Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Michael Grove: "Fortuyn and his allies developed a critique of the establishment notably different from those pioneered by the politicians with whom he has been compared, Jorg Haider and Jean-Marie Le Pen. Fortuyn was uncompromisingly neo-liberal. An advocate of laxer rules on euthanasia, greater drugs liberalisation, more use of the private sector in healthcare and tax cuts, he was very far from Le Pen's hearthland politics of Vichyiste nostalgia. He may have been a "cultural protectionist" like Le Pen. But the culture he wished to protect was the Dutch libertarianism so familiar to many Britons from their weekends in Amsterdam, so congenial to him as a gay man, and so threatened, he claimed, by the incursions of Islam. " [via Andrew Sullivan] [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 9:13:28 AM     Business Week: Lawrence Lessig: The "Dinosaurs" Are Taking Over. They've succeeded in making Washington believe this is a binary choice -- between perfect protection or no protection. No one is seriously arguing for no protection. They are arguing for a balance that avoids the phenomenon we are seeing now -- one where the last generation of technology controls the next generation of industry. [Tomalak's Realm] 8:42:59 AM     Post Mortem on Pim Fortuyn. Post mortem thoughts on yesterday's events. Morning news shows clips of foreign coverage. Most shocking was what I saw from the Bigs in the US. Without fail all three major networks (ABC,NBC,CBS) labeled Pim Fortuyn as ultra right and/or racist. Phrases such as "running on an anti muslim platform" or "the Dutch Le Pen" are incorrect. It isn't hard to trace this back to quotes from prime minister Kok, who positioned Fortuyn nas 'hard right' at the beginning of the campaign. Furthermore there was the Volkskrant article from several months ago. In that interview Pim was quoted saying that he feels islam is a "backward culture" for ridiculing homosexuality and proclaiming homosexuals as "lower than pigs". Pim was openly gay. To reiterate: Pim Fortuyn never called for a "Ban on immigration" or "Removal of Muslims". Unfortunately the memes were set, and the largest news organizations in the world are copying incorrect information and propagating it shamelessly. These organizations used to employ fact checkers. If they still do, then they should all be fired immediately. What Pim did do, was start the public debate about immigration and standard of living in the Netherlands, which is the second most densely populated country in the world. 17 million people in a country smaller than Rhode Island. We still don't know much about the shooter, other than that he is Dutch, White, 33 years old and an extreme leftist. March 13th I wrote a review of Pim's book, in which he outlined his plans for making Holland a better place to live. The review is in dutch. Summarizing, I liked his ideas and so did the majority of voters, as according to the polls Pim was slated to win the elections by a possible landslide. Unheard of for any new political party. There is certainly alot happening on the right hand side of the political spectrum in Europe, but please do not be misled by poorly informed 'professional' journalists. I have met and spoken with Pim several times, as has my wife. We were both fond of him and have the utmost respect for his dedication to country and democracy. Reports of racist or nationalistic nature are poorly researched and untrue. Big question now is what to do about the elections, slated to be held May 15th. Most seem to think they should be postponed. Probably a good idea. Everyone needs to let this soak in. I certainly still need to process this. Pim was a student of JFK. This quote seems appropriate. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 7:54:04 AM

© Copyright 2003 Peter Loats. Last update: 2/28/03; 7:24:09 PM.