The Wilders movie is finally there... Rumors had it that the movie didn't even exist, but yesterday at 7PM Dutch time, Geert Wilders posted it online at Live Leak. During the evening it became impossible to watch it at full speed because there were millions of hits. Large clips were shown on TV news shows, however. The government were quick to condemn the movie, saying that there could have been no other reason for the thing to exist than to cause offense.
I don't know if that is what did the trick, but so far there have been no reports of serious violence from the Middle East, and certainly not from our own streets. Only the governments of Iran and Indonesia have expressed their outrage, although I'm sure a few more will follow.
The biggest controversies surrounding the film have little to do with Geert Wilders' condemnation of the Qur'an. To me, it seems like a half-hearted attempt at getting the message across with images the world has already seen. There really is no surprise. Geert Wilders just forgot to ask permission to use the Danish Muhammad cartoons, and he used a photo of an innocent rapper instead of that of a terrorist. As a result he already faces two lawsuits that have nothing to do with his message.
One Muslim organization have filed a suit against him as well, however, and the government have ordered an investigation into possible law infringements. Even if the movie doesn't cause the expected violence, it will be a costly affair for Mr. Wilders. Even without the lawsuits, he has already posted a message on the site of his political movement, begging for donations.
'Fitna', by the way, is pretty innocent, compared to what seems to be coming on Hitler's birthday, in a few weeks. Another Dutch politician has created an anti-Islam movie. Ehsan Jami came with a sneak preview, that showed the prophet Muhammad with his nine-year-old wife, walking to a Mosque. He has an erection, and plans to have sex in the Mosque. There's a swastika on one of the minarets. If 'Fitna' doesn't piss off the Middle East, surely Ehsan Jami's (apparently animated) film will.
The pedophile argument brought on by Jami doesn't really hold water, though. It was an age of pedophiles. Kings, Noblemen, and ordinary citizens all over the Middle East AND Europe had their wives at very young ages. I mentioned this before on another site, and got an angry email over it, saying that you have to hold a prophet to higher standards than that, but then, why shouldn't we hold Kings and Noblemen to those standards? They equally claimed they were appointed by God. You can't judge Medieval times by comparing it with ours. Besides, lots of people living today worship Elvis...
Not sure how to react to that...
Anyway, I found another Dutch blogger that you might like to read. I left your url with his wife before I saw his blog. It just seems like he has posted more Dutch things that would interest you:
http://www.dutchcheeseandamericanpie.com/
I just wonder don't you think that freedom means respectiong others? If you wish, I'm inviting you to read my post from a muslim's point of view regarding this movie.
p.s. you can safely delete the past comment due to typos :)
@ HICHAM
Thank you for your reaction and for providing the link. It's a good article, and I agree with it entirely. I myself have a Muslim brother in law by the way, and he's a good case against Islamophobia.
My brother proper is a Muslim convert with more extreme beliefs, but I'm sure that in time when he learns to understand his faith better he will come to a more reasonable point of view.
@ FF
Thank you too for providing a link. I'll check it out right away. Another interesting blog about my country would be http://www.breigh.com/. That's a blog by a Canadian woman living in my country.
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Not sure how to react to that...
Hello Dutchboy,
@ HICHAM
