Zacht Ei - Friday is moron day

Friday, February 25, 2005

Friday is moron day
• First there's Vladimir Putin, the guy who's well on his way to change Russia back into the dictatorship it has been for most of its history. According to reader Gerald, Putin managed to state that the Netherlands is not a democracy, but a monarchy. Yeah, and my car doesn't run on gasoline, but on premium unleaded. Hello, Mr. Putin?! The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, in which the king or queen has a largely ceremonial role, and in which the prime minister is directly responsible for all actions of the members of the House of Orange. Anyway, I guess I should thank Mr. Putin for pointing out the virtues of democracy: at least we can vote our retard leaders out. (Update: read the transcript here.) • Bert Koenders, a member of the Dutch Labour party PvdA and connaisseur of expensive restaurants. Today the Dutch government made the very wise decision of sending 165 Special Forces to aid the American and British troops in Afghanistan who are combatting terrorists there. Koenders, knowing full well he'll have to chat up Labour babes on Saturday night (admittedly, they tend to be pretty), put on his most impressive face and went on television stating that he wasn't too sure he wanted Dutch Special Forces to participate in 'kill and destroy missions'. Mr. Koenders, I'm sure the word 'kill' goes down well with your largely anti-militaristic electorate, but they are called search and destroy missions. The 'destroy' part usually takes care of the 'kill' part, and unlike the Dutch Labour party, the military tend to be efficient.
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I have always got my news about the Netherlands from this site. But, since the comments by Pres. Putin, I decided to visit a few other Dutch news sites. I saw that a fellow was convicted, fined and put on probation for "insulting" a "group." Seems he had a web site on which he posted a writing from someone else who said the holocost never happened. Stupid opinion, but an opinion nevertheless. Since one cannot raally have a democracy without free speech, then perhaps Putin was right, afterall. That more than adequately explains why Theo von Gogh wanted to come to America. Theo was right.

ttonn (ip:69.168.240.231) 25 February 2005 - 3:40 uur

WW2 is a very sensitive issue in the Netherlands. After all, in no other European country was such a large percentage of the Jews decimated by the Germans. Although the Dutch tend to blame themselves either not enough (by making this an issue of privacy, putting all the blame on the precise government records we had in WW2) or too much (by ignoring the fact that the Netherlands were under the control of German civil authorities, rather than the less fanatic military, such as virtually all other countries they occupied), this has led to quite some paranoia about issues such as the one you're adressing.
Whereas I do agree with you that we should have more freedom of speech (I've argued that point several times on this blog), I don't agree that this limitation of our freedom of speech all of a sudden doesn't make us a democracy anymore. I haven't heard about the story you're referring to (I've been ill for quite a few weeks), but if the guy was convicted they probably used article 137e of the Dutch penal code. It prohibits hate speech, and many countries have such provisions, often democratically adopted. Now, if I wasn't allowed to protest this article, *that* would be very scary indeed. But nobody kept me from writing this article pleading for the legalization of Mein Kampf recently: http://www.planet.nl/planet/show/id=62967/contentid=545014/sc=4347d5 Also, like Theo did, it is very 'Dutch' to say you're going to leave, and then not do it. Dutch nationalism is submerged, but that doesn't mean it isn't alive and kicking.

Arjan Dasselaar (ip:82.161.93.35) 25 February 2005 - 10:32 uur

In response to my "riacti" (I like that) you opined " .....I don't agree that this limitation of our freedom of speech all of a sudden doesn't make us a democracy anymore." You are correct in a strict sense. I should have said "a true, just" democracy. After all, Northern Ireland is and was a democracy. All the laws persecuting Catholics were democratically enacted. The American south democratically passed desriminatory laws against blacks. Examples of bad democracies are almost infinite.

The issue is quite simple. Should the State have the right to criminalize the expression of opinion? Should the state have the right to forbid me from saying the moon is made of Swiss cheese? Or that all Hotentots are sexual perverts? Or that the world is flat? If the state can regulate speech it can regulate thought. Every tyrant knows that. Democracy itself must be be predicated on certain protections or it becomes opressive.

You are probably aware of the matter of Prof. Ward Churchill who said that America deserved 9/11 and that those killed in the twin towers were all "little Eichmanns." It has caused a firstorm of controversy, needless to say. But it is not and never will never be the subject of a criminal prosecution. That is as it should be. Nothing like the following could ever happen in the U.S. as it is happening in the Netherlands.

"Newspaper Charged With Blasphemy
VEENENDAAL, 26/2/05 - The Union against Swearing has asked the Public Prosecutors' Office (OM) to prosecute NRC Handelsblad and its..."

ttonn (ip:69.168.240.231) 25 February 2005 - 7:16 uur

Putin pulled the same thing with the United States claiming our electoral college was comparible to his "reforms" in Russia.

Douglas (ip:207.237.254.216) 25 February 2005 - 8:35 uur

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