What a Dutch woman thinks about Geert Wilders

A reader who lives in the Washington, D.C. area writes:

Last week I had a polite conversation with an older lady who lives in Amsterdam and was returning that day. This was shortly after the attempted bombing of the Northwestern flight to Detroit.

In response to my question what she thinks of Geert Wilders, she said he is very divisive and preaches “hate” against Muslims. She had no response to my question that in light of some of Islam’s teachings, is it not true Wilders is simply calling to people’s attention the hatred in Islam? She then said that many of the young Muslims in the Netherlands are alienated and made to feel outsiders because of Wilders and others who agree with him.

In response to my point that the prosecution against Wilders by the government violates freedom of speech, she said preaching “hatred” as he does should not be allowed. Some Norwegian friends said the same thing to me recently.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 04, 2010 03:05 PM | Send