Superior Culture?

Annie

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Nov 22, 2003
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There's much I agree with, yet it seems a bit harsh. Interesting interview by James Taranto of Geert Wilders:

Geert Wilders: 'Our Culture Is Better' - WSJ.com

THE WEEKEND INTERVIEWNOVEMBER 28, 2008, 11:45 P.M. ET
GEERT WILDERS
'Our Culture Is Better'
Champion of freedom or anti-Islamic provocateur? Both.

By JAMES TARANTO

By his own description, Geert Wilders is not a typical Dutch politician. "We are a country of consensus," he tells me on a recent Saturday morning at his midtown Manhattan hotel. "I hate consensus. I like confrontation. I am not a consensus politician. . . . This is something that is really very un-Dutch."

Yet the 45-year-old Mr. Wilders says he is the most famous politician in the Netherlands: "Everybody knows me. . . . There is no other politician -- not even the prime minister -- who is as well-known. . . . People hate me, or they love me. There's nothing in between. There is no gray area."

To his admirers, Mr. Wilders is a champion of Western values on a continent that has lost confidence in them. To his detractors, he is an anti-Islamic provocateur. Both sides have a point.

In March, Mr. Wilders released a short film called "Fitna," a harsh treatment of Islam that begins by interspersing inflammatory Quran passages with newspaper and TV clips depicting threats and acts of violent jihad. The second half of the film, titled "The Netherlands Under the Spell of Islam," warns that Holland's growing Muslim population -- which more than doubled between 1990 and 2004, to 944,000, some 5.8% of the populace -- poses a threat to the country's traditional liberal values. Under the heading, "The Netherlands in the future?!" it shows brutal images from Muslim countries: men being hanged for homosexuality, a beheaded woman, another woman apparently undergoing genital mutilation....

Having his own party liberates Mr. Wilders to speak his mind. As he sees it, the West suffers from an excess of toleration for those who do not share its tradition of tolerance. "We believe that -- 'we' means the political elite -- that all cultures are equal," he says. "I believe this is the biggest disease today facing Europe. . . . We should wake up and tell ourselves: You're not a xenophobe, you're not a racist, you're not a crazy guy if you say, 'My culture is better than yours.' A culture based on Christianity, Judaism, humanism is better. Look at how we treat women, look at how we treat apostates, look at how we go with the separation of church and state. I can give you 500 examples why our culture is better."

He acknowledges that "the majority of Muslims in Europe and America are not terrorists or violent people." But he says "it really doesn't matter that much, because if you don't define your own culture as the best, dominant one, and you allow through immigration people from those countries to come in, at the end of the day you will lose your own identity and your own culture, and your society will change. And our freedom will change -- all the freedoms we have will change."...

His own view of Islam is a fundamentalist one: "According to the Quran, there are no moderate Muslims. It's not Geert Wilders who's saying that, it's the Quran . . . saying that. It's many imams in the world who decide that. It's the people themselves who speak about it and talk about the terrible things -- the genital mutilation, the honor killings. This is all not Geert Wilders, but those imams themselves who say this is the best way of Islam."

Yet he insists that his antagonism toward Islam reflects no antipathy toward Muslims: "I make a distinction between the ideology . . . and the people. . . . There are people who call themselves Muslims and don't subscribe to the full part of the Quran. And those people, of course, we should invest [in], we should talk to." He says he would end Muslim immigration to the Netherlands but work to assimilate those already there.

His idea of how to do so, however, seems unlikely to win many converts: "You have to give up this stupid, fascist book" -- the Quran. "This is what you have to do. You have to give up that book."...
 
Tell the far right fundamentalists to give up their fascist Bible and see what kind of cooperation this gets.

If you want to change someone over to your side, you don't call their kid an ugly bastard.
 
If I were Dutch, I would be worried about the clash of cultures that is brewing in Netherlands.

When the most liberal culture in the Western world keeps assimilating people who come from one of the more repressive cultures in the world, there is bound to come a time when the clash of values cannot be easily compromised.

But if anyone can find a peaceful solution to this clash, it's probably the Dutch.
 
Tell the far right fundamentalists to give up their fascist Bible and see what kind of cooperation this gets.

If you want to change someone over to your side, you don't call their kid an ugly bastard.

The only difference is that those fascist bible thumpers won't strap bombs to their chests and walk into a hotel lobby.

Why is it wrong to say a culture that promotes tolerance, freedom and equality is better than a culture that is the antithesis of those values?
 
Once again, read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirisi Ali. She is a Somali Muslim who moved to Holland to escape to oppression of Islam. She's lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Holland.

She insists a free country, which supports human rights, cannot justify allowing the Muslim religion to abuse and traumatize their own people in the name of "religious freedom". She says it is a contradiction in everything that a free society stands for, and the idea of putting up with violence and repression in the name of "tolerance" is ridiculous.

And that is the difference. Christians don't teach children that women are vile and unpure. They don't teach them that they are "half" as important as men. They don't teach them submission in all things, and in fact teach them that we should stand up for what is right and good. We do not earn our way to heaven by accepting beatings by our husbands. We are not considered "evil" if we are raped. Strange men don't come into our homes to beat the crap out of us for wearing the wrong thing on the street.
 
Christians don't teach children that women are vile and unpure. They don't teach them that they are "half" as important as men. They don't teach them submission in all things, and in fact teach them that we should stand up for what is right and good. We do not earn our way to heaven by accepting beatings by our husbands. We are not considered "evil" if we are raped. Strange men don't come into our homes to beat the crap out of us for wearing the wrong thing on the street.

Not anymore, you mean?

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I quite agree.

So lets all give a big hand to the liberals for our society's liberalism, shall we?​
 
IMO the culture of tolerance has it's genesis in secularism not religion.
 
Once again, read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirisi Ali. She is a Somali Muslim who moved to Holland to escape to oppression of Islam.
You do realize that Mrs. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been proven to be a lier and a fraud?

Mrs. Ali was kicked out of Holland when her story was found out to be a fake by the authorities.

She had made it up in order to recieve refugee status and enter Holland.
 
Once again, read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirisi Ali. She is a Somali Muslim who moved to Holland to escape to oppression of Islam. She's lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Holland.

She insists a free country, which supports human rights, cannot justify allowing the Muslim religion to abuse and traumatize their own people in the name of "religious freedom". She says it is a contradiction in everything that a free society stands for, and the idea of putting up with violence and repression in the name of "tolerance" is ridiculous.

And that is the difference. Christians don't teach children that women are vile and unpure. They don't teach them that they are "half" as important as men. They don't teach them submission in all things, and in fact teach them that we should stand up for what is right and good. We do not earn our way to heaven by accepting beatings by our husbands. We are not considered "evil" if we are raped. Strange men don't come into our homes to beat the crap out of us for wearing the wrong thing on the street.


Seriously. Reading her book changed my entire worldview on this subject. Another good read is Persepolis (also now an animated film).

p.s. Or, you could just read her book for the pleasure of annoying Sunni Man. Can I give her any higher recommendation than Sunni's hatred?
 
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Like I said Mrs. Ali has been proven a lier and a fraud. And was kicked out of Holland for false entry.

She was born in a Muslim family who never practiced the religion.

And states herself that she never was a muslim.

Yet she claims to tell the truth about Islam in her book. Making gulible people think she is or was a muslim.
 
She was born in a Muslim family who never practiced the religion.

And states herself that she never was a muslim.

You have a source for these claims, or did you just pull them out of your ass?

Also, fyi, it's "liar" not "lier."

Hope that helps with your ongoing self-improvement quest.
 
You have a source for these claims, or did you just pull them out of your ass?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali leaves Dutch Parliament


Dutch Member of Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali has announced she will leave parliament, after Minister of Immigration and Integration Rita Verdonk announced that Hirsi Ali never obtained Dutch citizenship.

In a press conference an emotional Ayaan Hirsi Ali announced that she will leave parliament and move to the United States to work with the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute in September after reaching a deal with US authorities concerning her security. Originally she was to have moved to the USA in May of 2007. In national paliament she will be replaced by Amsterdam government member Laetitia Griffith starting June 1.

The direct reason for Hirsi Ali's departure, is that Minister for Immigration and Integration and fellow party-member, Rita Verdonk has announced that Hirsi Ali never obtained Dutch citizenship, because she lied in her application for refugee status in the Netherlands. She claimed to be a refugee directly from war-torn Somalia and to have only narrowly escaped the threat of forced marriage. In fact, she had held a refugee status in Kenya at the time. She changed her name and date of birth.

www.en.wikinews.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali_leaves_Dutch_Parliament
 
Seriously. Reading her book changed my entire worldview on this subject.
Mrs. Ali lied about her name, her citizenship, where she was from, her family, her alleged forced marriage, etc.

So how much of her book is true? 50% or 10% or 0% ????

Sad to think this book influenced your world view on this subject.
 
Mrs. Ali lied about her name, her citizenship, where she was from, her family, her alleged forced marriage, etc.

So how much of her book is true? 50% or 10% or 0% ????

Sad to think this book influenced your world view on this subject.

A source for the claim that Ms. Ali lied about being raised as a practicing Muslim?
 
Like I said Mrs. Ali has been proven a lier and a fraud. And was kicked out of Holland for false entry.

She was born in a Muslim family who never practiced the religion.

And states herself that she never was a muslim.

Yet she claims to tell the truth about Islam in her book. Making gulible people think she is or was a muslim.


Since you claim this woman's opinion false, why don't you tell us the truth about Islam? I would like to know how someone truly following the Quran, can fully assimilate in a Western society.
 

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