Death of Freedom
Americans tend to think of Amsterdam as a liberal, free place. Times, they are a changing. A Dutch Member of Parliament is now being tried in Dutch courts for "insulting Islam" with his film Fitna. To our Western view, particularly perhaps American, Truth is a defense against a slander claim, no? Unfortunately in the EU and perhaps someday in the US, the Sharia definition of revealing something you don't want known may prevail.
Fitna is not pretty. It's about 12 minutes and consists of Quran quotes, examples of Imams exhorting adherence to the text and examples of adherence. I wonder what about that is hateful? Yet Geert Wilders is being prosecuted for hate speech for calling attention to facts.
Why does a Dutch problem worry me? Our new President is talking about bolstering our 'hate crime' laws here. His talk of getting closer to the Islamic world and other such talk make me wonder just how it is relevant. Islam in its very holy texts preaches hate of non-believers. Not just hate, but death. The Islamic Conference is pushing the UN for a binding resolution to crimininalize it. By their definitions, quoting unpleasant verses would be prosecutable.
Personally, I don't like hate crime laws. The crime is assualt and battery, murder, or whatever, not saying "damn fag" while doing it.
Fitna is not pretty. It's about 12 minutes and consists of Quran quotes, examples of Imams exhorting adherence to the text and examples of adherence. I wonder what about that is hateful? Yet Geert Wilders is being prosecuted for hate speech for calling attention to facts.
Why does a Dutch problem worry me? Our new President is talking about bolstering our 'hate crime' laws here. His talk of getting closer to the Islamic world and other such talk make me wonder just how it is relevant. Islam in its very holy texts preaches hate of non-believers. Not just hate, but death. The Islamic Conference is pushing the UN for a binding resolution to crimininalize it. By their definitions, quoting unpleasant verses would be prosecutable.
Personally, I don't like hate crime laws. The crime is assualt and battery, murder, or whatever, not saying "damn fag" while doing it.