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Fitna muzzled again
by Fitna Muzzled Again
Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008 at 10:50 AM
The company hosting FITNA, LiveLeak, has removed the Geert Wilders' movie from its servers
their statement below makes clear why:
"This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another's culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high."
Their statement was quoted in an article in the NRC Handelsblad:
http://www.nrc.nl/media/article1029097.ece/Liveleak_verwijdert_film_Fitna_na_bedreigingen
[Note: article includes link to YOUTUBE copy of FITNA, which bypasses need to log in or sign up. YOUTUBE also here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU]
REACTIONS
As of this writing, there were over 8050 comments underneath the clip, representing every possible point of view, in the most vociferous and ungentle ways imaginable. Including the two extremes that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that Christianity is a peaceful religion, as explained by armchair savants in such terms as to prove the contrary.
Some of those savants, by the way, are barely literate. As you probably expected.
Meanwhile, in a part of the world where it is not likely that people even know where the country Great Wilds is on the map, or who this person named Miss Fitna Dutchmans could be or why she is so famous, the usual manifestations have already taken place: hundreds of people (nearly two thousand in Peshawar alone) in Pakistan have publicly demanded that the government sever all ties with the Netherlands, and a few militant Muslim leaders have threatened bloody vengeance.
[And, according to Nasrullah Shaji, local functionary of the Jamaat-e Islami in Karachi, the Dutch are barbarians. Certainly he is in a position to know barbarism in Karachi.]
It should come as no surprise that the extremist fringe, on both sides of the ideological divide, are gleefully watching FITNA like it was porn. For the rabid anti-Islamics it shows what they have always known to be the true face of Islam, and for the Jihadis it encapsulates their great victories juxtaposed with Quranic verses in a boffo recitation.
Rational people will not let it affect them much. It is doubtful whether the movie will have any significant effect on Islamic-Western relations.
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