactly academically unbiased towards their Persian (~Iranian) foes, & we must remember the Roman “Carthango delenda est”.

    “The Myth of Muslim Barbarism and its Aims” > This book by the author S.E. Al-Djazairi is a very important & useful resource at this time. As he states,

    “no people that have been singled out for demonisation have avoided physical harm.”

    He does not however resort to much counter-polemic, stating that the vast majority of peoples from other civilisations to are decent & all have deficiencies, so pontification is not useful & illustrative examples are not to be dwelled upon in order to avoid anti-Western ranting. His, is a call for mutual acceptance & tolerance.

    http://kitaabun.com/shopping3/product_info.php?products_id=1 924

    http://www.baytalhikma.co.uk/MMBIntroduction.htm

  • Sarah Brown

    No – if you mean – do I think they should be kept apart or are always incompatible. There are many interesting ways in which they might intersect (both positive and negative) and these are an appropriate topic for discussion. But I would find it odd to have an exhibition in a science museum dedicated to science and Islam – with a view to promoting Islam. I would think the same if you replaced ‘Islam’ with ‘Socialsim’ or ‘atheism’ or ‘capitalism’.

  • Pingback: » Geller Blasts National Geographic Museum Exhibit For …

  • Géji

    Sahra, do you think there should be an exclusivity about *science* and religion?

  • Sarah AB

    Geiji – I think it’s fine to argue that case, about which I have no opinion, but I think if the museum had hosted an exhibition about the relationship between *Islam* and science that would have been a little strange (or Christianity or any other religion, philosophy or ideology). If an Islamic cultural centre were to do so – that would be fine.

  • Géji

    “Final point – seems important that the exhibition used the phrase ‘Muslim world’ rather than Islam – it doesn’t seem to be making huge claims about the religion itself.”

    @Sahra, Islam did in fact had a huge impact on the Arabs of the time, it boosted their confidence somehow, and sort of give them the tools to go, learn and conquer, and that cannot be denied. True that not all Islam influenced ‘the Muslims’ but it had huge impact on them. And to my believe I think that has kind of never change. I know you’re a skeptic and all, so I understand if you don’t viewed it that way.

  • Sarah Brown

    I read both the critical articles – Geller’s and Adams’ – and thought that both of them (I always knew this would be the case with Geller of course) were highly ideological. It’s always the case that if you have a study of achievements by a group which seems under represented (say women) things will be just a little talked up – eg the role of Ada Lovelace in the invention of the computer. The point about the flying machine seemed an obviously weak one as the text quoted seemed fine to me, and seeing the daughter’s misunderstanding as part of some sinister conspiracy, almost, absurd. No one would bat an eyelid of Leonardo’s speculations were described in such a way. Final point – seems important that the exhibition used the phrase ‘Muslim world’ rather than Islam – it doesn’t seem to be making huge claims about the religion itself.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/GargamelGold CriticalDragon1177

    @Ilisha

    You’re Welcome. Too bad I probably won’t be able to visit the National Geographic Museum in DC any time soon. Maybe you, or someone else on Loon Watch will.

  • DrM

    Time to order my second copy of it :

    http://www.amazon.com/1001-Inventions-Enduring-Legacy-Civilization/dp/1426209347

    The Zionist Islamophobic scum can eat dirt.

  • Nice Person

    Pamela Gellar is just jealous :) She thinks Muslims are stupid and can’t be inventors. Well there were and are loads of Muslim inventors who did more contribution for development in people’s lives than her :D

  • Abbey

    Wish the exibit comes to England too.

  • Ilisha

    @CriticalDragon1177

    I did see it, thank you. We didn’t get a chance to post it at the time, and I do wish we had–when you first sent us the tip, it would have been a positive article.

    Many times I’m working from my mobile, and I can’t post articles from there. In any case, I always appreciate your tips.

  • MOORISHaM

    I really think b**ch just needs to get l**d!

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/GargamelGold CriticalDragon1177

    @Ilisha

    I sent you an email about this exhibit awhile back. I don’t know if you saw it, but I thought you might enjoy it, especially if you had friends and family to take with you. I’m not surprised Geller is bashing it. Its pretty much just the way she is. The far right rag, “Front Page Mag” was also complaining about the 1001 inventions exhibit, as you might imagine. I think its safe to say that the National Geographic Society isn’t an organization run by Loons.

  • broke

    In a related note, an art exhibit of Palestinian costumes destined for museums was “lost” at LAX airport.

    “So, what advice does Allenby have for international curators of worldwide touring museum exhibitions encountering contemporary U.S. entry security procedures? “If you are personally couriering irreplaceable Islamic/Arab heritage, think twice about it,” warned Allenby. “Like the Archive, you may hand it over for a security examination/ x-ray and never see it again.”

    http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_5509.shtml

  • http://gravatar.com/saladinakabigboss Saladin aka Big Boss

    So if Muslims achieve anything and talk about then it is propaganda because Islam can only make Muslims savages , but then these are the same kind of people who turn around and talk about Muslims societies being poor and having underdeveloped countries as evidence of Islams backwardness. Damned if do damned if we don’t. This is not just double standards this is just the Looniveres at its best. There is always new things being discovered about history but what I find interesting is that any time someone says that anyone other than the Europeans might have contributed something to human development then they must be revisionist,supremacist, but I think these people are the real supremacist the kind who only want to highlight one cultures achievements. This not to say that Europeans didn’t contribute they did, they just were not the only ones. Every one contributed including the Africans, the Asians,and the Natives.

  • mindy1

    That looks like a cool exhibit, if i’m able to go to D.C. i just might see it

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