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New San Francisco bus ads call enemies of Israel "savages"

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G

Guevara

Member
muniads_new.jpg

A series of controversial advertisements on Muni buses has spurred a signature-gathering effort to remove the signs and forced the agency to reconsider its position on advertisements moving forward.

The ads, paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative — an organization deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — say, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”

Muni, in a statement Tuesday, affirmed that the ads, which began running Aug. 7 are protected by the First Amendment. But the tone of the message has drawn criticism.

Change.org, a grass-roots advocacy group, has asked its members to write to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, and request that the advertisements be removed.

“Declaring a whole people “savages” belongs in the dustbin of 19th century colonial racism, not on a city bus in the 21st Century of a progressive city like San Francisco,” the Change.org petition effort claims.

Sydney Levy, director of advocacy for Jewish Voice For Peace, said the SFMTA should at least insert a large disclaimer near the ads indicating that the agency doesn’t support the message of the campaign.

“This is very offensive, particularly at a time when anti-Islam incidents are rising in California,” Levy said. “The message is certainly out of tune with the values of San Francisco.”

Emails to Pamela Geller, the head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, were not returned Tuesday.

Paul Rose, spokesman for the SFMTA, said the signs were approved by Titan Outdoor, the private company that is contracted by the agency to run its advertising campaigns on vehicles. Officials with the company reviewed the SFMTA’s advertising policy before authorizing the signs, Rose said.

The agency’s policy bans ads that are clearly defamatory, pornographic, advocate imminent violence or are false and misleading. There are also restrictions against political campaigns and ads promoting alcohol and cigarettes.

“While this ad is protected under the First Amendment, our ad policy and our contractual obligations, we condemn the use of any language that belittles, demeans or disparages others. Going forward, we will review our policies with regards to ads on the Muni system,” the SFMTA said in a statement from board of directors Chairman Tom Nolan and Ed Reiskin, director of transportation for the SFMTA.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency attempted to bar Geller’s group from using the same advertising campaign on its buses. However, a federal judge ruled against the agency last month, deeming the ads protected speech.

Evan Lee, a professor of law at UC Hastings, said SFMTA officials would likely be violating the First Amendment if they removed the sign, since the decision would be based on the content of the message.

“These are expressed political opinions that are protected speech,” Lee said. “If the signs said ‘Support the Civilized Man.

Support Israel. Kill a Muslim’, that would be over the line, as it would be likely to incite people. But clearly these signs haven’t reached that limit.”

Muni said it will donate the $3,800 from the four-week campaign for educational activities of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
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http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2012/08/savage-ads-muni-stir-debate

Seriously Muni?
 
L

LuCkymoON

Banned
How is it that Dallas has the common sense not to allow political or religious advertising on it's public transportation but a city like SF does?
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.
Click to expand...

This is some of the worst thinking ever and has been used to justify some of history's greatest atrocities.
 
T

truly101

I got grudge sucked!
But aren't the "savages" blowing up buses? No way I'm riding that.

The western view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is so skewed and unbalanced. None of it was taught in any of the history classes I took in school.
 
L

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
This absolutely infuriates me. I'm so sick of the anti-Islamic bullshit that's been happening in this country unchecked since the September 11th attacks. Look, it sucked. But that was 19 dudes orchestrating an attack. They were radicals, sure. But that doesn't mean we should suspect and persecute every single person of the same faith. It drives me up a motherfucking wall.

And my mother has the gall to tell me that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world today. Man, fuck everything.
 
E

eznark

Banned
Lambtron said:
This absolutely infuriates me. I'm so sick of the anti-Islamic bullshit that's been happening in this country unchecked since the September 11th attacks. Look, it sucked. But that was 19 dudes orchestrating an attack. They were radicals, sure. But that doesn't mean we should suspect and persecute every single person of the same faith. It drives me up a motherfucking wall.

And my mother has the gall to tell me that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world today. Man, fuck everything.
Click to expand...

This type of rhetoric has been acceptable in America when discussing the Israel-Palestinian conflict since well before 9/11.
 
D

Dali

Member
Didn't know judges could force you to display an ad even if you don't want to. That's eye-opening in itself.
 
S

Skellig Gra

Member
Lambtron said:
This absolutely infuriates me. I'm so sick of the anti-Islamic bullshit that's been happening in this country unchecked since the September 11th attacks. Look, it sucked. But that was 19 dudes orchestrating an attack. They were radicals, sure. But that doesn't mean we should suspect and persecute every single person of the same faith. It drives me up a motherfucking wall.

And my mother has the gall to tell me that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world today. Man, fuck everything.
Click to expand...

Kind of like GAF, a loud outspoken minority makes the whole group look bad.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
Dali said:
Didn't know judges could force you to display an ad even if you don't want to. That's eye-opening in itself.
Click to expand...

I think you're misunderstanding. If the government is going to participate in the advertising business, they are not allowed to reject ads on content-based grounds. A private business can reject an ad on any ground.
 
R

ronito

Member
When I saw the title I was like "Yeah, probably they just worded it in a way that people are misinterpreting or perhaps it's just a little bad."

Then I saw the pic. OMG, this is not OK.
Good luck fighting with only bigots on your side. You might wanna look at history and see how that turned out for those that tried it earlier.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
Oh... so because the busses are run by the government, they can't reject the ad because it's a message they don't like?

That's interesting. I haven't really thought about the government rejecting ads.
 
M

Mudkips

Banned
Dali said:
Didn't know judges could force you to display an ad even if you don't want to. That's eye-opening in itself.
Click to expand...

It's because they already have a contract to do so.

Removing it now because of the content (which already met their standards for initial approval) would be a violation of the first amendment.
 
B

Buddha Beam

Banned
Emails to Pamela Geller, the head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, were not returned Tuesday.
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Somehow, I'm not surprised to see this vicious... %&*$&%'s name.

Of all the right wing extremists who have emerged to prominence since 9/11, she has to be in the Top 5 most hate filled.
 
J

Jaleel

Member
ronito said:
When I saw the title I was like "Yeah, probably they just worded it in a way that people are misinterpreting or perhaps it's just a little bad."

Then I saw the pic. OMG, this is not OK.
Good luck fighting with only bigots on your side. You might wanna look at history and see how that turned out for those that tried it earlier.
Click to expand...

This.

I mean how oblivious can they be, it wasn't so long ago when comments like these were made against the very same group they are supporting.

“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Germany. Defeat jews.”

SMH
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Wow that is really fucked up. The whole Israel Palestine thing is so thorny and complicated and twisted, I don't think either side is the "good guy" at all. Sometimes I think the only reason the west support Israel is because they're whiter than the Palestinians, because the things they do and say are often abhorrent.

I should probably read more into it, it's hard to criticise Israel generally without coming across as anti Semitic. Which, when you think about it is quite the PR coup.
 
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