Freedom of Cuisine Versus Freedom of Speech

In an article in the Telegraph, Ed West writes, "Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party is on course to top the polls in the Dutch election in the summer, after tremendous gains in local elections this week – it came first in Almere and second in The Hague, the two only local authorities the party contested, and this despite Wilders being put on trial earlier this year for 'insulting Islam.'

"Or maybe because of… Despite the media consensus that Wilders is 'far-Right' and Islamphobic, and a trouble-maker with a dodgy haircut, the Dutch people obviously saw his trial for what it was – proof of his point that multiculturalism threatens freedom. They decided that, whatever the benefits of 'diversity,' the most important thing is diversity of opinion. Freedom to eat two dozen different cuisines in an evening or visit half a dozen religious buildings is small comfort if it is at the expense of freedom of speech.

"...unlike many opponents of mass immigration, he’s not a fascist or a racist – the British establishment would love Wilders to reveal himself to be another Nick Griffin or Jorg Haider, someone with lots of skeletons dressed in SS uniform in his closet, but he’s not. He’s just a normal mainstream conservative who sees, like many others, that the liberal establishment suffers from sort of groupthink madness when it comes to the subject of immigration."

Read the article here: Is Geert Wilders the new William of Orange?