Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side

Blazing Cat Fur points us to a blog, Bad News from the Netherlands, with a hell of a mission statement:

This project sets out to demonstrate that media coverage can degrade a country's image by using selective news without context. It uses the Netherlands as an example. It is a reaction to the frequent misrepresentations of Israel in many ways in major media, including those of the Netherlands.

Now this creates an interesting effect on the first-time reader: at once we have a promise of integrity and deception. As I read on, it occurs to me that while I take everything I read in the MSM with a grain of salt, I take two with this blog, because I am naturally more curious about how they are living up to their mission and become thus more curious about every word: how much of a conceit is it?

Anyway, this is what Cat Fur found so interesting, given our own bureaucratic fancies here in Canada with saving the world from hateful thought crimes.

So we find yet another occasion in which we wish we could read Dutch. Here is a Google machine translation (Dutch and "English") of the stunning article in question:

Police want more declarations of 'hatecrimes'
MAARSSEN - De politie wil meer aangiftes binnenkrijgen van racistisch en homofoob geweld. PA - The police want more declarations vnosa of racist and homophobic violence. De aangiftes van dit soort delicten liggen momenteel op een „onacceptabel laag” niveau. The declarations of this type of crime are now on a "unacceptably low" level.

The politieregio's Amsterdam-Amstelland and Gelderland South therefore begin Thursday a trial where victims and witnesses called hatecrimes via the Internet to interface with the police. Zij kunnen op een website anoniem melding maken van een delict of aangifte doen, waarvoor de politie wel persoonsgegevens nodig heeft. They can on a website anonymously report a crime or declaration, which the police have personal data needs.

„We hopen dat op deze manier veel meer mensen aangifte willen doen”, aldus maandag een zegsman van het Landelijk ExpertiseCentrum Diversiteit, een van de initiators van het experiment. "We hope that in this way a lot more people want to return," says a zegsman Monday from the National ExpertiseCentrum Diversity, one of the initiators of the experiment. „Daarnaast proberen we een beter beeld te krijgen van wat er speelt op dit gebied.” De verwachting is dat via internet meer jonge slachtoffers en getuigen zich zullen melden. "In addition, we try to get a better picture of what's going on in this area." Expectations are using the Internet more young victims and witnesses will sign.

Minister Guusje ter Horst (Binnenlandse Zaken) zal donderdag in Maarssen het startsein geven voor de proef. Minister Guusje ter Horst (Home Affairs) will be Thursday in Maarssen signal the beginning of the trial. Vanaf dat moment komt de website www.hatecrimes.nl online. From that moment, the website www.hatecrimes.nl online. Aan het project werken onder meer de Politieacademie, de Anne Frank Stichting en het COC mee. At the project include the Police, the Anne Frank Foundation and the COC.

De term hatecrimes is overgewaaid uit het Engels. The term's origin is hatecrimes English. Het staat voor delicten die worden gepleegd uit haat jegens bepaalde groeperingen en zou ook vertaald kunnen worden als discriminatie. It stands for crimes that are committed from hatred against certain groups and would also be translated as discrimination. Het gaat om bijvoorbeeld pesterijen, mishandeling en intimidatie. Think, for instance, harassment, abuse and intimidation.

Mocht de proef bij de korpsen Amsterdam-Amstelland en Gelderland-Zuid een succes blijken, dan wordt de internetsite landelijk ingezet. Should the test at the Amsterdam-Amstelland forces and Gelderland South prove a success, then the Internet nationwide.

Given that resentment is a universal fact of our shared humanity, and no one is immune, this ought to me more fun to watch (when you're in need of low humour and destructive fantasy) than Musical Youth. Then again, maybe not:


Cat Fur also pointed us to this story that makes clear the nature of the widespread racism in the Netherlands.