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Free speech fundamentalist on a martyrdom operation (sick)
If maverick Dutch journalist and moviemaker Theo van Gogh was a fundamentalist believer in the right to free expression, his 2 November murder may have been his very own 'martyrdom operation'. Rohan Jayasekera comments on the disturbing legacy of a man who believed in free speech, whatever the consequences.
Actually, I don't see anything here that doesn't prove van Gogh's point.
The Dutch language is thick with words wrapped up in culture-specific meanings which defy easy translation. Gezellig, for one. It means cosy, slightly self-satisfied. Gedogen, another. It means tolerance, but something else as well - like a kind of polite endurance of something unpleasant. Gedogen really means accepting reality. If the law cannot prohibit an unpleasant problem - and the Dutch do not care to solve it - then it must be politely endured and managed out of sight. Dutchmen take rich pride in their global reputation for tolerance, even one based on mistranslation.

The word only works in Holland, and then only when spoken by 'native' Dutchmen. It doesn't work so well for hundreds of thousands of Dutch citizens of Arab and Muslim descent. Dutch white folks' gezellig reliance on gedogen to manage uncomfortable realities took a knock with the violent death in May 2002 of maverick anti-immigration campaigner Pim Fortuyn. On 2 November it took another with the stabbing and shooting of film director Theo van Gogh, a descendant of the mad genius Dutch painter.
Posted by: tipper 2004-11-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=49258