BBC Whitewashes Fitna

Dutch MP Geert Wilders posted his film Fitna on the Internet last night. Let me say that the film is anti-Islamic in as much as it makes no attempt to distinguish between Islam and Islamism. It is also not very dissimilar to probably thousands of videos available on YouTube and other similar sites. But for all that it fails to distinguish between Islamism and Islam and between most Muslims and extremists it does contain some serious messages. Not new ones but real ones.

The BBC's report on the film (which is only about 15 minutes long) is a whitewash. The report says:

The opening scenes show a copy of the Koran, followed by footage of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.

What it doesn't mention is that the copy of the Koran is shown along with selected quotes. The film is drawing attention to specific, disconcerting verses in the Koran, not the Koran in general. Not that there aren't similar verses in other scriptures, but the BBC report implies that it is simple a copy of the Koran and doesn't tell the reader that the focus was on specific and real verses.

The report continues:

And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature.

What was that? "Appearing to show Muslim demonstrators"? They were Muslim demonstrators. What game is the BBC playing here? Is it peddling the line spread by some extremists that any Muslim who carries out terrorist attacks or the like isn't a Muslim? Surely it is not playing dumb, pretending that the people shown might be Christians or Jews?

And lastly:

The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments about Jewish people.

"A young girl in a headscarf". Muslim is what they mean to say. You might argue that the entire film is about Muslims so it is obvious, but then why mention the headscarf? And given the comment above about "appearing to show Muslim demonstrators" it isn't so obvious that the BBC is not trying to glide over the M-word. Truly this report is a whitewash of the contents of the film.

UPDATE: Even The Independent manages to include the details the BBC has tried to hide. It's report says:

It interspersed images of the 9/11 attacks and other bombings with quotes from the Koran.

...

The film shows ... Muslim women with banners reading, "Be prepared for the real Holocaust" and "God Bless Hitler".

If The Independent can do it, why can't the BBC?