11 January 2009

Is Geert Wilders inconsistent in calling for banning the Qur'an and defending free speech?

Ian Buruma said it awhile ago in the New York Times:

"Whether Mr. Wilders has deliberately insulted Muslim people is for the judges to decide. But for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich."

Then Charles Johnson said it yesterday at the once-worthwhile site Little Green Footballs (no link, as the adolescent Johnson has blocked links from this site), as he continued to libel anti-jihadists with false charges of "smelly fascist associations.

"However, Wilders himself does not deserve to be called an icon of free speech, since he explicitly wants to ban the Koran and make Islam illegal in Europe; in other words, he wants to take away other people’s freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and that is simply wrong. Book banning is what totalitarians do, not believers in free speech." [Jihad Watch] Read more