This might give a pretty good overview of the situation in my little country.
Here
Especially the part about too much political correctness describes pretty well the sentiments around here.
Van Gogh could have been a bit more tactfull in his approach though, but he usually tried to point out those elements that were violating the constitution of our country, and our norms and values. He wasn't just hitting for the sake of it.
On the one hand, I sometimes wish people could shed off that identity they cling to so much, because after all we're all humans. On the other hand however, I also want other cultures to respect mine, putting myzelf back into one of the cultural boxes. It's really hard, but I think my first though is virtually unattainable in this world. Or at least in my lifetime and that of many generations to come.
I do respect other cultures, their habits and their beliefs, but I also expect some respect towards mine, too. It has to come from both sides.
That is what most people think, and that's what's upsetting people in the Netherlands right now: Muslims get their own school, get to do their prayers 5 times a day and even want to be allowed to go to work with the niqaab (women) on. There even was this primary school teacher who wanted to teach little children with that headwrap on.
In a secular state like this, where religion is practiced in private, people dissaprove of that. Still there is some over-liberal people around here that just want to consent with every whim of foreign groups in this society. And that is just too much. This country may be called the most tolerant and liberal of Europe, but we do have our boundaries. I think that is quite normal.
Word.
Here
Especially the part about too much political correctness describes pretty well the sentiments around here.
Van Gogh could have been a bit more tactfull in his approach though, but he usually tried to point out those elements that were violating the constitution of our country, and our norms and values. He wasn't just hitting for the sake of it.
On the one hand, I sometimes wish people could shed off that identity they cling to so much, because after all we're all humans. On the other hand however, I also want other cultures to respect mine, putting myzelf back into one of the cultural boxes. It's really hard, but I think my first though is virtually unattainable in this world. Or at least in my lifetime and that of many generations to come.
I do respect other cultures, their habits and their beliefs, but I also expect some respect towards mine, too. It has to come from both sides.
That is what most people think, and that's what's upsetting people in the Netherlands right now: Muslims get their own school, get to do their prayers 5 times a day and even want to be allowed to go to work with the niqaab (women) on. There even was this primary school teacher who wanted to teach little children with that headwrap on.
In a secular state like this, where religion is practiced in private, people dissaprove of that. Still there is some over-liberal people around here that just want to consent with every whim of foreign groups in this society. And that is just too much. This country may be called the most tolerant and liberal of Europe, but we do have our boundaries. I think that is quite normal.
If these developments mean tolerance is backfiring on the Dutch, they're not about to accept the alternative. Van Gogh's murder was such an affront to free speech that Cohen, the Amsterdam mayor who was once the butt of his anti-Semitic jokes, asked demonstrators to gather in Dam Square and make noise. Twenty thousand people came, screaming and banging pots, pans and drums in the damp autumn night. A progressive society isn't about to go down quietly.
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