In 21st-century Amsterdam, you're free to smoke marijuana and pick out a half-naked sex partner from the front window of her shop. But you can be put on trial for holding the wrong opinion about a bloke who died in the seventh century.
And, although Mr. Wilders was eventually acquitted by his kangaroo court, the determination to place him beyond the pale is unceasing: "The far-right anti-immigration party of Geert Wilders" (The Financial Times) . . . "Far-right leader Geert Wilders" (The Guardian) . . . "Extreme right anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders" (Agence France-Presse) is "at the fringes of mainstream politics" (Time) . . . Mr. Wilders is so far out on the far-right extreme fringe that his party is the third biggest in parliament. Indeed, the present Dutch government governs only through the support of Wilders' Party for Freedom. So he's "extreme" and "far-right" and out on the "fringe," but the seven parties that got far fewer votes than him are "mainstream"? That right there is a lot of what's wrong with European political discourse and its media coverage: Maybe he only seems so "extreme" and "far-right" because they're the ones out on the fringe.
| Indeed. Especially when one remembers that his economics are social democrat, just like the party where he got his start. |
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