2017-02-22
The disrupter of Dutch doublethink
Great article by Sebastiaan Faber in the Nation about Geert Wilders. Fascinating to see how the Dutch reconcile their closeted racist skeletons with their outwards projected self-image of tolerance. This could be true in almost any European country, but it is particularly intense in the Netherlands where shame of past and sense of liberal superiority coexist in an unsustainable doublethink that Wilders exposes and shatters. "Ironically, the very thing that makes Wilders an international embarrassment to the Dutch—his challenge to their cherished self-image as the epitome of progressive tolerance—is one of his strongest trump cards".
Labels: #doublethink, #Europe, #politics, #TheNetherlands
