Silencing the voices of reason

Polite society is a convention best preserved by the occasional use of brute force. Thus, the father's tap on the young ruffian's numbskull is a call to attention. There is no meanness in the gesture, but rather a loving discipline.

So too does society at large from time to time need to be called to attention by impolite truths. Writers like Voltaire and Henry David Thoreau play such a role, and if they are successful they spare us from needing to learn the harder lessons taught by the grindstone of history.

It's hard to believe now that society needed convincing of the inherent wrongness of slavery, but without such 'renegades' as Thoreau and John Brown demanding that we pay attention, the evil institution would have remained viable even longer.

Of course, more often than not, writers who go against the tide, who speak unpleasant truths, end up in prison -or worse. That's not been our experience too often in this country, although both Thoreau and Martin Luther King chose to go to jail for their ideals. But let's remember, the United States is exceptional in its guarantees of free speech. We must not take for granted that our freedoms have been extended everywhere.

Geert Wilders of the Netherlands considers himself to have a moral calling comparable to that of Voltaire or Thoreau or King - to speak the truth, however unpleasant it is to his audience, and however dangerous it is to himself. And now Wilders is facing jail time for the simple act of speaking his mind.

Some of you may recall his name. The Inter Lake ran a long guest column by Wilders in November about the Islamization of Europe, and he is noted as the creator of "Fitna," a 14-minute film about Islam that has received wide circulation on the Internet. Wilder's work is a blunt and pessimistic reminder of the decline of Western civilization in the face of Islam. He speaks straightforwardly about the changes in Europe and how it is almost inevitable that Europe will become a Muslim society sometime in the next century, not because of terrorism but rather as a result of sheer numbers and the willful refusal of most Muslims to assimilate to non-Islamic cultures.

Wilders is a member of Parliament in the Netherlands and chairman of the Party for Freedom, which he helped found, but he is now being threatened with the loss of his own freedom simply because his beliefs are considered offensive by some. He has been charged in the Netherlands with the crime of hate speech for "insulting" Muslims.

Last summer I wrote a column about a similar case in Canada, where author Mark Steyn was prosecuted for daring to assess the danger that Islam poses to the free world. Fortunately, the complaints against Steyn and McLean's magazine for publishing "The Future Belongs to Islam" were dismissed by the "human rights' panels hearing them, but this latest case demonstrates that Islamic extremists will keep up the battle to silence their enemies.

It is pointless and unnecessary for me to explain why the prosecutions of Steyn and Wilders are inexcusable. If we really believe that certain rights are inalienable, then surely the right to speak our own minds without losing our liberty is one of them.

All free men and women should be offended by what has been done to Wilders. As Jesus said in another context, "If you do it to the least of my brethren, you do it to me."

n Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake and writes a weekly column. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com