'My culture is better than yours.'

[brendan]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122792271890965883.html

[bucket]

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."

I agree with this guys opinion. To me, Islam just seems to deny people from their freedom. And no, I'm not racist/whatever.

[bubble sunglasses]

 I agree with the final paragraph
 
"Mr. Wilders is right to call for a vigilant defense of liberal principles. A society has a right, indeed a duty, to require that religious minorities comply with secular rules of civilized behavior. But to demand that they renounce their religious identity and holy books is itself an affront to liberal principles."

 I'm not sure what I think of the following statement [from the politician.] I remember Mao and Coblin arguing that fear over immigrants coming from a different culture was a poor reason to deny them entry. I suppose it depends how many are allowed to come in.
 
 "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."

[bubble sunglasses]

   Geert Wilders on trial, for "telling the truth"
 http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3277841/a-defining-moment.thtml