Geert Wilders Quotes
Mass immigration changes countries beyond recognition. Ordinary people are well aware of that.
Wilders, Geert. "The Referendum the Political Elites Feared." Gatestone Institute, 7 Apr. 2016.
She was referring to the Muslim immigrants who were then coming into Europe in large numbers. Europe in general, and Italy in particular, have never had the American experience of assimilation of large numbers of immigrants, and many Muslims came to Europe just for the economic opportunities but did not like or respect the culture or the values. Some even preached hatred of the Christian West and fomented terrorism. This was different from America where Muslim immigrants arrived and despite the difficulties of new immigrants most thrived and were able to assimilate yet maintain their religion and cultural customs. At the same time many American Islamic immigrants represented the more modern Islamic which valued freedom and pluralism and unlike most Muslim nations of today, appreciated the advanced, modernistic, tolerant Islam of 1000 years ago when tolerance and freedom of thought within an Islamic framework made some Muslim countries the most advanced in the world.
The senator later apologized for this remark.
This relatively rarely quoted statement was made by Roosevelt shortly after he graduated from Harvard and was typical of the upper class racism of the day. This is the same man who would be the first to invite a Negro to dine at the White House despite media and public opinion which castigated his act; the same man who later would have several close Japanese friends and be considered very pro-Oriental. This illustrates how people can grow and develop over time—especially politicians. Many politicians with few prejudices have publicly adopted the in order to pander to populist biases of the time. Roosevelt was the opposite. He started out with the popular racism of the day and as he grew and developed, publicly led with exemplary statements and actions. See {588991} for another of his early racist statements—this one targeting Native Americans.
Geert Wilders is a Dutch businessman and politician. He has been Leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. Wilders is the parliamentary leader of his party in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer). In the 2010 formation of the Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "tolerance agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties, but withdrew his support in April 2012, citing disagreements with the cabinet on proposed budget cuts. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam and the EU; his views have made him a controversial figure in the Netherlands and abroad, and since 2004 he has been protected at all times by armed bodyguards.
