Yesterday was my last day of college, that is, I still have to write 3 papers and a final paper. But hey, no more class is a reason to celebrate! One of my classmates works for Peak-IT and they own a sky-box at FC Utrecht. He arranged for our last class to be held there. Here the view...
It was fun. And though I'm happy the end is in sight I will miss school as well. So who knows, I might go for my Masters one day.
For the first time in the history of The Netherlands a cartoonist was arrested for offending someone. And looking at some of his cartoons I can understand some might be offended. His name alone will offend people.... Gregorius refers to Pope Gregory IX, who instituted the Papal Inquisition. Nekschot means literally "shot in the neck," a method used by "fascists and communists to get rid of their opponents."
But is that reason to arrest someone?
Remember the riots after the Danish cartoon publication? For some reason a lot of people where so offended that they resorted to violence. The response in Denmark? They supported the cartoonist and published the cartoons again after death threats. All in defense of the freedom of speech.
Just as in Denmark and most western countries, freedom of speech is in the Dutch constitution (article 7). And we have artists that use that to express. Sometimes artist offend others. In 2004 Theo van Gogh was murdered for doing so. He had offended part of the Muslim community.
What did we do here in The Netherlands? Sure, there where protests. But after a few weeks, maybe months it all seemed to be forgotten. I don't think his film, that was critical on how woman are treated in Islam, was ever shown again on TV. And some now seem to be trying to prevent a second murder or riots. Not by referring to the constitution. But by trying to prevent someone ever gets 'offended'.
Politicians are told to tone done and now Gregorius Nekschot got arrested. We are scared shitless* to offend someone. But I believe intimidation and censorship are no answer. Though I find most of the Gregorius Nekschot cartoons tasteful nor funny, I support his right to publish them. It should be allowed in a constitutional democracy.
As far as I can see now, there was no reason to arrest the cartoonist.
There's a problem with commenting on the site... hope to fix it later today.
update: the only way that I was able to fix this is to restore all my MT templates. That broke my lay-out. So I restored the lay-out and in the process broke the comments again.....
Listened to Adam Curry's new radio show (Curry's Wake Up Call) on Arrow Classic Rock. And now I remember why I like podcasting so much.
First, during my 40 minute commute I was fed traffic information twice. That's a waste of time for me. I ride the same way to work every day, with the same traffic. I'm not interested in roadwork or a accident on a highway I never travel on. I think people who really want or need up-to-date traffic reports either have a TomTom like device or just check the web before they leave. They could even call one of the traffic information numbers on a moment they want to.
Second, I really missed the fast forward function of my iPod. Some of the songs I just didn't like, so I wanted to skip them and go the next section.
And last I missed all the savants, the NyLon, CSB...... but I hope it's just a matter of time before new, Dutch savants will report for duty.
Despite daily headlines bemoaning record gas prices in the U.S., it's actually one of the cheaper places to fill up in the world. The Netherlands is in fourth place. We pay $8.37 a gallon. Of that an staggering 62% goes to the government. The gas station has a 3% margin, before profit tax. 1% goes to the oil company's and the rest is production and distribution costs.
