According to what I've heard, Geert Wilders wants to show in the film how the Koran and Islam are incompatible with Western society and democracy in general. He then supposedly ends the film by symbolically burning the Koran.

I'm sure there will be terrible riots everywhere in the muslim world if this film actually gets shown.

Chalk that down as yet one more reason why the EU is a confederacy of dunces.

Please elaborate.

Let's see...

The film says that the Koran preaches anti-democracy and anti-freedom.

So some people want to censor the film, which is, of course anti-democratic and anti-freedom.

Got it.

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

Even the Christians aren't that bad.

Show the film. Freedom can only be defeated by fear.

I think that's the slogan on GWB's desk plaque, isn't it?

How fitting. GWB is terrorism's biggest tool.

meh

while i do not subscribe to the fact that Quranic teachings are not compatible with western culture (not that i see why they need to be) or freedom, from the sounds of it, the content of the film does not bother me much but i do get extremely disturbed by things like when people mention the burning of the holy book, which in my opinion, ... i mean shit like that just isn't classy to begin with. i take exception to people burning flags and books or anything complete communities feel are holy cause while you may argue you are trying to make a statement, really, more than anything, to me, it serves no other purpose but to spite and challenge people to defend themselves. hell i consider it irresponsible.

It's absolutely disrespectful, unclassy, and provoking.

But hey, so is South Park.

the guy actually burns it at the end? what a fucking idiot, he is going to die very soon i expect.

I do think that on quite a few occasions, south park takes things too far but most times, a lot of what south park does ends up sending a message across that doesn't feel unneeded. i even remember the whole picture of the prophet episode that south park did that may be offensive but clearly not uncassy or tasteless at all.

I know... my point was that we should protect free speech, even speech that is "disrespectful, unclassy, and provoking." Maybe even especially speech that is disrespectful, unclassy, and provoking.

In every country, one is free to agree. Freedom is about the freedom to disagree.

never made a claim for or against that. merely pointing out that its unclassy and tasteless. however, i do like to point out that free speech or not, when people wish to abuse it, and i do believe that from the sounds of it (haven't seen it yet ofcourse), the burning of the Quran seems to be an unnessary attack that obviously will piss off people, some very violent people .. when you clearly know what it would do, i do think that the behavior is irresponsible on their part

^ Hopefully people will take into account that the documentary is representing the viewpoints of a seemingly bigoted, fringe party and not the EU.

He's not some nobody though, he's a well known politician who got elected to the Dutch parliament as the leader of the fifth largest party. A party that holds nine seats. That obviously means that there are a number of people who agree with him.

Muslim dislike has also been rising considerably in Europe as of late. Some of the European countries have had vast amounts of immigrants and political refugees from the Middle-East and for some reason the majority of them haven't adapted to the societies of their new countries very well. If you go to Paris or Amsterdam for example, in the last decade or so there have risen up ghettos of muslims who collect welfare benefits, don't speak the country's language and are pretty much totally isolated from society at large. This is in stark contrast to the muslim immigration to North-America which has been much, much more smooth. In many countries in Europe, nationalistic parties have been gaining a lot of ground due to this new development.

I'm sure that in the coming years we'll see more and more confrontations between muslims in Europe and the native populace. The 2005 and 2007 riots in France weren't just some isolated incident.

Thank God you're not in the US. What you just said would have been replied back with "OMG! You think Muslims are predisposed to collect welfare and live off the govt and are unable to speak one's language!!

yea ... it bothers me. people when moving to a new location, either to seek refuge or otherwise should make an effort to integrate as oppose to going with the expectations with getting accomodated. and if you do not want to integrate, do not complain about unequal treatment. i remember hearing about a case here in canada where they were discussing why hospitals do not employ translators to accomodate immigrants that never learnt any official language of the country. i find that preposterous.

South Park does make a few valid points on issues that I dont necessarly agree with sort of Penn and Tellers:Bullshit. Add to the fact that South Park is the funniest cartoon on the air today

Only about 5.8% of the electorate according to the last election.

I'm aware of the attitude you speak of in Europe, but I think it's pretty transparent that this politician is just trying to rile up support for his own cause. All I'm saying is that I hope people won't blow it out of proportion.

you know freedom of speech is good, but if you go in a Jewish neighborhood and say the holocaust never happened, your being just stupid...

Do you have the right sure you do??

Is it a good idea and will it just lead to more trouble and suffering in the world? Likely...

Criticizing the Koran is one thing, but to burn it is not a freedom of speech. Its a sacra religious act and your literally disrespecting the deepest beliefs of hundreds of million with no proper reasoning behind it...

So sure discussing the teachings of the Koran is fair game, but if your burning it your just a hateful bigot like the fundamentalist are to the west.
So, yes I do compare some of these rather anti-Muslim groups to fundamentalist Islamic groups. They are quite similar.

The film has been released. If anyone wants to see it, here it is:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 8312745410

Saw it yesterday. It was nothing special. It takes a few quotes and pairs them up with visual images of terrorist action to illustrate them. It wasn't offensive or that hard hitting to me either.

Out of pure curiosity I decided to watch the movie and was relieved that it showed absolutely nothing new. All the director did was misquote the Quran completely, show some radical idiots condemning the Jews, and show images and clips of the "havoc Muslims have caused" recently. It's nothing new and will be forgotten rather quickly.

I'm listening to the EU's sensible and level-headed reaction, defending freedom despite the very real possibility of violence, and I just marvel at how much it emphasizes the over-reaction and anti-Constitutional actions of Bush and his idiotic wet-their-pants-out-of-fear supporters.