Strange feeling in The Netherlands

[babylonlurker]

I find it hard to wrap by brain around something like this (in The Netherlands) :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8026807.stm

till now 4 people are dead, what shouls have been a day of celebration has becomme a day of sorrow in this country

It challenges my sense of reality

[Jan]

Sorry to hear about it, babylonlurker.

Jan

[glindros]

Senseless violence hurts everyone. My thoughts are with you and your compatriots.

[Dr Maturin]

In all the stories that I have read, almost nothing is revealed about the assailant. Hmmm.

[babylonlurker]

In all the stories that I have read, almost nothing is revealed about the assailant. Hmmm.

Except that he is a 38 years old ethnic Dutch. He was at the operation table at the time I heard anything last, so the police will have to do their investigation before they release any more info - including the interrogation of "the suspect"

[petitbilbo]

Latest news says that he's dead...

petitbilbo

[I love Lyta]

In all the stories that I have read, almost nothing is revealed about the assailant. Hmmm.

Lemme guess. You and/or FOX "News" assume that he is an islamic fundamentalist, right?

@babylonlurker:
I was also very shocked when I saw the video footage, and not only the people directly involved but all the dutch people have my deepest sympathy. My ex is dutch and koninginnedag was always a great day for partying.
The media over here said he was a disgruntled guy who lost his job and appartment a few days earlier.

[babylonlurker]

Lemme guess. You and/or FOX "News" assume that he is an islamic fundamentalist, right?

@babylonlurker:
I was also very shocked when I saw the video footage, and not only the people directly involved but all the dutch people have my deepest sympathy. My ex is dutch and koninginnedag was always a great day for partying.
The media over here said he was a disgruntled guy who lost his job and appartment a few days earlier.

Yes, that is what is being told, and yeah - a day of celebration changed in seconds.

I am not Dutch, but being here means that the sense of shock is still there.

[Dr Maturin]

Lemme guess. You and/or FOX "News" assume that he is an islamic fundamentalist, right?

Contrary to deranged belief, FNC does not report fiction.

And you know, I really do not care for your misplaced derision, especially given the recent history of vehicular terrorist acts.

[Jan]

Perhaps if you had actually explained what you meant by your 'hmmmm' there could actually be conversation, Dr. Otherwise you can't really complain about mistaken impressions, can you?

Jan

[Karachi Vyce]

Lemme guess. You and/or FOX "News" assume that he is an islamic fundamentalist, right?

Perhaps if you had actually explained what you meant by your 'hmmmm' there could actually be conversation, Dr. Otherwise you can't really complain about mistaken impressions, can you?

Jan

Allow me to explain, then.

Europe's embrace of multiculturalism, political correctness and moral relativism has led them to the rather common (so common as to become a thing of satire) practice of refusing, if they absolutely can, to acknowledge Muslim perpetrators of crimes as Muslims. They're usually just referred to as "Asians." The fact that this perp's ethnicity was left out of the story legitimately should have been a flag-raiser, given that you can usually tell more by what journalists DON'T say in stories like this than what they do. It's similar to American media, which disproportionately will choose to acknowledge race in a crime story if it's a non-white victim and a white perpetrator, and usually be silent when it's the other way around.

Oh, and Lyta, sorry to ruin your snide remark, but it's not as if Doc wasn't justified in thinking the perpetrator was Muslim, given the reaction some Muslims have had about the Dutch. I just referenced Fitna, if you want I can go into the execution of Theo van Gogh (by a Muslim) or talk about the trials that Ayaan Hirsi Ali (not coincidentally, the woman in my avatar), a former Dutch politician, has had to go through for daring to speak out against Islam.

So yeah, not exactly crazy to think that this perp might have been a Muslim. Given that Muslims don't hold the Dutch in high regard these days.

[babylonlurker]

Allow me to explain, then.

Europe's embrace of multiculturalism,...

Oh, and Lyta, sorry to ruin your snide remark, but it's not as if Doc wasn't justified in thinking the perpetrator was Muslim, given the reaction some Muslims have had about the Dutch. ...

So yeah, not exactly crazy to think that this perp might have been a Muslim. Given that Muslims don't hold the Dutch in high regard these days.

.

Your points are well taken, KV, though in this case we talk about a disgruntled ethnic Dutch man, so the discussion is maybe a bit out of place here.

BTW the refusal to say more *at the early stage* was from the police chief and not the journalists.

And yes, I have seen reactions of Muslims to what they consider an insult ( Danish cartons, anyone), so I am not blind to the hatred of extremists.

[JoeD80]

Europe's embrace of multiculturalism, political correctness and moral relativism has led them to the rather common (so common as to become a thing of satire) practice of refusing, if they absolutely can, to acknowledge Muslim perpetrators of crimes as Muslims. They're usually just referred to as "Asians." The fact that this perp's ethnicity was left out of the story legitimately should have been a flag-raiser,

The description "Muslim" and the description "Asian" don't refer to the same descriptive characteristic, so I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.

[I love Lyta]

So yeah, not exactly crazy to think that this perp might have been a Muslim. Given that Muslims don't hold the Dutch in high regard these days.

Yeah, and if a norwegian kills a swede today because he made a joke on the norwegian king's expense, if another swede is killed next week and it's not revealed where the murder is from, it's automatically most certainly a norwegian, right?

What both you and Dr. M. are exercising there is simple prejudice. Nothing more, nothing less.
Probably next time wait for the facts first and cry wolf later...

[Doom Shepherd]

Yeah, and if a norwegian kills a swede today because he made a joke on the norwegian king's expense, if another swede is killed next week and it's not revealed where the murder is from, it's automatically most certainly a norwegian, right?

Only to people who think that arguing from a statistical sample of one is the same as arguing from a larger sample than that.

Math beats feelings, and predudice based upon math is just intelligence.