Exam and Multi-culturalism
So I had my final in the morning, it was a quite short final since the block was only 4 weeks long. It was a conceptual block with obviously the focus on Europe and with mainly philosophical and societal influences. I got up to study before the exam, yet I didn't since I could not concentrate on the subject. My mind was to occupied on other issues. I went to the exam and the task was to choose between two sets of three questions and write the exam in the form of one essay, and each of the individual questions should be covered on maximum one page. So we started at 9 and the block coordinator almost frequently kept talking through the microphone until 9.30. At 9.30 we finally were fed up with it and me (amongs others) were screaming 'ARGH SHUT UP'. So finally at 9.30 we could start The exam was a mere test on factual knowledge and less an analysis of the discussed concept in societal context, which was a bit disappointed. The factual knowledge that had to be mentioned and discussed however was impossible to fit into one page and within the time. When the coordinator said 'still 15 minutes' I was like..okay whatever. Under normal circumstances and normal time and space values it would have been a clear pass, now we just will have to see how it will be graded. Next block will start on tuesday, it's economics so it will be quite interesting and should be quite easy for me, since I have studied financial/management accounting for 2 years and have a minor degree in it.
In 2006 there has been a change of the law in the Netherlands. It was decided that people should look straight on their passport or ID pictures, and they couldn't laugh anymore. The rules became more strict and people had to look neutral, except when they looked a certain way because of religous matters or other beliefs. Last week there was a certain individual who said he wanted to show the 'flaws' of the new rules. He dressed himself up as the Joker from Batman and took pictures and went to city hall to get ID-card. He said that his belief was the Joker. The people at city hall said 'well, ok' and they gave him his ID.
Picture:
Now there was a poll put on a fairly popular website (Fok.nl) which I think quite well represents the overall opinion of people. The question of this poll was: Do you think that the Joker should have been able to receive his ID as the Joker?
An astonishing 46.1 percent said that they thought it should not have happened, but also that people with other beliefs should not be allowed to be on an ID-card according to their beliefs.
46.1 percent, can you believe it? I grew up hearing from everybody that the Netherlands were so great, that people were so tolerant to other people. Well this obviously shows that people are not like that. I can understand when people wear something through which their appearance is very unclear that it is probably not good to put on an ID card, but when you can still clearly see this people's faces, what is the problem?
Is all part of the increased intolerance of people against foreigners, there are politicians and people here creating a huge amount of fear especially against muslims. During the elections a few weeks ago, about one third of the people based their vote on their intolerance towards muslisms. It is just too much, I wonder how people in this once so tolerant country changed so much their opinion. Even in places where barely live any muslism (as in Maastricht) people are increasingly intolerant towards any of them. Though some muslims indeed participate in criminal activity I don't think it's fair to judge the whole group of people on that. A lot of Dutch people also participate in criminal matters, and when I hear about child molestation (in my honest opinion the worst crime) it's always that Dutch people are involved. How come this is not perceived with race, with belief, with nationality?
Asking the question is pretty much answering the question, I suppose. It has a lot to do with the idea of Orientalism which term was popularized by the writer Edward Said in his book Orientalism which was very controversial. The basic idea is that the Western definition and description of the Orient (Middle and Far East) creates a stigmatised dogma. These ideas create the notion of a Western superiority on all subjects. I suppose this idea of superiority makes a lot of people feel like other beliefs are inferior. That other cultures are inferior. I have a feeling this sense of discontent is snowballing, not only coming from the natives, but also from the old and new immigrants. I hope we have not reached a point of no-return and that something will change. I have a dream. ;-)
In 2006 there has been a change of the law in the Netherlands. It was decided that people should look straight on their passport or ID pictures, and they couldn't laugh anymore. The rules became more strict and people had to look neutral, except when they looked a certain way because of religous matters or other beliefs. Last week there was a certain individual who said he wanted to show the 'flaws' of the new rules. He dressed himself up as the Joker from Batman and took pictures and went to city hall to get ID-card. He said that his belief was the Joker. The people at city hall said 'well, ok' and they gave him his ID.
Picture:
Now there was a poll put on a fairly popular website (Fok.nl) which I think quite well represents the overall opinion of people. The question of this poll was: Do you think that the Joker should have been able to receive his ID as the Joker?
An astonishing 46.1 percent said that they thought it should not have happened, but also that people with other beliefs should not be allowed to be on an ID-card according to their beliefs.
46.1 percent, can you believe it? I grew up hearing from everybody that the Netherlands were so great, that people were so tolerant to other people. Well this obviously shows that people are not like that. I can understand when people wear something through which their appearance is very unclear that it is probably not good to put on an ID card, but when you can still clearly see this people's faces, what is the problem?
Is all part of the increased intolerance of people against foreigners, there are politicians and people here creating a huge amount of fear especially against muslims. During the elections a few weeks ago, about one third of the people based their vote on their intolerance towards muslisms. It is just too much, I wonder how people in this once so tolerant country changed so much their opinion. Even in places where barely live any muslism (as in Maastricht) people are increasingly intolerant towards any of them. Though some muslims indeed participate in criminal activity I don't think it's fair to judge the whole group of people on that. A lot of Dutch people also participate in criminal matters, and when I hear about child molestation (in my honest opinion the worst crime) it's always that Dutch people are involved. How come this is not perceived with race, with belief, with nationality?
Asking the question is pretty much answering the question, I suppose. It has a lot to do with the idea of Orientalism which term was popularized by the writer Edward Said in his book Orientalism which was very controversial. The basic idea is that the Western definition and description of the Orient (Middle and Far East) creates a stigmatised dogma. These ideas create the notion of a Western superiority on all subjects. I suppose this idea of superiority makes a lot of people feel like other beliefs are inferior. That other cultures are inferior. I have a feeling this sense of discontent is snowballing, not only coming from the natives, but also from the old and new immigrants. I hope we have not reached a point of no-return and that something will change. I have a dream. ;-)