Thank you Senator Kyl for having the courage to show the film.  Let’s hope that many attend to learn about the threat Islam poses to freedom of thought and speech among other freedoms the West should hold dear.

What is worrisome is the divergent reactions to Wilders film in the U.S. and UK.  Twenty years ago, even ten, the reaction would have been the same–to welcome Wilders as a proponent of free thought and speech in the Enlightenment tradition.

It is worrisome that so few Senators and Congressmen are supporting Sen. Kyl.  In fact, all Senators and Congressmen should support him against our enemies.

What is of far greater concern is the British reaction:  to ban Wilders.  It is clear that the Britain and the United States are being pulled in the same direction by the Left:  implicit and explicit support for radical Islam occurs in both countries, but Britain is far worse than the U.S.

The fact that radical Islamists have real political power in the UK spells trouble for the future of the relationship.  The U.S. is going to be increasingly hard pressed to maintain its alliance with a country that has large and growing number of Islamist radicals in it.  It will mark the end of the close military, intelligence, diplomatic, and cultural relationship the countries have enjoyed.

The British have got to wake up:  there are geopolitical consequences to your fetishizing Islam and your importation of Muslims, especially since New Labour came to power with the idea of augmenting their traditional constituency with imported voters.  Is domestic political success worth sacrificing the UK’s alliance with the U.S.   Labour says yes.  Do the rest of the British agree?

Individual political rights are being eroded by the Left as part of an effort to suppress traditional liberties and replace them with “group rights” and “consciousness.”  As part of their (quiet and slow motion) socialist revolution, the Left wants you thinking a group member, dependent on the state, and not as an individual, dependent on yourself and civil society.  It works through the educational system, Old Media, and popular culture, not in the streets.

For the UK, the last cry of free speech came twenty years ago, when Thatcher’s government protected Salman Rushdie from death threats due to the perceived insult to the Prophet Muhammed in his book The Satanic Verses.  The government backed free speech despite book burnings and threats of violence.

No so anymore.  But the threats of violence are just the excuse.  The real cause of this outrage is the victory of the Left.  As has been noted, had Wilders been Christophobic, he would have been admitted without question or debate.  The public is used to Christophobia in the public sphere.  The Left wants you to be Christophobic.  It rewards such a prejudice.

But the Left privileges Islam as part of their war against Britain and Western civilization.  Wilders is dangerous because he questions, he thinks for himself, he demands his individual rights, and he points out the Left’s contradictions.  There is no room for him in the UK anymore.

How long are Western populations going to tolerate the destruction of their liberties.  It is past time for the Europeans, Canadians, and Americans to wake up and grasp how the Left is eroding their rights.

These rights were hard won.

And it is up to us to exercise them in the face of bullying by the tyrants of the Left.

It is terrifying that a such charge could even be brought against Steyn.  Canadians:  It is past time to end these “Human Rights Tribunals.”  Your liberties are at stake.

Kathy Shaidle has a good article here reflecting on Canada’s chilling suppression of individual liberties.

Thank you, Mark Steyn, for defending freedom!  I am sorry you had to go through a difficult legal procedure.  I fear that you will have to again, and again, as lawfare is used to suppress your freedoms.