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Deadly Tolerance
by Jonathan Foreman
The New York Post, May 10, 2002

For an illustration of the absurdities of political correctness and the dishonesty of multiculturalism you can't do much better than the reaction of much of the world's press to the killing of the Dutch politician and supposed "extremist" Pim Fortuyn — by a genuinely extremist ecofanatic. Murdered on Monday, this much-maligned maverick was not — contrary to countless newspaper reports — Holland's equivalent of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen or Austria's Jorg Haider. He was in no sense a "fascist" or even an "extreme rightist."

Of course, he was bald, as are many neo-Nazi skinheads. He was also flamboyantly gay, as were some of the early Nazis. And, like Adolf Hitler, he adored dogs (though unlike the most powerful vegetarian who ever lived, Fortuyn ate meat).

But that's about it for Pim Fortuyn's "Nazi," "fascist" or "extreme rightist" credentials.

Famous for cruising Rotterdam in his chauffeur-driven Daimler, this ex-Marxist former professor who employed a butler was certainly an eccentric. But his politics were hardly extremist by American standards: He favored cuts in Holland's bloated welfare state, better law enforcement and more accountable local government (Dutch mayors are state-appointed, not elected). He was also an enthusiast for drug legalization and lower taxes.

And it's safe to say that no "fascist" or "extreme right" movement in history was as fundamentally libertarian, pro-homosexual or pro-woman as Pim Fortuyn.

Even Fortuyn's hostility to further mass immigration into the Netherlands — especially by rural, conservative Muslims from countries like Morocco, Turkey and Indonesia — was based entirely on that libertarianism. It had nothing whatsoever to do with race and everything to do with the protection of the freedoms he loved, freedoms that Fortuyn believed were a natural emanation of Dutch culture.

That Fortuyn's condemnation of Islamic fundamentalist sexism and homophobia was itself attacked as "intolerant" is an example of cultural relativism at its most bizarre and counterintuitive. Fortuyn's reservations about multiculturalism, failed assimilation and Islam's political effects on his country were not only not fascist, they could well have been shared by Thomas Jefferson.

His opponents, on the other hand — beginning with his assassin, but including those who demonized and delegitimized him as a beyond-the-pale extremist — demonstrated a close acquaintance with truly fascist means, if not ends.

If you're looking for contempt for democracy and the rule of law, a moral preference for violent direct action over the slow mechanics of the ballot — the hallmarks of fascist political style - you won't find it in Pim Fortuyn's speeches and writings.

But you will find it in the "anti-racist" and anti-globalization wings of Europe's youthful new New Left. And as well as this enthusiasm for political violence and the silencing of "unacceptable" views, you'll also find other fascist or Nazi enthusiasms, like ecological fetishism and a preference for economic autarky.

Even when I was in college in Europe a decade and a half ago, it was common for "anti-racist" activists to shout down professors deemed unacceptable for something they'd said or written. Things are clearly worse in Europe today, when people who worry about the way multiculturalism can be a conduit for anti-Semitism or homophobia can be called "fascists," while North African thugs who firebomb synagogues are considered nothing of the kind.

In America, political correctness is mainly a mere irritation. But in Europe, it justifies political violence by young extremists, while at the same time inspiring the continent's political elites to avoid discussion of issues like immigration or the transfer of power from national governments to the European Union bureaucracy.

Anyone who dares bring up these issues then risks the kind of demonization that Fortuyn suffered, and that may well have played a role in his murder by an environmentalist fanatic. The "multiculturalism" that was abused to slander Pim Fortuyn is a term with many possible meanings. At its most kind, it means tolerance of cultural difference. But there's clearly a problem when it tolerates cultures that pride themselves on their violent, even murderous intolerance.

Pim Fortuyn understood that truth. Tragically, it's now been illustrated by his death.