A Letter to the Editor of The Weekly Standard

Many readers wrote to complain about Glenn Beck’s anti-Geert Wilders’ rant last night. One, Spackle, took note of the fact we don’t have a TV; he simply wanted to keep us abreast of the changing tide.

This morning there were more complaints. Actually, one of our more astute readers referred to this display as Beck’s “Charles Johnson moment”. Hmm, could be.

When I heard that Bill Kristol, of The Weekly Standard was part of the Wilders’ death panel, it seemed a ‘letter to the editor’ was in order.

editor@weeklystandard.com

To Mr. Kristol:

Not having a TV, we didn’t see the death panel Fox assembled to take out Geert Wilders. However, many of our readers have contacted us about it. We were told that you called Mr. Wilders a “demagogue”.

This ad hominem attack is appalling, sir. If Wilders is a demagogue, then so were our Founders, for they spoke in emotional terms about living under tyranny. Like them, Mr. Wilders lives under the threat of death, social ostracism, and penury for his stand against the further islamization of his country.

In fact, Wilders will no doubt meet Pim Fortuyn’s fate for making a stand against the overwhelming onslaught that Islamists have mounted against the Netherlands.

He is trying, on his own, to hold back the tide. Do you have any idea how bad the situation is in the Netherlands? What is happening there makes your coverage of the Greek/German economic rift seem beside the point.

It won’t be long now until Wilders is taken out …and you helped put another nail in the coffin. I suggest some background reading on his situation and on Dutch oppression of free speech. Denmark is it not.

Here’s Arthur Legger’s essay on the jailing and harassment of the most famous of the contrarian Dutch cartoonists, Gregorius Nekschot. His treatment at the hands of Dutch authorities has certainly served to silence others.

Mr Legger has written extensively on the background leading to the demonization of Geert Wilders, and of his likely death for standing up against the Islamization of the Netherlands:

The public comparison of a well known individual with Hitler, Mussolini or Mussert (leading Dutch Nazi collaborator) and the removing of the social safety net belongs to an ingrained Dutch tradition, well known to the Dutch. If you’re judged too harmful to the Dutch State, Culture and/or its Business (and these three are highly intertwined), the ruthless reflex sets in and it’s game over - including, sometimes, death. Recently the world was able to witness this flaw in our character: Pim Fortuyn, “fascist” adversary of the Left and winner of the elections, was murdered in 2002; Theo van Gogh, “racist” mocker of muslims, jews and the Left, was murdered in 2004; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “heretic” critic of the Left and of islam, was effectively banished in 2006.

Ms. Ali knew enough of Dutch political history to understand that if she didn’t flee, she would surely die. All the signs were there as they slowly closed in on her. Ms. Ali never looked back -- running from the Netherlands to a safe haven at AEI. Now she is planning on American citizenship as soon as she is eligible. I’ll bet she still pays for security, though.

We have followed the situation in the Netherlands for several years now. Our Dutch readers plead for coverage of what is happening in their country.

This is Pim Fortuyn all over again. It is another chapter just like the one they wrote about Theo van Gogh; same plot, same ending. It is sad and disappointing that you have joined in the demonization.

BTW, your magazine’s failure to cover the recent fall of the parliamentary coalition in the Netherlands, which will lead to new elections in June, shows that you’re not paying enough attention to Dutch politics to warrant having an opinion on their internal affairs. Just to catch up, you might want to research what is likely to happen to the trial of Mr. Wilders for the “crime” of hate speech as a result of the elections.

I suggest that you contact Mr. Legger; he can give you the likely outcome. If you can’t reach him, we have two Dutch born-and-bred analysts who fled the Netherlands some years ago. Both live far from Europe and will thus avoid the implosion of their homeland. Neither is a “professional” journalist but I daresay they know more about European politics than any of the writers I’ve seen in your magazine so far…admittedly, I do tend to read the magazine itself more than the online essays, so it might be that I’ve missed something.

Sadly,
Dymphna
Gates of Vienna

PS For a professional journalist’s opinion, Diana Winter wrote a brief but telling rebuttal to your appearance on Fox.

You might consider having her give you some background on the reality of the situation in the Hague.

And Fox’s behavior in response to the outrage is telling: despite having hundreds of Fox videos on YouTube, they pulled the anti-Geert pile-on from public display, claiming copyright violations. Hmm, only this particular video is a “violation”?

After sending this email, I looked for a post the Baron remembered that featured Glenn Beck and Geert Wilders. It was from 2008, and easy enough to find, here.
- - - - - - - - -
That video has been removed by Fox also. I guess because it had clips from Fitna or is it that Beck is seen contradicting his behavior last night?

So I did some more searching for Mr. Beck and Mr. Wilders. There are hundreds of Beck videos on You Tube, just waiting for your embed or link. The following one is still available, but I don’t know for how long:


In case it is disappeared as these others have been, I can tell you that Beck is mostly sympathetic to Wilders. He expresses disagreement in some areas (e.g., “I know some nice Muslims”), but agrees with him that Europeans deserve to be able to exercise the same rights of free speech that currently exist in the U.S.

Mr. Beck does not mention that this freedom is under assault in this country all the time. Unfortunately, with his death panel assembly of talking heads last night, Beck himself did his bit to damage the fundamentals of free speech.

As Diana West says, more or less, follow the money:

Fact is, this anti-Geert pundit solidarity will only delight Newscorp stakeholder Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. That’s because it is Wilders in the Netherlands who stands as the unexpectedly strong spearhead of resistance to the Islamization of Europe and the wider West. As a scion of the most powerful sharia dictatorship in the world, Prince Talal doesn’t like that. How fortunate for him that Fox News doesn’t like it, either.