Lean Left

Oh, the Burdens of Being Dutch

by KTK

March 17th, 2006

The Dutch government, in a bizarre outburst of honesty and common sense, has produced a DVD illustrating basic facts about life in their country, to be used as a primer for immigrants studying for the Dutch citizenship test or considering applying. The problem is that, apparently, many Muslims refuse to watch the video because it tells the truth about Dutch life - while still demanding the right to move to the country they can’t bear to watch on DVD.

This is not exactly a run-of-the-mill homework assignment: watch a film clip of an attractive woman sunbathing topless, and try not to be shocked.

That lesson, about the Netherlands’ nude beaches, is followed by another: homosexuals have the same rights here as heterosexuals do, including the chance to marry.

Just to make sure everyone gets the message, two men are shown kissing in a meadow.

The scenes are brief parts of a two-hour-long film that the Dutch government has compiled to help potential immigrants, many of them from Islamic countries, meet the demands of a new entrance examination that went into effect on Wednesday. In the exam, candidates must prove they can speak some Dutch and are at least aware of the Netherlands’ liberal values, even if they do not agree with all of them.

Opponents of the tightening immigration policies have pointed to the film — a DVD contained in a package of study materials for the new exam — as an attempt by the government to discourage applicants from Islamic countries who may be offended by its content. . . .

“The film is meant for people not yet in Holland to take note that this is normal here and not be shocked and awed by it once they arrive,” said Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born member of the Dutch Parliament.

But Abdou Menebhi, chairman of Emcemo, a Moroccan interest group in Amsterdam, said the film was just another example of how the Netherlands was trying to limit immigration from Muslim countries.

“This isn’t education, it’s provocation,” Mr. Menebhi said. “The new law has one goal: to stop the flow of immigrants, especially by Muslims from countries like Morocco and Turkey.” . . .

My first reaction is that it’s a mistake to frame this as a Muslim/Western issue, though that is the context of the Netherlands’ immediate problem. This video could, absolutely certainly, never even get made by the US government, and if it were there are millions of religious extremists here who would have exactly the same objections. But aside from that, the objections seem particularly ill-considered.

Basically, what these people are saying is that the sight of one topless woman and one gay kiss in a two-hour video is enough to effectively discourage people from coming to a country where these things are common - so they want them removed from the video so those people will still come to that country anyway, where they will encounter the same thing in real life. Does it occur to them that if they can’t handle a few seconds’ worth of reality on a TV screen, they maybe shouldn’t live in a society where they’ll be surrounded by it?

A Sudden Passing Thought (by KTK)

Is there a way we can arrange for the Christian right wing to move to the Middle East? If we could broker some kind of non-aggression pact such that each side could have their own churches and not be disturbed, they’d basically fit right into Iranian or Iragi society. (I don’t know if the Christian Coalition is Sunni or Shiite; they can probably just take their choice. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, with all their restrictions and taboos, are clearly Wahabi; they can go to Saudi Arabia. The American Family Association, I guess, would have to go to Afghanistan so they can chop people’s heads off in peace.) The Arab countries would get an influx of capital and educated workers, and the Christians would get to stone women to death. Neither one would ever have to see gays kissing again.

The kicker, of course, is that once they all leave, we lock the door behind them.

I think it’s worth looking into.

The Muslim objections aren’t quite as dumb as they sound, unfortunately. Apparently, the Muslim communities in many European countries, especially Holland, are quite isolated (in some cases actually demanding exemption from local laws and the right to impose sharia in their own neighborhoods [again, not unlike Christian extremists in America, except that they insist on imposing Christian sharia on everyone]). So it is probably perfectly possible for conservative Muslims to immigrate into conservative Muslim communities in the West and isolate themselves completely from nudity, open homosexuality, or free and independent women. The insistence that immigrants take explicit notice of values they disapprove of may indeed be an encroachment - until now it’s been possible to live in the Netherlands not only without assimilating, but without even acknowledging that there’s a native Dutch culture. And that’s the tension that continues to build - the question whether the West can remain welcoming, diverse, and tolerant while insisting that those values be respected as well by everyone it welcomes, many of whom are not on board with diversity and tolerance.

I have tried to hope for the best in this respect for a long time. Certainly the American experience has been that diversity is a source of great strength, and that immigrant communities tend naturally to assimilate over 2-3 generations without being forced to renounce their own heritage. The American “salad bowl” (i.e., not a “melting pot”) has proven remarkably cohesive even while harboring distinct and sometimes incompatible cultures. I have presumed this would prove true in other countries. But I recognize that it is not guaranteed - especially if immigrant communities make a determined effort not to seek greater competence in, and penetration of, the culture they have chosen to live within.

Even so, I come back again to the experience of our own rejectionist, extremist subculture, and note that the task is not to force people to assimilate unwillingly, but to make sure the larger culture retains its core liberal values. The Dutch are on the right track - not in rejecting Muslims, but in unapologetically embracing an explicit set of values and laws that guarantees ineradicable personal freedom for all in their society and prohibits interference by others. We can get along - uneasily, and uncomfortably - with Muslim or Christian extremists in our midst as long as we reaffirm that our society is defined by the guarantee of personal liberty in almost all things, whether or not others approve. We ought to mail copies of the Declaration of Independence and Nerve magazine to every prospective immigrant, and to every Republican voter already here, and tell them in no uncertain terms that if they can’t read both comfortably from beginning to end, they ought to find someplace else to be.

(Now I wonder if I can get the Dutch consulate to send me a copy of that nude-beach tape?)

Categories: Church & State, Culture, General, Politics, Privacy, Religion |