Our Culture is Better

The above statement is not one I wrote, but I am sympathetic to the idea. I think the western civilization Judeo Christian humanistic culture is better than the alternatives. Certainly better than the cultures that have spawned the kind of rampant mindless murder of the radical Islamic cultures.

Gert Wilders from the Netherlands may be the single most famous, notorious and outspoken Nederlander Politico there is. He certainly comes out and in this article from today's Wall Street Journal there are statements that might make you wince, but the truth of them all is hard to contradict:

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."

"The principle is not me -- it's not about Geert Wilders," he says. "If you look at the press and the rest of the political elite in the Netherlands, nobody cares. Nobody gives a damn. This is the worst thing, maybe. . . . A nondemocratic country cannot use the international or domestic legal system to silence you. . . . If this starts, we can get rid of all parliaments, and we should close down every newspaper, and we should shut up and all pray to Mecca five times a day."

Since 9/11, American political leaders have struggled with the question of how to describe the ideology of the enemy without making enemies of the world's billion or so Muslims. The various terms they have tried -- "Islamic extremism," "Islamism," "Islamofascism" -- have fallen short of both clarity and melioration. Melioration is not Mr. Wilders's highest priority, and to him the truth couldn't be clearer: The problem is Islam itself. "I see Islam more as an ideology than as a religion," he explains.

His own view of Islam is a fundamentalist one: "According to the Quran, there are no moderate Muslims. It's not Geert Wilders who's saying that, it's the Quran . . . saying that. It's many imams in the world who decide that. It's the people themselves who speak about it and talk about the terrible things -- the genital mutilation, the honor killings. This is all not Geert Wilders, but those imams themselves who say this is the best way of Islam."

I have struggled to understand the radical Islamic mindset. I do actually, a little. It's the idea of a cause bigger than yourself. It's the motivation that causes a man to throw his body on an exploding grenade to save his fellow soldiers. It's running into a burning house to save your children. It's burning at the stake rather than renounce Jesus. So, yes I do understand a little.

BUT, when all things are measured, I have lived and worked around the world in many countries for a long time. Our culture is better than theirs and it's time to stand up for what we have before it's gone.