The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 8)

/p> p> Happy Feder's article was outstanding. The first shot across the bow was the Pym Fortuyn assassination. Mr. Fortuyn had been a target for awhile because of his "views." The news media did their best to portray him as a racist xenophobe and his party as the Dutch version of Le Pen or the UK National Front. He was nothing of the sort. Mr. Fortuyn was a successful entrepreneur who just happened to be gay. He also was an advocate of Holland's cannabis laws. He was in effect a Libertarian. His anti-immigration stance was largely misunderstood by the knee-jerk European media. He was not against immigration as much as he was against immigrants who refused to assimilate and become Dutch. In fact many immigrants were part of his political party. Muslims were targeted by Mr. Fortuyn not only because they were the group that refused to integrate but because in many cases Imams made no secret about their desire to convert Holland to Sharia law. Mr. Fortuyn was very direct in his opposition, mostly because if that was to happen he (as a openly gay man) would be an immediate target. The tolerance that he and other's enjoyed in Holland would cease to exist. Holland is now waking up to the nightmare that Pym's death was no fluke. The Dutch are realizing that tolerance can only be maintained if some things are not tolerated. br> -- Ron Pettengill /p>

It is important to explain to this audience the seemingly peculiar meaning of the word "liberal" from the Dutch sense.

"Van Gogh made the film with liberal Dutch Parliament member, Somali refugee Ayaan Hirsi Ali, now an ex-Muslim."

The VVD, the party to which Ali belongs, is known in the Netherlands as "The Liberals." Oddly, this party is the most conservative of the standard parties. The word liberal is descriptive in the sense that the party maintains that people are better able to make decisions for themselves and that government regulation and control should be loosened. They believe that the government should be "liberal" in respect to the freedoms the people are allowed.

p>This definition perfectly contrasts that which is applied in the American political context. The distinction is important, both to eliminate confusions and to understand the initial point at which the lines of right and left are drawn. br> -- Frank White br> Albuquerque, New Mexico /p>

Happy Jack Feder describes the mural painted by a Dutch Artist in memory of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh as showing "an angel ascending into heaven with the Biblical commandment (which is also part of the Koran, or I am much mistaken) 'Thou shalt not kill,' on the exterior of his own wall! Turns out them's fighting words for the Moroccan youths who crowded to spit on the mural." Unfortunately for the world, Mr. Feder is "much mistaken." Neither "Thou shalt not kill" nor any other of the Ten Commandments, the basic foundation of all Judaeo-Christian morality, appears in the Quran. Islam has much less in common with its forebears than we are naively inclined to suppose.

p>The lack of moral condemnation of present-day atrocities which characterizes the Islamic world is not merely a result of fear of retaliation; many members of this criminal cult consider unbelievers fair game for any Muslim who feels inclined to an act of "struggle" (Arabic "jihad").

topics:
Islam, Abortion, Books, Law, NATO, Immigration