A couple of months ago, I watched a BBC documentary called Wilders, Europe’s Most Dangerous Man?, which reviews the political life of the far-right wing party leader --Greet Wilders. His party, “The Party of Freedom” was established in 2006 in the Netherlands and is known for its vocal Islamophobic tropes against Muslim immigrant populations in Europe and generally for its promotion of the so called fundamental Islamic threat over the world. This movie follows Wilders’s election campaign and his ongoing trial for incitement of hate. The movie also sheds light on the short hatemongering movie that was written by Wilders in 2008 called Fitna. This movie encompasses Wilders’s ideology and some of the ideas circulating amongst far-right groups in Europe. In the movie Fitna verses from the Quran are cited with the objective of proving Islam is a threat, generalizing Muslim extremist discourse claiming it is shared by all Muslims and presenting Muslim immigration as a means of war. Furthermore, this movie shows pictures of hanged individuals that were supposedly punished for committing homosexual acts in Iran. These kinds of pictures are meant to present the treatment of homosexuals in Islam. As Scott Long suggests, the use of these kind of pictures in Fitna, is intended to create a form of Logic of Likeness on western viewers. Long claims that Wilders and the movement outrage! attempt to take advantage of the struggle against treatment of homosexuals in order to promote Islamophobia.
Long’s criticism regarding the movie of Fitna has strengthened my opinion regarding whether it is necessary that movies such as Fitna be available for viewers online. This question was discussed by Emram Qureshi in his article "Misreading the Arab Mind" regarding the book of Patai, The Arab Mind. Qureshi cites a number of scholars regarding the benefits of using Patai’s book in academic circles. He examines weather citing Patai’s book can help refute his ideas or rather this proliferates them. I agree with statement of the article that it is better to use Patai’s work as a negative example of “anti-text”. Rather than disregard this type of literature, it is beneficial for students to learn how Patai’s book, like Fitna, is incredibly dangerous.
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