Friday, March 28, 2008

The Reaction to "Fitna," the Film Critical of the Koran

Update: Live Leak has removed "Fitna" from public view over Islamic threats to its staff.
Update: Google has the film at this link. Watch it now as it could be removed at any time.

Fitna (Arabic for "Upheaval") has been released and Leftists and Liberals all over the western world are outraged, right along side the Muslim extremists that they pander to and appease.

Diana West (of the Washington Times) puts it into perspective. She writes:


From EU to NATO officials, from the head of France to (sadly) the head of
Denmark, the official European response to "Fitna" is less in line with Western
traditions of free speech than with the censorship of Islamic law. Indeed, Dutch
officials couldn't find a Dutch law under which to ban "Fitna," and they tried.
The pressure to silence "Fitna," however, reveals the extent to which Islamic
law has already eroded core conceptions of Western liberty.

Over at the conservative French Blog DRZZ, French men and women have posted a number of comments on the film. Mostly, they sound a lot like American rightist bloggers like you might see at the Jawa Report, Moonbattery and other sites. However, they too have their "oysters," those who bury their heads in the sand, clamp tightly shut their clamshells and screen out all information that they are unwilling to face.

The biggest reaction that liberals seem to exhibit is denial. Not just denial, angry denial. One writer, Anomalie, at DRZZ, went into a diatribe about how Fitna is similar to a Michael Moore film, filled with propaganda and half-truths and emotive photographs of terrorist victims. Yes, if only we don't look at the pictures of the terrorist victims, then terrorism can be disregarded, overlooked and ignored. Therefore, the liberal anger is towards Geert Wilders, not the terrorists. Anomalie argues that Fitna is an example of extremists knocking heads with other extremists. Merde de Cheval, Anomalie.

Anomalie, like many other Leftists, seems to believe that if we don't think about the Islamic threat then it will not exist. Rationalizatiion, finding false "moral equivalence" between Islam and Christianity, changing the subject or pointing to the "crimes" of George Bush, these are the typical responses of the Left towards disturbing information. Such information is simply inconsistent with their worldview (all cultures are equal and worthy), their philosophy (all anti-Amerianism is understandabe anger because we are not yet adequately socialist), and their most sacred beliefs (if you are nice to other people in other cultures, they will be nice to you. Tolerance begets tolerance, refusing to fight begets peace, etc).

Predictable leftist tricks are (1) attacking the quality or nature of the film (e.g. likening it to that of Michael Moore) instead of answering its points; (2) attacking the author of the film, calling him "an extremist" and other names, instead of penning an intelligent counter-argument, (3) finding false moral equivalence ("we too are terrorists") and finally (4) ignoring the film completely or changing the subject.

The film, however, doesn't have much in the way of editorial comment; it shows, without comment, major scriptures from the Koran that urge violence towards non-believers, highlighted with film and pictures of terrorist attacks on western nations. There is some editorial comment at the end of the film, likening Islam to past tyrannies that we have had to defeat. However, it hardly seems controversial.

See the film; post it on your site; refer others to it. All Westerners need to see this film.

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