[RadioPatrol]

Adolf Hitler realized the importance of having a good press. In Nazi Germany with its press censorship, it was easy for Hitler to have a good press. However, during the 1930s the Nazis also tried to control the media in the neighboring European countries that Hitler was planning to invade. The Nazis bullied the democratically elected governments in these countries to censor everything that resembled what today might be called "Naziphobia" — criticism of Nazism.

Interestingly, the bullied governments gave in to the Nazi intimidation rather than back the few courageous individuals who spoke out against totalitarianism. In the late 1930s, SS Gen. Karl Gebhardt (a medical doctor who was hanged after the war for conducting "experiments" on humans) frequently paid visits to his friend, King Leopold III of Belgium, to complain about "German-unfriendly remarks" in the Belgian press. King Leopold asked Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgium's leading politician at the time, to forbid "anti-German" references in the Belgian media and ban non-Belgian papers that were critical of Hitler and his regime.

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Today, we are witnessing a similar phenomenon. Islamist extremists want a good press. They do not tolerate criticism. Even cartoons are deemed offensive. They warn those who criticize them "to consider the possible consequences."

In 2004, Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Muslim apostate, and filmmaker Theo van Gogh together made the 10-minute movie "Submission" about the treatment of women in Islamic cultures. "Islam" is the Arabic word for "submission." Following the release of "Submission," Mr. van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim fanatic. Since that murder, European television channels, "considering the possible consequences," have refused to broadcast his movie. Miss Hirsi Ali felt compelled to leave the Netherlands after her neighbors won a court case to evict her from her apartment, because, due to death threats from Islamists, her presence there endangered the lives of people living next to her.



Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who used to belong to the same party as Miss Hirsi Ali, but who, like her, was pestered out for his "Islamophobia," argues that Islam is similar to Nazism. To prove his point Mr. Wilders has made a 10-minute movie, called "Fitna" (the Arabic word for "ordeal"). Releasing the movie has become Mr. Wilders' ordeal.

Whether or not Mr. Wilders is right about Islam is a matter of opinion. The way in which he is treated by the political establishment, however, is eerily reminiscent of the way in which democratic governments such as Belgium's gave in to Nazi bullying in the 1930s.

Appeasing the Islamists#-#-#The Washington Times, America's Newspaper