15:24 - Fitna, commentary, and commentary2
The short film Fitna by Geert Wilders was released to the Internet on 27 March 2008.
Since then, it's been removed from the original source and LiveLeak.com. You may be able to still get a copy from rapidshare.com, and I'm sure that it's available through BitTorrent.
The film is rather poor propaganda. It includes three quotes from the Qu'ran, video from September 11, March 11 (Madrid train bombings), and Fallujah, and many quotes from extreme Muslims. It would take, perhaps, two weeks to create a similar film about the evils of the United States.
The film has also widened a division worldwide. I say to both sides:
Calm down! It's just a film!
To those who have given death threats against Network Solutions and LiveLeak, shame on you. Your enemies now say that you lack the ability to answer even a half-assed piece of propaganda on its own terms. It is EASY to find fifteen minutes of film from the United States and Israel to imply that these countries want to eliminate the Islamic world. (If you have come to this blog and have such a film, I will also give links and make it available through email. Limit to three films of roughly equal quality or better than Fitna.)
And there are those who sympathize with this film, and call Islam a cancer, barbaric, and uncivilized. There's between 2 and 3 million Muslims in the United States. Don't declare war on them. Talk with them, THEN decide whether they're barbaric or uncivilized.
I vigorously stand for freedom of speech, even for speech that I disagree with (like the film Fitna.)
How much do I disagree?
Tomorrow, I'll be at the Iranian New Years Festival in downtown San Jose. See you there.
UPDATE: The film is available through Google Video. That's probably the best source for the film.
His war stories, when you could get him to tell them, weren't all that interesting to my pre-adolescent self. He'd worked in an airplane factory, didn't join the military until the final weeks of the war, didn't get to invade anyone, or meet Hitler, or anything. His stories were a lot like the ones my older relatives told, filled with fear and sacrifice and effort, except that his ended in ruin and despair instead of victory.
He was a nice, regular guy. He was also a Nazi. His Nazi friends that he remnisced about were nice, regular guys.
Would I be wise to judge the nature of Naziism from my discussions with, and my impressions of, its followers?
Would an Iraqi whose relatives have all been killed in the war be wise to judge American foreign policy by us?
Emphatically yes. Both wise and balanced -- if you can get them to talk honestly.
You would need to talk with a broad sample of Nazis. Not just airplane makers, but enlisted folk in the Army (both volunteers and draftees), officers in the Army, women, socialists, members who were there from the beginning, members who joined during the Great Depression, members who joined after Hitler took power, Hitler Youth, people who were part of Krystallnacht, people who joined to further their careers, and SS folk.
Those interviews would give you a strong basis for judging Naziism.