Saturday, March 29, 2008

Fitna Analysis

Since I know that some readers cruise the net with old computers that don't play videos, or not at a watchable speed, I thought I would pass along this link to a transcript of the words spoken in Fitna, as compiled by the Creeping Sharia blog.

While a transcript hardly gives one the impression of a film filled with evocative imagery, it does go a little way to helping us think through exactly what there is in the film that could be logically used by critics of the film to denounce it and call it to be banned. I'm not saying these critics are being logical. But if...

Creeping Sharia has counted the words in the film and categorized them according to their source. It claims 59% of the words are directly from Muslims and/or the Koran. This is lower than I would have thought, but it still shows the point that Wilders' strategy was not to present Western voices, or any voices analyzing Islam, and thus not to provide much of an obvious target for those calling the film Islamophobia. Wilders is of course responsible for his editorial voice, but in focusing on that we have to face up to Wilders' challenge to understand which voices are presently influential in Islam. The legions of kids who follows al Qaeda videos are paying relatively less attention to the Ulema or to the leaders of the various Islamic states and affiliated teaching institutions. This is why films like Fitna should be viewed alongside many others portraying contemporary Islam in Europe, such as Undercover Mosque

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