Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage': by Richard Silverstein

By now the whole world knows about about the stupid propaganda production 'Fitna'. It is to some extent heart warming that the responses so far from non-Muslims have been predominantly non-supporting of the fear-mongering message of that piece of trash (see many reports on my Khaled's Online Finds).

I liked the nice sentiment and a brief comment I found on Tikun Olam web site by Richard Silverstein. His description of the author's face as 'smug' it exactly what goes on in my mind every time I see the face of that person. He look full of him self, happy to be in your face, and in the spotlight (although a less glamorous shot of him can be found here). But forget about the smug face, I wanted to share some of Richard's comments with you (Click here for the full posting).

Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage' - by Richard Silverstein

"Yes, I know Geert Wilders’ anti-Muslim diatribe, Fitna, has been watched by 400 zillion YouTube viewers. That must make it right, right? Wrong. I watched the first minute or so at the behest of a very nice fellow who’s been helping me upgrade my Wordpress installation. As soon as the first panel from the Koran was displayed on screen quoting a verse that threatens death to all and sundry and was followed by the 9/11 plane flying into the World Trade Center, I knew what I was in for. That was enough for me. Do I hear Islamophobia, anyone?"

"... Every religion contains messages of hate, intolerance and violence. Every religion contains message of love, hope and grace. If we condemn Islam and say it is all bad then let’s condemn every religion and say they’re all bad every one of them. I don’t believe this proposition. I make it just for the sake of argument."

And, as any educated person knows, hand picking verses and sentences out of context from any book, holy or not, and super-imposing them on images that has a lot of negative emotional associations is the oldest trick in the textbook of brain-washing methods. It has always surprised me that Muslims have been getting the this kind of nonsense about Islam thrown in their face all the time without responding in kind. Putting together a 15-20 minute 'movie' that has images of what has been happening in Occupied Palestinian Territories, in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Abu Ghraib, etc, then impose on them some of the abundant Biblical verses promoting violence and harsh measures against whole towns and communities, could be a small weekend project for a high-schooler with any of the simple and free video editors. But, Muslims 9as countries and larger communities) have not resorted to these dirty techniques so far mostly because our respect for the Old and New Testament, out of respect for the People of the Book, is a religious obligation for us.
Of course, if any of us would make such movie, 'hate-monger', and 'anti-Semite' will be tattooed on their face forever. Certainly, the movie maker will NOT be on CNN, Fox, BBC, FrontPage Magazine, or Jerusalem Post as experts on Christianity or Jewish radicalism. And it is also unlikely for them to be invited to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, and get paid to enlighten our military personnel (see below).

Too bad the fundamentalist and propagandists on the other side do not have that kind of restraint. For a couple of years now, Muslims had to endure the fallout of the movie Obsession, promoted by the Ex-Muslim Ex-Terrorist current-propagandist/Christian/Zionist opportunist by the name of Shoebat . The stupid, and immoral, 'movie' has been paraded as The proof of what Islam is about. It has been routinely and repeatedly shown in synagogues and churches all over the country, and the idiot behind it has been the darling of right wing media and bloggers, and fundamentalist Jews and Christians for a while. He is paid thousands of dollars just to show up. Few months ago he was actually paid to 'lecture' about radical Islam in the Air force Academy in Colorado. The air force men and women of the world's only superpower are getting their indoctrination fix from and ex-terrorist who was raising money for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after his movie showing in a St. Louis synagogue two summers ago.
If that is not stupid, then what it?
Khaled

Links:
Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage' - by Richard Silverstein

[For those interested in the Ex-terrorist story, do you own Google search. I do not feel like linking to his stupid web site from here. If you search Google using Shoebat and Air force Academy you will hundreds of link of the event I mentioned in the last paragraph. The link below is one of them]
Paid Bigot's Including Walid Shoebat Teaching Religious War At U.S. Air Force Academy