A series of videos aimed against the anti-Islam Freedom Party (PVV) on a Dutch website have caused quite a stir. One of the videos entitled 'Freedom', in which children quote xenophobic and Islamophobic statements made by Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, has prompted particularly fierce reactions.
Many people have condemned the video as 'ridiculous', 'scandalous' and 'disgusting' on the website of populist newspaper De Telegraaf, although a number of people also expressed agreement. Most of the netizens who posted their reaction on the site of conservative magazine Elsevier also condemned the video. About 90,000 people have watched the Freedom video since it was first posted on YouTube.
Screw loose
The site (Tegenstemwijzer.nl) went live on Wednesday and has already attracted more than 50,000 visitors. Geert Wilders said he "could not find words" to express how he felt about the fact that young children were used to make anti-Freedom Party videos: "The people who made this video and the parents who gave permission for their children appear in it really have a screw loose. It's simply too disgusting. I really believed we'd seen just about everything in the pogrom against the Freedom Party and our voters, but this filth really takes the biscuit."
Common decency
A spokesperson for the website said the children in the video are literally quoting Geert Wilders. Director Dana Nechustan wonders why "it would be considered shocking when children quote statements made by a prominent politician." The producers said they felt they had not transgressed the boundaries of common decency.
The site is aimed at people who would normally vote for either the Christian Democrats (CDA) or the conservative VVD, but are upset by their collaboration with the Freedom Party. The anti-Islam Freedom Party provides the CDA-VVD minority cabinet with parliamentary support. The site wants them to vote for a different party in the upcoming provincial elections.
Watch the videos (Note: Some videos are in Dutch and some have sexual content)
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Good for the Dutch people -- they need to start not being afraid of standing up to Wilders and PVV fascism!
Again- Wilders claims "free speech" - but only for himself!
The caption on this cartoon reads,
“And now tell the little watchers at home exactly why they mustn’t vote PVV.”
http://coontje.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/de-tegenstem-wijzer/
(From Adorable)
Dear Priceless,
It is painfully naive to think that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups are restricted to the Middle East and wouldn’t be interested in assisting in thwarting Geert Wilders by any means, including these cheap shots. Even RNW recently reported on them:
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/muslim-brothers-gain-influence-europe
What I suggest is not so far fetched. Of course it is also possible that westerners wearing rose coloured dhimmi glasses are independently doing Islamists’ work for them while they sit back and enjoy the show.
Dear Adorable,
That other article is not investigative journalism. It is an interview with a single author who has a book to flog.
But to continue your line of reasoning: if dissenting factions of the VVD and CD are now under the control of Brotherhood or Saudis as you suggested, what does that say of the opposition parties? Are the Greens, D66, and Labour actually terrorists in your twisted worldview?
What kind of drugs are you on?
The parents of these children should be ashamed of themselves! Disgusting to use children like this!
Why do these videos offend? Is it the message or the delivery? I could imagine Geert feeling slighted if the videos were twisting his words. But the children are quoting his own statements.
The delivery is not the key problem. We're just hearing the same thing in a fresh way. It's Geert's words that offend the ears. If he finds his own rhetoric offensive, it's no wonder so many others do.
Perhaps he'll start to monitor more carefully what comes out of his own mouth.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tegenstemwijzer.nl were backed by the Saudis and/or the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ironically, this is exactly how some real Muslim children express themselves (and worse) about Jews as shown in Fitna. This clip is not even staged.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=216_1207467783
(go to 03:50 min. if you want to fast forward to it)
Oh Knirb. You are adorable. You probably hadn't even heard of the Muslim Brotherhood one month ago. Now they've deeply infiltrated right wing Dutch politics? Don't you think they'd be more focussed on North Africa right now? Priceless.
Did you remember to take your prozac? The short film "Fitna" was released several years ago. Very young children being used by Islamists for dogmatic purposes are well documented.
Matt 21, "Prozac is used to treat major depressive disorder, bulimia nervosa (an eating disorder) obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)." It is not used for symptoms of a paranoiac personality. But, when you think about it, you might be correct. In closing, he/she doesn't need Prozac. He/she justs needs to calm down and not be so irritable when someone has an opinion that differs.
It doesn't matter what they are saying, they are children being abused by a political agenda. Any society that tolerates the political abuse of children is sick.
This video is an artistic as well as a political interpretation of how the next generation represented by these children will view the world having grown up with the ideology of Geert and the PVV. If it renders this much controversy then it is making people think outside the timeframe of their own lifetimes, no matter what their reactions are to the video itself.
Anonymous: there's nothing hypocritical about Mr. Wilders condemning this video, nor is doing so anti-free speech. It would be anti-free speech if he asked the government to ban or regulate the thoughts of another. What he is doing here is exercising his right to voice an opinion in the arena of ideas in the same way that the filmmaker has done. This is how is how free people deal with ideas they dislike in a society that truly has free speech-- they voice their opinion, but don't demand that the government protect them or punish those who voiced the ideas. It's a shame that the Dutch don't seem to get that.
Mr. Wilders calls for the freedom of speech but he can not stand to grant this freedom to his opponents. I saw all three videos and was impressed by how strong they bring the message across.
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