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Thursday, September 13, 2007

gelukkige winter met herfstwindje

"The Dutch feel happy again", my newspaper is shouting from the front page today. Only two years ago the SCP (the governmental research group) concluded that society was falling apart. 'We were wrong. Or to put it a little better, the digits were wrong", says Rob Bijl from the SCP. Loyal readers of this log know better. The digits were right and the SCP was right also. In 2005, large parts of society were still feeling a little lost in autumn, with its nihilism, depression and polarization.

Now, we are firmly in a winter timeframe, reflecting and looking for peace and quietness. The attitude about immigration is slowly changing again. Again, for in the summer period, way back in the nineties of course, we were also feeling very happy and very liberal. There is only one problem threatening our happiness. Autumn is clinging to us in people like Verdonk and Wilders, who don't share the need of the majority for more nuance, more understanding, more open discussion. Today the liberal party, VVD, is excluding former minister of immigration Verdonk from their lines, choosing the moral stand over possible loss of votes. Good for them. But I fear the media will jump on to Verdonk again and give her all the attention she craves. And a cold, fierce autumn wind will blow once again through the happy crowds. We'll have to cling together and hold on to our nuances, hoping she will finally blow herself out of polarizing breath and out of Dutch politics. There must be a prison somewhere wanting her back as director.

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