Islam - resisting dhimmitude

Diana West writes about Hollywood's bowing to Muslim pressure when it comes to how Muslims are portrayed. She also notes the wider implications.

Still, maybe the creators of "24" deserve a medal, considering the total silence of their fellow movie- and television-makers when it comes to the war on jihadist terror. War, what war? Culture clash? What culture clash? Freedom — what kind of freedom? Hollywood and the media may be "brave" and "bold" in fearlessly depicting sexuality, violence and the perversions therein, but they're cultural cowards when it comes to depicting — even mentioning — matters of war, Islam and jihad. Call it dhimmitude, Hollywood-style.

While the term dhimmitude, coined by historian Bat Ye'or, refers to the inferior status of Jews and Christians living under Islamic rule, she also points to disturbing signs of dhimmitude throughout the free West. These range from the politically correct fear of giving offense, which curtails freedom of speech (think Fox punting Islam), to the fear of jihadist violence, which curtails freedom of movement, and even the free practice of religion (think armed guards at synagogues).

An unlikely moviemaker who refuses to accept dhimmi conditions is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ms. Ali is the amazingly courageous 35-year-old [tk] Somali-born ex-Muslim and Dutch parliamentarian whose first foray into moviemaking is a provocative 11-minute film called "Submission." Directed by Theo van Gogh — who was ritualistically murdered on an Amsterdam street last fall, his head nearly severed from his body, a jihadist rant pinned to his chest with a knife" — Submission" depicts the brutalized plight of all too many women at the hands of men under Islam, a political issue championed by Ms. Ali. For exercising her freedom of speech, Ms. Ali now lives under an Islamically imposed death sentence (fatwa). She also lives under lock and key, guarded 24 hours a day, and transported everywhere in an armored vehicle.

Such is the going price of freedom in Holland, just another ultra-liberal, Western country besieged by jihadists. "This fatwa isn't just directed against me," she explains, "but against Holland, against the entire Western world. We are all targets. In the eyes of radical Muslims, any country in which Muslims can be criticized openly is an enemy of Islam."

One thing these people can stop doing is blaiming all this on radical Muslims. Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hasani, a representative of Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, says.

"Freedom, democracy and stupidities of this type cannot be carried over to any part, and these concepts are out of sync with the principles of Islam..."

And Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, the so called moderate voice of Muslims in Britain, says there is no such thing as a Muslim terrorist.

The problem doesn't lie with just radical Muslims, it lies with all of Islam.
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