Carl Dinnen: Pakistan demo against Islam film
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Pakistan to protest against a controversial film about Islam made by a Dutch MP. Crowds gathered in Karachi to condemn the MP, GeertWilders, some chanting “death to the blasphemer”. The crowd also protested against the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers. [...] The Dutch MP who made the film is Geert Wilders – a strident and controversial campaigner against what he describes as the Islamisation of the Netherlands. Earlier this year he spoke to More4 News; his views are deliberately provocative.
[Article continues at link. The above article claims the people who protested (whom we apparently should not openly identify as Muslims) "are angry about the film Fitna made by a right wing Dutch MP and at the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers following a plot to murder the cartoonist." So the people who protested are clearly described as angry. Fitna and its maker are described as controversial, strident, deliberately provocative. It is as if both sides were equally at fault and perhaps if they can just meet in peaceful dialog then the issue can be resolved. Except the truth is that one side made a short video that no one on planet Earth is compelled to watch, own, buy, speak of or in any way acknowledge. The other side - according to this same article - "claimed the killing of two Dutch soldiers was revenge for the release of the film." And the other side killed more than one hundred of their own to protest the publication of a few cartoons in a newspaper. And the other side is conducting a global man-hunt to kill one of the cartoonists, who must live in hiding for the rest of his life. So while some reporters like to think if we don't call them Muslims we might miss they are Muslims... if we make it seem like a simple misunderstanding we'll all laugh about soon enough... if we heap derision on the filmmakers and treat the murderers with kid gloves... then all our problems will vanish. But I don't think that is the case at all. What do you think? - Trevor Blake]