Dutch politcian wants to ban the Koran
Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders has called for the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands, branding it a "fascist book" in the vein of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" which legitimises violence. Writing in Dutch daily De Volkskrant on Wednesday Wilders said: "Ban this wretched book just like Mein Kampf is banned. Send a signal ... to Islamists that the Koran can never, ever be used in our country as an excuse or inspiration for violence." Of course the same thing goes for the Bible or at least for the Old Testament. A spokesman for a Muslim group is not concerned: Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the CMO umbrella group of Dutch Muslim organisations said Wilders' comments were best ignored. "This is typical Wilders. This is a ridiculous idea," he said "There is not much news at the moment so he is trying to create some." Good points there: this is typical, Wilders like to throw some ridiculous ideas out there that he knows will never be accepted. Race-baiting gets you votes, sadly. And yes it is what we call 'cucumber time', the time of year when journalists are desperate for a story and the most ridiculous stories appear. This definitely counts as 'cucumber news'.

Heh I've never understood why some people fight what they perceive as intolerance with much more intolerance.

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you: this guy's party is the Party for Freedom. So far he tried to ban the Koran and burkas and wants to limit the freedom of speech of imams (Muslim prayer leaders). Some freedom...

I wonder if he realises the irony - probably not. Fundamentalism is fundamentalism what ever you dress it up as.

He could do that, but he would also have to ban every other religious book as well in the spirit of equality. Then he'd end up banning more and more books until there were none left to ban given this example his "reasoning". :rant: :rant: :rant: I suggest he actually takes the time to read the Koran before commenting on it. Storm Raven

Gosh, Geertje Wilders didn't have the front page to himself for a week or something? I'm so missing the news from home during my holidays. :P He actually claims to have read the Koran (Q'uran?) and finds the stuff in there disturbing. He might have a point in some cases, but there seem to be people who think his way of adressing these issues is the only proper one.

Please, we're talking here about a man who wants Muslems who move here to remove half of the Qur'an. You know, all the bits that he doesn't agree with because he finds them too offensive. Too violent and all that stuff. I say, if he had any backbone he'd have banned the Bible as well. And I am a Christian. On the whole, I'm more worried that there are people who support him.

And then he's wondering why people would want to target him... It surprised me a bit though that the Islamic community didn't get too upset. Off course it shows that they too don't take Wilders serious, but even with the announcement of a movie about the Koran being made, not much sentiments were stirred up. Perhaps everyone is getting tired of his sillyness?

I'm pretty quickly tired of big narrowminded talk that calls for things that one deep down knows will never happen in a proper country. Oh well. Even this response already feels like giving him too much credit. :P

Are the Netherlands a proper country then? With all the "everyone-has-the-right-to-say-pretty-much-anything-because-we-all-have-a-right-to-expres-our-opinion-however-weird-it-may-be"-nonsense going on these days. Too much rights, too few duties :shock: