Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Denmark rarely makes the news here in New Zealand, except perhaps when the left want to point out how it, along with Sweden is an example of a modern and ‘successful’ socialist state.   However, these days ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ as Shakespeare’s Marcellus was inclined to say.

Yesterday a prominent critic of Islam, seventy-year-old Lars Hedegaard survived an assassination attempt as he answered the doorbell at his home.  A gunman pretending to be a postman fired a shot at his head, and missed.  The gun jammed, a scuffle ensued and the assailant escaped. 

Lars had been formally fined $1,000 for making insulting statements about Muslims, a ruling that was subsequently struck down 7 – 0 by the Danish supreme court.  It seems that free speech now has only a tenuous hold in one of the oldest free societies on earth.

Speaking the truth about Islam in these once free societies comes at a high price.  Lars Hedegaard joins Lars Vilks, Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali who have all suffered at the hands of their Europe's growing Islamic population, simply for expressing a point of view.

The Danish Prime Minister is quoted on the BBC website:

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt condemned the attack, saying: "It is even worse if the attack is rooted in an attempt to prevent Lars Hedegaard using his freedom of expression

As Mark Steyn suggests, the PM’s comments would be more persuasive if the Danish State had not spent the last three years attempting to prevent Lars Hedegaard from using his freedom of expression.