Fitna is off the Web. All it took was a few threats.
I'm not blaming the company that yanked the film. It's good to see an employer caring about the employees' welfare.
" Film critical of Islam dropped from Web site"
CNN (March 28, 2008)
"A London-based Web site has dropped a Dutch lawmaker's film that features disturbing images of terrorist acts juxtaposed with verses from the Quran to paint Islam as a threat to Western society, citing threats to its staff.
"LiveLeak.com said in a statement Friday that it decided to remove the film a day after it was posted 'following threats to our staff of a very serious nature.' "
On Thursday, I was more hopeful about the response to Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders' fifteen-minute film. ("Fitna Fizzles: Online Today, No Fires" (March 27, 2008)
CNN reported, "Some in the Muslim community rejected the film as nothing more than dangerous anti-Islamic propaganda.
" 'This film is a direct attempt to incite violence from Muslims and help fan the flames of Islamophobia,' Arsalan Iftikhar, a contributor to Washington-based Islamica Magazine, told CNN on Thursday. 'Any reasonable person can see this is meant to spit in the face of Muslims and insult our religion.' "
I won't argue with Arsalan Iftikhar, that Fitna was calculated to insult Islam. On the other hand, threatening the staff of a company to get the film off the Web isn't "fanning the flames of Islamophobia," as the article put it -
It's pouring lighter fluid on them: in some quarters, at least.
I said in an earlier post, a contributor to the Washington-based Islamica Magazine, Arsalan Iftikhar, told CNN that "he doubted the film would spark the same type of violence that followed the caricature of Mohammed, adding, 'We in the global community learned a lot from the Danish cartoon controversy ... I don't think it will be anything remotely like that.' " [emphasis mine]
I hope that what the "global community" learned from the Danish cartoon controversy was to respond to insults with reasonable words: not lean on some London company, until the boss decides that it's better to lose the movie, than lose some staff.
Welcome to the 21st century. The Cold War, WWII, and WWI are over.
The 19th and 20th centuries' class conflicts and colonial issues are behind us.
"Oppressed proletariat" and "European expansionism" are no longer relevant.
Religious fanatics want their beliefs to rule the world.
Free people want to stay that way.
Here's my view of the 21st century's great conflict -
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Fitna Gone Again: Someone had a Chat With the Host
Labels:
England,
freedom of expression,
Islam,
Netherlands
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Blogroll
Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
- American Islamic Congress
- American-Islamic Forum for Democracy
- Americas Interests.blog an Australian's perspective (on January 29, 2009 the author announced the end of new posts, and explained his reasons for doing so. He is, however, keeping the 21 months of accumulated posts on line, because of "the role that it plays in a larger ecosystem of information" - I recommend AI as an archival resource. )
- Blog 4 Human Rights: Human Rights in Georgia (the nation) News, Opinions, Videos and Photos (Why blogroll this? Georgia is about 10% Muslim, very near the Middle East: and human rights is a critical part of the War on Terror.)
- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations
- The Capitol Tribune "A Journal by a Citizen and Servant of the Republic."
- The Conservative Hawk An articulate conservative blog: definitely political, opinionated, informed, and intelligent
- Defenders Council of Vermont "...our mission is to educate the citizens of Vermont about the nature, reality and threat of radical Islam, deepen Vermonters' understanding of America's heritage, honor the men and women of the armed services and their families, and support the efforts of others to help our armed forces work with local populations in foreign lands."
- DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) by bloggers and online journalists.
- FactCheck.org "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It's "a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania". From what I've seen, this non-partisan website must be quite annoying to all sides
- Fiqh Council of North America "...a body of qualified Islamic scholars who live in the United States or Canada."
- Foreign Policy Watch "Diplomatic strategy, international news, and thoughtful political analysis"
- www.free-minds.org Another flavor of True Islam: one more articulate than many
- Free Muslims Coalition "American Muslims and Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era."
- GlobalSecurity.org "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. We try to bring you the facts, to help you form your opinion."
- Hudson Institute: Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
- IntelCenter "Our focus as a company is on studying terrorist groups and other threat actors and disseminating that information in a timely manner to those who can act on it."
- Iraq the Model "New points of view about the future of Iraq."
- Islam.com "...an information portal site on the internet that is pure, clean and 'worthy of its name', InshaAllah."
- islamispeace.org.uk "...invites you to challenge your ideas of Islam and Muslims."
- Islamic Circle of North America "... to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"
- Islamic Republic News Agency Iran's official news agency
- Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF) "...an organization which strives to serve the greater Central Florida community by catering to the social, religious, and educational needs of its Muslim inhabitants."
- Islamic Society of North America "...playing a pivotal role in extending those bridges to include all people of faith within North America...."
(but note another view) ) - Islamic World News أخبار العالم الاسلا
- Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal The War on Terror, as observed on the ground
- Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center A research resource for United States Air Force Air University students, "provided as a public service by Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center and the Maxwell Support Division."
- Muslamics Affad Shaikh and "A Writing Collaborative" This American Muslim Affad Shaikh, a very west-coast Muslim Los Angelano
- Muslims Against Sharia An organization of Muslims, presumably dedicated "...to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists..." - with a curious way of practicing Peace, Love Light, (words in their website's logo).
- National Interest, and as a corollary, Primacy "These are indeed my personal pontifications on the vicissitudes of International Affairs." (Be prepared for big words, long sentences: and unexpected insights.)
- PM’S World
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "disseminating factual information and ideas"
- The Straits Times (Singapore) "...strives to be an authoritative provider of news and views, with special focus on Singapore and the Asian region...."
- Urban Conservative "Conservative 2.0 - A New Breed of Conservative
- Why Islam? "... articles, books etc on Islam and comparative religion. ... initiated by volunteers from ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America). ..."
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
5 comments:
Why blame Islam?
Individuals, not religions, carry out inhuman acts.
Islam is a religion of peace, accepted and practiced by more than 1.25 billion people worldwide. It is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and if it was what some critics claim, why should the people from all walks of life from around the world keep embracing Islam? Where is the sword now?
In Islam, a person has the right to defend himself, his family, his country or his neighbor(s), which justifies the resistance being offered by the people of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Kashmir and Palestine, to attacks on their soils by the so-called liberators, who are actually the occupiers.
The Holy Qur’an clearly states that if a person saves one life, it’s as if he saved humanity, and if a person kills one human being, it’s as if he killed humanity.
What is happening in the enslaved Muslim countries is a natural reaction to occupation, bombings, killing and terrorizing of innocent civilians (children, old men and women), rapes, in addition to looting of resources, national antiques and artifacts, above all destruction of property by the occupiers.
Terror breeds terror.
We assure those who bash Islam that if there was no occupation in this world by foreign invaders, there would be no resistance – the so-called terror.
We would like those who criticize Islam to explain the following acts committed by the Christians on Jews, other Christians and Muslims alike, throughout history:
- Hundreds of thousands of Muslim men, women and children killed by the crusaders, who were Christians.
- Inquisition of Jews and Muslims from Spain by Queen Isabella, a Christian.
- Millions of people killed by the European and American Christians during the two world wars.
- Atrocities committed on millions of Jews and Christians by Adolph Hitler, a professed Christian.
- Hundreds of thousands of Christians killed every year by the Irish Christians, including the British and the IRA, both Catholics and Protestants, during the past few centuries. Why are they not blamed to be “Christian Terrorists?”
Both of them believe in Jesus Christ, who told them to turn the other cheek, and both of them believe in the same Lord, Who commanded that “Thou shall not kill.” Period.
- Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was a Catholic. Are all Catholics terrorists?
Last but not least, the bombings, killings, rapings and lynchings of both American Indians and black slaves (Afro-Americans) during the past 200 years in the United States.
What about them?
Will those filled with hate for Islam blame Christianity for the above inhuman acts by Christians in various parts of the world since its inception?
If not, then why are they blaming the religion of Islam for what is a natural reaction to occupation of Muslim countries by foreign invaders?
Most importantly, these folks should know that the three great Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have one common basis, and that is one God Almighty.
“All men (and women) are created equal, and we all are one nation under Almighty God,” is a statement according to the Holy Qur’an and is very well elucidated in the U.S. Constitution.
Lastly, yet importantly, as brothers in humanity, we recommend those filled with hate get an education in the history of Islam and Muslims, before they dare to write nasty letters full of personal, ingrain hate and vendetta.
We would be pleased to provide anyone with free copies of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic literature in English, which would help them to understand the truth about Islam and Muslims and get rid of hate from their systems, God willing.
May God Almighty show you the light, Amen.
The 'problem' with Islam can be resolved… quickly… easily… economically… once and for all.
The simple solution for this conundrum requires only that for one whole month, every newspaper in the free world devote its front page to offensive cartoons, ridiculing Allah (peace on him) and Mohammed (peace on him, too). By the end of that time, most of Islam will have self-destructed in a paroxysm of snits, hissy-fits and terminal apoplexy.
WARNING: This will not be pretty… but the world will be a much better place for it.
My only regret in this is that I cannot think of a similarly uncomplicated, cost-effective and efficient stratagem for dismantling Christianity… but… (sigh)… oh well… one thing at a time. One only does what one can.
Thanks for proving everyone's point qazi. Obviously, "legitimate resistance" includes bombing hospitals, schools, and homes; it includes the deliberate and intentional targeting of innocent children. Moreover, "occupation," by your terms, is so broad, that it can clearly be used to justify any foreign presence on "your soil," whether hostile or benign. Your comparison to the Inquisition and the Crusades are apt; I agree with you: modern Islam is no better than medieval Christianity. Finally, it's ironic that you should defend Islam as the "religion of peace" in the context of the removal of this film from LiveLeak's site; after all, it was taken down in response to death threats from one of your brethren.
I'm afraid that I'm (partly) with Anonymous on this.
If some Muslims were not deliberately targeting civilian targets, and using Islam to justify their atrocities, it would be easier to accept the idea that Islam had a place in the post-Magna Carta world.
Anonymous of April 5, 2008,
Interesting metaphor: a supporter of Islam as a cancer patient in denial.
I haven't run into the percentages that you cite, but it's certainly true that too many Muslims seem determined to confirm MP Wilders' opinion of Islam.
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