This article was written in June by Joeren Kern of the Hudson Institute prior to the acquittal of Geert Wilders. It appears the Netherlands has reconsidered its version of multi-culturalism as opposed to assimilation.
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2219/netherlands-abandons-multiculturalism
Even before all this nonsense began in Holland, I had visited this country several times in the 1970s and 1980s, both on vacation and to work with the Dutch cops. I considered it then to be the most screwed up country in Europe. Amsterdam became the most dangerous city at night in Europe, and they didn't care. Their country became the hub for drug traffic in Europe and they didn't care. You couldn't get the Dutch drug cops to work a case on a weekend, and I say that from personal experience when I was stationed in Italy and wanted to bring a case up to Holland. I guess they realized it was all a waste of time anyway.
The Dutch attitude has been due to a misplaced sense of tolerance for everything-even the intolerable. Child pornography? Live sex shows on stage? Bestiality? Marijuana cafes? "We must be tolerant", said the Dutch. They had no clue about who the victims of anything were. Then they began tolerating things like the murder of Theo van Gogh and the attempts to kill Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Then it was the prosecution of Geert Wilders. Then it was Jews being assaulted on the streets to the point they decided to get out. And through it all they never even considered the idea that all those people flooding into Holland might be expected to assimilate and embrace Dutch values.
What Dutch values?
Well. yes, we can agree that murder and intimidation are not to be tolerated. That is sort of like, if some pagan revival cult claims protection of the First Amendment for their desire to practice human sacrifice, it doesn't save them from charges of first degree intentional homicide (or attempted homicide).
ReplyDeleteBut assimilation... defining the boundaries of that can get difficult. For example, I suspect in the 1830s and 1840s, you would have been one of the Know Nothings, aka The American Party, those who wanted Irish Roman Catholics to either become good Protestants (there were plenty of Methodist evangelists ready to accommodate that), or get the hell out of our country.
I admit, I have some problems to this day with the manner in which the Roman Catholic hierarchy tries to coerce the exercise of the franchise and the conduct in office of elected officials. I'm a fan of Paul Blanchard's American Democracy and Catholic Power. But, by and large, members of the RC church are not all that amenable to that sort of manipulation. As Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfuss told Cardinal Carol Woytyla, "Their good Catholics, but they think like Protestants."
Now achieving the balance that allows people to practice their faith, speak to each other in their own language (Polish, Italian, German -- there is a U.S. Supreme Court case about the right to teach German in public schools), while ALSO learning the basics of American civics, and learning English for business and political purposes...
... we did pretty well, but not without some bumps in the road. Europe is having a bit more trouble, having started out in rather homogenous clumps, and having that whole legacy of empire to overcome... but nothing you've presented supports the notion that they are headed to hell in a hand basket.
"but nothing you've presented supports the notion that they are headed to hell in a hand basket."
ReplyDeleteBeen watching the news out of England lately?
Glad they finally realized what was happening to their country. I only hope we will come to the same realization soon here and take the same steps.
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How could I miss it Gary? You've been feeding it to us in big gulps. Remember Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdicts? Somehow, Los Angeles is still there. It took a week or so to get things under control.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, I wrote a series of articles for a reference book on that episode. When I started the research, I learned some things I hadn't known before. The first day, there were some genuine protests, which got a little out of hand, there were the separate incidents at Florence and Normandie, which were nominally inspired by the King verdict, but not directed in any rational way toward those responsible, and then, by the next day, and for the next several days, people were simply moving in a vacuum, having nothing to to with Rodney King. Over half the looters were Hispanic, and had arrived in the last six months. A white guy and a Hispanic guy robbed a black-owned business at gun point, and left saying "F+++ Rodney King."
The facts on the ground defied ALL the ideological takes on what was happening. I see the same thing in the images you've posted.
Now do you really think the police WON'T get a handle on things in the next few days? More important, do you really think that Know-Nothingism, slightly updated, is going to get us out of this mess? Some surveys indicate that it is not immigrants that cause problems... it is their children, born and raised in the new country, that have high crime rates.
It happens I was L.A. during those riots and can tell you that the riots were not "nominally inspired" by th Rodney King verdict. They started on April 29th and were the immediate consequence of the verdict.
ReplyDeleteThere was an article in today's WSJ about the British judges giving unusually tough sentences to the rooters that were arrested. In one case a 23 year old student without prior offenses who stole a $5.70 case of bottled water from a ransacked store was given a six month sentence (3 month mandatory ). His attorney said it was a spontaneous act. He was just walking by and was thirsty. The prosecutor said he contributed to the chaos and sheer lawlessness in London. The judge said that the burglary occurred against a background of serious public disorder which is commonly called looting.
It seems that many of the judges will follow these guidelines.
About 1,500 were arrested so if they carry this out we'll see how well it works.
Make that "... unusually tough sentences to the looters" not the rooters, in my last post.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the typo.
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Far be it from me to hold a typo against you Miggie, I make them regularly myself.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have missed the point of "nominally inspired." Yes, the the assaults at Florence and Normandie followed immediately after the announcement of the Rodney King verdicts. But, while a large portion of people in Los Angeles were upset over the appearance that police had "gotten away with it again, when caught red-handed on videotape," nobody could say that Reginald Denny, or any other victim, was responsible for the pursuit or arrest of Rodney King, or was a member of the jury that let the cops go, or was in any other way responsible. Nor were the beers taken from corner stores without payment stolen from people who beat Rodney King or had any influence over how the investigation was handled. Thus, the violence was "nominally related" to the King verdict. It was a convenient excuse, but little more.
I will also note that, while I understand that people in Los Angeles had many legitimate grievances against many police, including those who repeatedly pulled over women motorists with dark complexions, raped them, then let them go, I too might have had a hard time convicting the particular set of officers on trial, given the specific set of circumstances, for the more serious charges. Melanie Singer committed some breaches of professionality that in part set up the situation Stacy Koon was dealing with. I would have convicted for something though -- trying to break the man's legs was over the top.
The mob does not act rationally once it is set off. Read the book, Demonic, for further insight on mob behavior.
ReplyDeleteNot only does the mob not act rationally, but in riot situations that last for several days over several square miles, there is not ONE mob, but several, with different reasons for setting off.
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