The Difference Between American Freedom and European Freedom (Or Lack Of It)
I am not a Geert Wilders fan. His ideas to ban the Koran and to prevent the building of new Mosques in the Netherlands go against my beliefs in property rights and free speech. I also am bothered that many conservatives whom I respect are building connections with him and his movement in Europe. That is not a good idea.
However, I am greatly disturbed by the fact that Wilders is on trial in the Netherlands for “hate speech” for expressing his views on Islam. The Dutch and the rest of Europe do not view free speech in the same way Americans do. Britain bans books and keeps a list of people who are prevented from entering the country based on the perception that they encourage hatred. Germany bans political parties, censors movies and video games, and arrests people who deny the Holocaust (most central European countries have laws like this in effect). France banned the burqa and the display of other religious paraphernalia.
When progressive talk up Europe and their social democracies, just remember these prohibitions are part of them.
Category: Liberals suck
I think it’s important to put the actions of Geert Wilders in context with the radical threat of Islamization that Europe is facing. I’d say it’s akin to someone warning of Hitler’s rise to power and wanting to ban Mein Kampf. Islamization and Shari’a are MUCH farther along in Europe than they are here in America.
If we were back in the 1930s and the Geert Wilders of the day was wanting to ban Mein Kampf and NAZIism, with historical perspective, of course, we can say that would probably be a good idea. Right now, I think Europe is at that stage again where Islam is looking to take over. It’s only at the beginning stages so it seems ‘radical’ and ridiculous to even think of banning the Koran and the building of mosques. But we are also looking at it from the safety of America, where we only have to try to push back against a radical Imam trying to build a mosque on the ashes of victims killed by Muslims in their jihad. Europe is dealing with much more than that. A prime example is in France and the French Intifada where they have basically Islamic Shari’a law that rules in some neighborhoods. Similar situations exist in London as well.
I don’t think it’s just as simple as wagging our fingers at Europe and saying shame, shame on you for wanting to ban the Koran and mosques. When they have to deal with VERY real threats on their lives and go into hiding for daring to speak out against Muslims/Islam, I think they have a very different perspective than we do here.
I guess we need to remember that we, the USA, are the “Great Experiment.” We are really the only people that engage in the level of self-governance found here. It just may be our unique mindset that saves us from Islamist extremes.
Just a short historical comment about the Nazi era. There was hot debate in this country about getting involved in Hitler’s aggressions; we were clinging to isolationism, and figured Europe’s problems belonged to them, not us. As a result, we watched Hitler’s juggernaut far longer than we should have.