Geert Wilders has made headlines before by proposing that the Qur’an be banned as well as proposing legislation to block the entrance of Muslim immigrants into his country. He seems ready to pounce on any opportunity, however small, to attack Islam and to voice his hatred of Muslims in public.
His actions have been deemed irresponsible and ignorant by people on both sides of the issue, by Muslims and by his fellow conservatives. Continually his act (because surely such stupidity and madness can only be an act to gain money and attention,) has been escalating as each new statement designed to shock needs to be more outrageous and bombastic than the last.
If at first he called the Qur’an a book that is full of hatred, he than followed it up a few months later by urging Muslims to tear out half of Its pages. When the outrage died down, he had to take it one step further and proposed for it to be banned. It seems half of the Qur’an is not enough for Geert Wilders, he has now resorted to comparing the Qur’an to Mein Kampf and Islamic culture to Nazism.
By his actions it is obvious that Geert Wilders cannot stand Islam. Every public display of Islam seems to irritate him and provoke an attack or a public statement about the evils of Islam. Everything from minarets to hijabs has provoked a response from Geert Wilders. It is blatantly obvious that he has a strong personal bias against Islam and with his fiery rhetoric, one wonders how far he would go. It would seem that Geert Wilders would be happy to lock up every Muslim personally and gleefully throw away the key. While the right to freedom of speech permits every person to air his opinion in public, especially in matter relating to politics or religion, it is particularly worrying that a politician of such popularity is allowed to publicly attack the faith of a billion people without a stronger response. The fact that these attitudes are condoned, or at least tolerated does not bode well for Muslims. Even though the government has issued public statements condemning Geert Wilders, many Muslims feel that it is not enough considering the strength of his statements and the damage they have done to the relationship between non-Muslims and people of the Islamic faith.
However, there is hope for the future. Much like American pundit Glenn Beck, it is Geert Wilders’ grandstanding and attitude of always topping the last shocking thing he said that will certainly work against him. As the years pass and his statements get more and more extremist it will come to a point where it is impossible even for the most xenophobic conservatives to take him seriously. As his constant media appearances start to creep from the territory of normal to extremist to hate speech and incitement of violence it is obvious that at some point there will be legal action taken against him. Geert Wilders lives under heavy guard because of constant death threats. One would hope that things do not come to a point where violence is perpetrated against this vile little man. This would just give more armament to his supporters and fuel his cause. Instead, let us hope that his craziness continues to rise to the point where it will be the very thing that will bring him down, not in violence, but in ridicule.
Source: Islam On Line
