My office operates an open floor plan. On the busiest of days we have about 12 people sharing that space, yet for all those big brains churning it is usually quiet like a crypt, safe for the sound of fingers rattling on keyboards. I don’t particularly like working in dead silence so I do what a lot of us do: I plug in to the radio. To keep my mind properly confused that is usually Dutch radio; staying in touch with what is going on back in the motherland I guess. Most of what I hear only fleetingly passes through my brain and doesn’t stick but today I heard a Postbus 51 commercial that had me lift those fingers of the keyboard and take notice:"In the Netherlands we are working together to prevent people from developing terrorist thoughts. See what you can do at Nederlandtegenterrorisme.nl."Please do me a favour and read that again. Notice anything odd? That is right: it doesn’t warn for terrorist actions; it doesn’t even urge you to be watchful for terrorist activity; it says you should be aware of terrorist thoughts. Welcome to the world of the Orwellian Thought Police. I can just imagine the red phones ringing hot with dutiful citizens reporting their neighbours for saying scary things like Allah Akbar or for buying fertiliser, bleach and a kitchen knife. In addition to a debate over freedom of speech, it now seems we also need a debate about freedom of thought.
I wonder what the logical extension of this is. Under what law would we prosecute people for harbouring terrorist thoughts? Perhaps even more importantly: what exactly IS a terrorist thought? Am I having a terrorist thought wondering what it would take to blow up the White House? Or perhaps if I publicly expressed my sympathy for certain undesirable causes? I am considering putting in an order for the Anarchist's Cookbook just to see what happens.
Would it be a coincidence that this message hits the airwaves just as paranoia is reaching uncharted heights? A penny for your thoughts.
6 comments:
I don't think this is a campaign against suspect thoughts. Rather, it is a search for the underlying causes of terrorism. What drives terrorists? From where do they derive their hatred of specific groups or society in general, and what makes them turn this hatred into action?
I have to admit I don't know much about this campaign, and also that the sentence "Meer dan 200.000 professionals werken samen" scares me a bit, but the way I read it is as an attempt to understand and prevent the first step to terrorism: the radicalization of (typically young) people.
That doesn't mean prosecuting people who express 'undesirable' thoughts, but being on the lookout for teenagers (et al.) who withdraw from society, and try to re-engage them.
(Can you tell I'm waiting for an invitation for tea with Mayor Cohen?)
I agree that that is probably how the campaign was intended but the execution of it raises some concerns with me. The commercial on the website is actually a slightly different one from the one I heard on the radio where the message was more along the lines of what I describe. My real concern is not so much what the government intends to do with this campaign -like you I can see sense in that- but that the message seems to be that their could be a terrorist around every corner.
As for tea with the mayor, I could introduce you to the 'stadsdeelvoorzitter' of Amsterdam Oost...would that be acceptable? :-)
Yes, I agree with you. The "Wat kunt u doen?" part of the website is all about spotting suspect objects and suspect people. It does look like scaremongering indeed.
What does the stadsdeelvoorzitter say about this campaign? :-)
I don't know what he would have to say but he is PvdA and therefore probably has a direct line to the mayor. :-) It's a former colleague of mine who decided to quit science and go into politics. From the fish bowl into the shark tank!
Gelukkig zijn er ook veel mensen die zich inzetten voor een veel nuttiger doel! :-)
http://www.davidrietveld.nl/tegenslechtweer/
(Maar serieus, ik erger me ook al tijden dood aan deze campagne, die aan de oppervlakte bedoeld lijkt om mensen gerust te stellen, maar eigenlijk mensen alleen maar bang maakt.)
Haha, erg mooie site! Bedankt voor deze tip Ron.
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