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Tonight was a depressing night.
Whereas the Dutch population is pretty sure about what the problem is with our society, Dutch PBS tonight decided to spend half an hour arguing about something I feel is completely besides the point.
(Click 'Lees verder' to read the rest.)
Of course, four different columnists were invited to debate this point, so nobody at Dutch PBS could be blamed for being one-sided.
But my beef isn't with the people they invited, some of whom said rather sensible things.
No, it's the nature of the question they chose to debate.
Dutch PBS decided this was the proper time to argue about 'how a multicultural society should deal with freedom of expression'.
This implicitly suggests that Mr. Van Gogh may just have stepped over some sort of invisble line, and therefore may be partly to blame for his own death. Of course, this suggestion was never spoken out aloud.
Which doesn't really matter, because the very nature of the question is in itself enough for a proper fisking.
It is typical of Dutch society to always point the blame to itself.
Granted, it's true that a complete lack of the ability to reflect upon oneself shows an equal lack of character and morality. Then again, I think it is also true that constantly blaming oneself shows narrowmindedness, as well as a pathological need for control.
After all, only by blaming yourself for everything can you truly keep a grasp on it.
What's worse, I think this behaviour is extremely arrogant, for by only holding yourself accountable, you are denying a basic aspect of individuality to the other party: the right to choose, for better or worse.
This is extremely relevant to both the Van Gogh case as well as the current state of Dutch society.
The native Dutch have long treated immigrants in a highly condescending fashion. By thinking for them, by providing funds for every need they displayed, by constantly finding excuses for what went wrong during the integration process (and there were bound to be problems in advance, for nothing in life goes without a hitch), we robbed them of a chance to make a life for themselves and feel part of this country.
This is not friendliness, it's criminal.
The best way to spoil your kids is to (indeed) spoil them: that is, never hold them accountable, take care of everything for them, blame yourself for all their flaws and watch them fail once they have to make their own way in the world. It may be well-meaning, but it is also rather destructive.
And tonight, Dutch PBS did it all again.
Of course we shouldn't debate the borders of freedom of expression. It means that, yet again, we are trying to find new and ingenuitive ways to blame ourselves rather than giving immigrants the chance to be accountable.
What we should have debated is the fact that somebody started murdering because Mr. Van Gogh used a constitutional right. That is the matter at hand, and we had better realize it soon.
Mr. Van Gogh did, and he was murdered for holding immigrants accountable, thereby giving them a chance to be more independent than they could ever be under the traditional degrading Dutch spoon feeding approach.
It's no wonder so many immigrants don't respect us.
And it's no wonder a member of a fascist religious group killed the one person who wanted to emancipate the same minorities he and his cult want to oppress - and do, in countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.
A demagogue could argue that Dutch PBS by its attitude is in a sense complicit in Mr. Van Gogh's death, as PBS and Van Gogh's murderer Mohamed B. in a way both try to control minorities and silence Mr. Van Gogh, one apres la lettre, the other in a more literal sense. Then again, I don't want to give Dutch PBS the satisfaction of the self-blame they could extract from such a rebuking.
Besides, perhaps Dutch PBS will eventually want to debate the virtues of treating new Dutch citizens as adults. At least, after another few murders or so.
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