Sam Harris writes about the short film Fitna made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders which juxtaposes verses of the Koran with interviews and speeches by Muslims and horrible acts of violence committed in the name of Islam in the last few years (such as the beheading of Eugene Armstrong and the hanging of gays). It's about 12 minutes long, and hopefully this link will hold up on Google Video (it's been removed from other places):




Harris notes that the Dutch government wanted the film banned and Wilders' website was shut down after he expressed the intention of releasing it. Of course, one sure way to make sure everybody sees something in the internet age is to try to ban it.

It may not be a masterpiece, but its criticism of the abuses of Islam are not wildly off the mark. And as Harris says in closing:

The lesson we should draw from the Fitna controversy is that we need more criticism of Islam, not less. Let it come down in such torrents that not even the most deluded Islamist could conceive of containing it.