Eric Allen Bell: A Change in View

Eric Allen Bell had been a liberal filmmaker working alongside Michael Moore for years. It wasn't until he was living in Murfreesboro, TN (a couple of hours from Asheville and located where most would call the boonies or middle of nowhere) that his views on Islam and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq began to change. In fact, it seems as if his whole view changed.

Apparently, Bell moved from California to Tennessee in order to take a rest from the documentary film business. While attending a meeting in 2010, about the newly proposed plans for a 53,000 square foot mosque, he heard Christians speaking out against the plans and heard phrases he had never heard growing up in southern CA. Being curious, he decided to follow the story and eventually, decided everything he thought he knew was wrong or at least not documented correctly.

At first, as he put it in his story, I "fanatical Evangelicals bullying a peaceful Muslim population, which had been in the community for over 30 years without there ever being any trouble." So, he decided to film the story and make a documentary about the event, in order to show the world how Muslims were being bullied by Evangelicals. He attended a parade that was protesting the mosque, filmed Christians praying and holding signs that read, "Stop Homegrown Terrorism," did interviews, placed liberals throughout the crowd to protest against the Christians, "court proceedings," and documented over "300 hours" of footage.

Of course, Bell was not the only one filming or reporting the event. News stations rushed to the scene in order to make the town look like back woods hillbillies who do not know anything about religion except that they are told. Which, when people are spelling "Muslim" wrong, that may be true, but they know enough to understand that many of these Islamic groups are wrong. Islamic blogs raced with reports, and Bell seemed to eat it up, even though he was suppose to be taking a break.

Then, the change over started. While filming and after collecting hundreds of hours of footage, Bell was approached by CNN producers of Soledad O'Brien, who wanted to use some footage of what he was titling "Not Welcome!" Bell got a tip that the news company wanted more than a few hours just for a news story, and when the documentary "Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door" aired, he realized he had been tricked and decided after all that had happened (all the threats, siding with the Islamic group, and then the news documentary) he was leaving a film crew behind and going to finish editing in California.

After going back to L.A., work on the project continued, he got picked up for a film deal, and begin blogging for Moore and the Daily Kos. It wasn't until he was back in Tennessee, in a cab in Nashville, talking to his driver from Egypt, that he realized, Islam is not the peaceful religion he thought it was.

Now, taking a break from this, as someone who has talked to many former Islams and some who still practice the religion, it has been apparent for years that this is not the religion the Islamic world or media paints it to be. In many cases, due to corrupt leaders and terrorists groups who run the countries and political actions more so than the leaders at times, former Muslims have admitted to leaving the practice because of the corruption in their country, how their lives and their families lives were in danger if they did not agree with certain groups, ways, or people, and realizing that it was not the religion they thought they knew (granted, this is not in all areas, and some did not feel as threatened depending on areas or depending on whether or not they were a convert outside of the middle east, as was the case with a woman from Denmark and a man from Michigan). Also, after studying the Koran in depth and the prophet Mohammad, it has always been apparent that this is not the religion that the media makes it to be.

As Bell began his journey to truth about what was really happening, he started paying much more attention to the news. He learned the stories of the Muslim Brotherhood, the fear of his cab driver being played out in front of him, the horrible treatment of women who had really done nothing wrong, and the capture of a man in an Islamic country for updating his facebook status as, "there is no god." It was at this time he took the words and the suggestion of a pastor from Murfreesboro seriously and even read the book, "Mohammad in America," and the Koran. He quickly altered his filming, finding that his crew and liberal friends were less than thrilled, changed his views, and when he placed his factual findings in front of everyone after deciding to tell the truth, he was told to take a break.

After writing a series of blogs about radical Islam, loonwatch, and the Islam religion on the Daily Kos, responses calling him names and telling him he was "right winged" pour in (it happens to most who tell the truth, way to go Bell!). He found himself one of the feature stories in Loowatch the next day, and it seems as if it was a threatening story as well. He also realized the truth that most people on his or his former side of the isle did not want to know or hear the truth. He tried writing article after article, receiving hateful comments and condemnation, until he was thrown off the Daily Kos. His article on "Human Rights" was the last straw and even facebook friends dropped him (typical).

Although, he is not really conservative, his views have definitely changed. His life has changed drastically because of his change of mind. Friends and co-workers dropped him just because of his view, even though they are constantly encouraging freedom of speech and the right to have whatever view one wants. He is simply trying to point out that Islam is not the "religion of peace" it is painted to be, and he is trying to raise awareness to how it hurts human rights and how news stations should focus more on some of these stories and on the rise of Islamic extremists in America. Even so, as he says, he still supports the building of the mosque but this view has changed as of late.

He now, firmly believes, the mosque is a continuation of Islam's "threat to human rights." All the same, it is great that he has realized the dangers of extreme Islam and is promoting awareness for it.


Read his story, it is a great insight to his journey "The High Price of Telling the Truth About Islam," Feb. 10th, 2012, viewed July 3, 2012.