17 COMMENTS :

1. By Saad on 17 February, 2006

   Due to the current political climate in Europe and the United States, people in the West may find it hard to differentiate between suicide bombers who kill out of a sense of desperation (such as the Palestinians) and the suicide bombers who seem to be nihilistic anarchists (such as the perpitrators of the Amman bombings). The line that divides them is not clearly defined. It’s kind of blurred. Netanyahu once said that Arafat was worse than bin Laden. I think the reason Yasser Arafat was not universally condemned as a terrorist in the West is because he had impeccable public relations skills. Maybe Zarqawi needs a good PR consultant.
2. By The Absolutely Hilarious, Fabulously Wonderful Guy! on 18 February, 2006

   Israelis are chronically and pathologically paranoid.

   What else is there to say?
3. By dane on 19 February, 2006

   “It’s really ironic that Israel keeps complaining about suicide bombings and asks the whole world to stop the “Palestinian Terror”, but when one brave man dares address the phenomena of suicide bombing, he gets all kinds of attacks, being accused of encouraging terrorist acts!”

   Ironic!?! No, there is nothing ironic in saying that terrorism is wrong and saying that terrorism shouldn’t be rewarded. Nothing whatsoever. An example of ironic statements would be saying “Islam is a religion of peace” and seeing Islamic terrorists justify their deed with verses from the Quran. Irony requires a contradiction. There is nothing ironic in condemning terrorism and condemning a film that attempts to make terrorists appear ‘sympathetic.’

   Paradise Now isn’t even necessarily a very honest portrayal of terrorism. It doesn’t even begin to describe the bizarre religious fanaticism that motivates many of these people. Here is a Hamas suicide bomber in his own words:
   “We Will Drink the Blood of the Jews”
   http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=19243&only

   “Suicide bombers are human beings like you, me and everyone of us. They have their personalities, their life, their friends, their relationships, their possessions…”

   The same could be said for Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab Zarqawi, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein or Timothy McVeigh or any of a horde of history’s worst criminals and most evil people. You could say the same of Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun or Kemal Ataturk.

   In fact, you could say the same of Ariel Sharon or Menachim Begin or George Bush for that matter.

   Who cares?

   …then again, maybe your right and maybe we should care. Maybe its time that Muslims made the effort to try and understand people like Ariel Sharon and George Bush Jr. more, right? 😉 Lets stop condemning Sharon and Bush and try to be sensitive to their feelings and their worldview. After all they are people, too! 🙂 How does that sound?

   There comes a point where people engage in such repugnant behavior that you stop trying to ‘understand’ them and simply have to fight them. I don’t care to ‘understand’ a suicide bomber, I don’t ‘feel his pain’ or care to ’empathize’ with him (or her). I don’t ‘sympathize’ with their methods, I condemn them.

   “Therefore, I find it completely pointless and unfair to accuse this movie of encouraging mass murder.”

   You are right about that. Trying to persuade the leftist elite of Hollywood to stop rewarding immorality in its myriad of forms has never worked before. I don’t think it will work here either.

   “the Palestinian people deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally.”

   The Palestinian people deserve exactly what they dish out to others.

   Maybe the Israelis should use bombs strapped to dogs and send them into crowds of Palestians and blow them up. (I’m not serious, of course. The Israelis, unlike the Palestinians, are far too civilized for this sort of behavior.) Maybe then Palestinians will understand the devastating impact that losing a loved one in a terrorist attack has on their lives.
4. By Amelopsis on 19 February, 2006

   The same could be said for Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab Zarqawi, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein or Timothy McVeigh or any of a horde of history’s worst criminals and most evil people. You could say the same of Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun or Kemal Ataturk.

   Most of these people have had films, if not numerous ones, based upon their lives.

   This is about a FILM.

   It should be allowed to be screened, and as a Palestinian film.

   If you fear the screening, it can only be because you do not wish to be exposed to a reality of existance for some that is utterly hopeless and doubtless sad beyond imagination.

   But it is a reality.

   Art is not terrorism, let the film be shown.
   If we pretend to want to broker peace, for whom? Only for Israel? We must not shut your eyes and our minds to the reality of one side of the experience in the region.

   How can you prevent something if you do not understand it? How will Palestinians live peacefully if the world refuses to see their reality in totality?
5. By dane on 20 February, 2006

   “Most of these people have had films, if not numerous ones, based upon their lives.”

   Actually, I doubt most of the people I’ve listed have had movies based on their lives. I can’t recall a Mao Zedong, Stalin, Zarqawi or bin Laden film. I don’t think McVeigh ever had a movie (maybe a cheap TV movie?), Adolph is the only one in the bunch I can think of that has had a movie made about them (or in this case, a brief TV miniseries).
   None to my knowledge has had movies that portray them very sympathetically.

   Genghis and Atilla have certainly had historical documentaries but no movies to my knowledge. Maybe Mongolia has made a movie about Genghis. Perhaps the Hungarians, who have a bit of a “Hun” fetish (even though they are really of mostly Slavic and some Magyar descent) have made an Atilla movie. In any event, these two are long gone.

   “But it is a reality.

   I repeat: it is not realistic. The link I provided is reality. “Drinking the blood of the Jews” and dreams of 72 virgins are reality. Hamas’s recruitment of the gullible and weak is reality.

   Art is not terrorism, let the film be shown.

   I never said it was. I wish Muslims who are constantly comparing these Danish cartoons to 9/11 would realize that.

   “How can you prevent something if you do not understand it?”

   A movie that distorts reality does nothing to help us understand anything. Besides, understanding something does not mean we have to empathize with it.

   “If we pretend to want to broker peace, for whom? Only for Israel?”

   Sadly, pretending to want peace is all that the Palestinians have ever done. Now, with Hamas in power, they are not even pretending to want it. I refer you to the link (which I got from another previous poster on this same blog):

   http://www.frontpagemag.com/media/pdf/BigLies.pdf

   I agree with Horowitz’s assessments. Including the part where he mentions that the Palestinians would have their own state in Gaza and the West Bank by now if they weren’t so committed to terrorism.

   “How will Palestinians live peacefully if the world refuses to see their reality in totality?”

   With or without this film, the Palestinians will not ever live peaceably. As far as reality is concerned: it is the Muslim world that needs to see reality.
6. By dane on 20 February, 2006

   On a less serious note, speaking of the Palestinians:

   http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=19309&only

   Is this graduation day or a day at the circus! 🙂
7. By Kieran on 20 February, 2006

   With so many people in the West defending “freedom of speech” why is even being discussed as an issue? Or is it that Muslims are not afforded that right? You make the call.
8. By Kieran on 20 February, 2006

   By the way, I signed the petition and hope that many others here in the West will also in order to show that we really do believe in civil liberties for all.
9. By Jimbo on 22 February, 2006

   I signed the petition, Eman. I’ve no idea if “Paradise Now” is truly a significant film, but as a republican (kindly note the small “r”), support republican principals, of which freedom of expression is one. The work itself will either stand or fall on its own merits. And I’ll go see it, it being irrational to criticise a work without having viewed or read it. (Or an argument without having heard it.)

   As the film’s being distributed by Warner, which is not noted as a radical organization, there’s an excellent chance it’ll soon be screened even here in Florida.

   Cheers.

   J.
10. By xlbart on 22 February, 2006

    Dane,

    In your comments, the only thing you seem to do is say ‘no’ or you make bold statements. When people react you take little pieces from their reaction and say ‘no’ again. You’re like a child that doesn’t want to hear what his friend or parent has to say. The child has had it’s say, covers his ears and says repeatedly ‘I don’t hear you.’

    Many people are interested in dialogue. Litening to each other. Do you honestly believe that 1.4 billion Muslims are bloodthirsty porential terrorist. If you really read Eman’s Blog, you do know there’s at least one exception. If you go to http://www.bridgethegap.blogspace.com you can meet many more. If you really don’t want a dialogue, if you just want to keep on proving your point that Muslims are evil, period, then what’s the point in visiting this weblog?

    Fear and hatred are spread by many people in power on eather side, East and West, both religious leaders and politicians. The people spreading this fear have everything to gain: power. The media are keen to cover these people. Who would be interested in the opinion of over 1 Billion Muslims who don’t set fire to embassy’s. Who would read an article about one of the millions of friendships between Muslims and Western People? NO, we want to see the bombs, we want our fears to be true.

    Well, I don’t. I want to work and live together with my Muslim brothers and sisters in the Netherlands. I don’t want to close my ears to what you say Dane. I’d be interested to know where you live, if you have any Muslim collegues, neigbours, friends who can prove to you that what you write about Muslims doesn’t apply to all of them. Maybe not even to the majority.

    In the mean time
11. By xlbart on 22 February, 2006

    I’m sorry for my typo’s and also for the wrong address. Here’s the correct Bridge the Gap link:
    http://bridgethegapinblogspace.blogspot.com
12. By Amelopsis on 22 February, 2006

    Jimbo – thank you for representing a face of republicanism that does in fact allow the goose the same rights as the gander.
13. By Jimbo on 23 February, 2006

    Amelopsis–only seems fair, reasoned observation and discourse being in sadly short supply these days. (Am persona non grata with some Jewish friends at the moment for gently reminding them that the origin of Israel had much to do with the terrorism of the Irgun and the Stern Gang, of which several Israeli Prime Ministers were members. Really, I was merely hinting that it’s not a long walk from terrorist to statesman.)

    Small “r” republicanism’s a family tradition, dating from the English Civil War when some Puritan earls thought they just might not win against Charles I and sent some of their kids to what’s now Maine. That gives me, oh, twenty generations of ancestors twirling in their graves over the ongoing perversion of republican values.

    Cool cat you’ve got there–it even looks Canadian. 🙂 My wife keeps squelching my suggestions that we move to Canada’s PEI–too cold. Guess we’ll get to drown here in Florida…unless the Black Helicopters come first to take us off for reeducation in patriotic ideals. (Maybe in Bulgaria? You know, I prefered the word “rendition” when it was almost always preceded by “musical.”)

    Take care.
14. By dane on 24 February, 2006

    In the above post:
    Debbie Schlussel’s comments about Arab demands for ‘Jews out of Palestine’ highlights both the hypocrisy of the Muslim world, which kicked countless Jews out of their countries after centuries if not eons of coexistence, and the fact that giving into Muslim demands would not make the Muslim world any less racist towards Jews.
15. By koffiekitten on 2 March, 2006

    I still have to see this movie, I hope it wins the oscar.
16. By dane on 6 March, 2006

    Well just to update everybody: ‘Paradise Now’ was not the winner for best foreign film. It lost out to ‘Tsotsi’, a South African film. The best foreign film is always a difficult category to predict the winner of because it is doubtful that many of the people voting ever saw any of the nominated films. Most likely, those who voted read a brief blurb of what the films were about or read a review by a critic or by somebody who was predicting the film likely to win and cast their votes accordingly. So don’t feel bad . . .

    Just to demonstrate the kind of culture that would nominate ‘Paradise Now’ for an Oscar, though: ‘Hard Out Here for a Pimp’ got the Best Original Song Award! LOL! Hollywood is truly ridiculous and completely disgusting!
17. By AY on 17 April, 2006

    I think my personal experience and that of my forebears is not dissimilar to the Palestinian experience.

    But, what I find very interesting is that, Palestinians always appear to blame others for their misery.

    My country Taiwan was invaded by the Chinese in the 1940s. We also experienced genocide. The likelihood of us ever becoming independent is but a dream. But I don’t ever recall the Taiwanese lamenting about our fate and about how we were and are treated (by others).

    As you see, Taiwan is one of the most dynamic economies and its people prosperous. I see a correlation of this to the Taiwanese people’s attitude, don’t you?

    Frankly, international opinion is important. When you try to justify the existence of suicide bombers – on any level – it just doesn’t work.

    I am not taking sides – I am quite neutral in this issue. I know just as well as the rest how much pain Israel has inflicted on the Palestinians. But if that’s enough to justify suicide bombers/bombings, then I think we’re definitely living on different planets.

    Just my two cents.

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