You may have missed one or two of the things I said about Berlu-scummy. No, I didn't miss them. But I did make a sweeping generalization in my comment : I wished plague and fire on the smart and brave Italians who voted against Berlusconi, just like you wished plague and fire on all Dutch people, including those who had *not* voted for Balkenende (who got back into power because he didn't want to enter a coalition with the PvdA, who actually won the last election). Maybe we would both be smarter if we both wished bad things to happen to the people who actually do bad things and if we wished diseases that are not contagious and disasters that do not apread so easily on them. But scummy though he is, he welcomed to Italy the persecuted Afghani convert to Christianity, Abdel Rahman, and committed his government to protecting the Egyptian journalist, now an Italian citizen, Magdi Allam. Compare and contrast. Well, so far, the Dutch government has given her asylum, has elected her in office and has given her 24/7 police protection. If we look at it in terms of result, she has been better protected than Theo van Gogh, who was as Dutch as you get. Yes, her Dutch citizenship was revoked, and that was due to the pressure of an MP who caters to the people with the most unsavoury "opinions", but seen as the reasons for the revocation had been known for years, I think that people have been turning a blind eye on it for ages. Would that have happened if she hadn't been so famous? I don't know, but if I remember well, you don't exactly approve of double standards. She hasn't been driven out of the country: she still has her residence permit, and I bet she could re-apply for Dutch citizenship if she wanted. She's the one who decided to leave the country. As for her neighbours? Maybe they're gutless ordinary Dutch citizens, I don't know. But I'm amused that she thinks she will have better neighbours in the US: I've got a colleague whose neighbours harass because he doesn't mow his lawn, so I'm curious to know how her new neighbours will react to the constant police presence and the idea that a Muslim terrorist can decide to blow up the place any time. Oh well, maybe she will decide to live in the American countryside, in one of those places where your nearest neighbour is miles away. But then if she gets better treated by her neighbours in the US than in the Netherlands, don't tell me it's the fault of the people, because that would be plain biased.
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No, I didn't miss them. But I did make a sweeping generalization in my comment : I wished plague and fire on the smart and brave Italians who voted against Berlusconi, just like you wished plague and fire on all Dutch people, including those who had *not* voted for Balkenende (who got back into power because he didn't want to enter a coalition with the PvdA, who actually won the last election). Maybe we would both be smarter if we both wished bad things to happen to the people who actually do bad things and if we wished diseases that are not contagious and disasters that do not apread so easily on them.
But scummy though he is, he welcomed to Italy the persecuted Afghani convert to Christianity, Abdel Rahman, and committed his government to protecting the Egyptian journalist, now an Italian citizen, Magdi Allam. Compare and contrast.
Well, so far, the Dutch government has given her asylum, has elected her in office and has given her 24/7 police protection. If we look at it in terms of result, she has been better protected than Theo van Gogh, who was as Dutch as you get. Yes, her Dutch citizenship was revoked, and that was due to the pressure of an MP who caters to the people with the most unsavoury "opinions", but seen as the reasons for the revocation had been known for years, I think that people have been turning a blind eye on it for ages. Would that have happened if she hadn't been so famous? I don't know, but if I remember well, you don't exactly approve of double standards. She hasn't been driven out of the country: she still has her residence permit, and I bet she could re-apply for Dutch citizenship if she wanted. She's the one who decided to leave the country. As for her neighbours? Maybe they're gutless ordinary Dutch citizens, I don't know. But I'm amused that she thinks she will have better neighbours in the US: I've got a colleague whose neighbours harass because he doesn't mow his lawn, so I'm curious to know how her new neighbours will react to the constant police presence and the idea that a Muslim terrorist can decide to blow up the place any time. Oh well, maybe she will decide to live in the American countryside, in one of those places where your nearest neighbour is miles away. But then if she gets better treated by her neighbours in the US than in the Netherlands, don't tell me it's the fault of the people, because that would be plain biased.