Voetbal en religie
Wat is dat toch met voetballers en geloof? Het WK voetbal is weer aan de gang en het kruisjesslaan is weer niet van de lucht. Het gaat vaak samen met intens naar boven kijken met een blik vol geluk, dankbaarheid of wanhoop, een beetje afhankelijk van de situatie. En dan heb ik het nog niet over die misselijkmakende Argentijnse dopekikker met zijn "La Mano de Dios"Zou het helpen? Zou het echt zo zijn dat je God een voorkeur kunt laten krijgen voor een bepaalde uitslag bij pakweg Ecuador - Costa Rica? Is God partijdig? Dat is toch een beetje moelijk voor te stellen. Als ik een keuze zou moeten maken, dan zou ik zeggen: God is voor Costa Rica, anders had hij die Inka's indertijd niet zo streng aangepakt via de godvrezende Spanjaarden. Maar Ecuador heeft wel gewonnen. Toch is het moeilijk anders voor te stellen dan dat het God aan zijn reet zal roesten.
Waarom denken die voetballers er dan anders over? Het zal toch te maken hebben met het milieu waar de meeste talentvolle voetballers vandaan komen. En met snuggerheid vrees ik.
Toch is het niet zo dat alle slimme mensen ongelovig zijn. Ook Einstein, toch de grootste natuurwetenschapper van de vorige eeuw, was een gelovig mens. Zelfs zo gelovig dat hij de natuurwetenschappelijke werkelijkheid op religieuze gronden weigerde te accepteren. En zelfs de meest abjecte sekte heeft slimme mensen in haar gelederen.
Laatst viel het ineens mee, maar toen bleek ik naar Iran te kijken. Ik neem aan als zij een kruisje slaan, nog voordat ze kunnen douchen al voorgoed arbeidsongeschikt gejihad zullen zijn. Nee, het zijn vooral de katholieke Zuid-amerikaanse en Zuideuropese landen die zich er het meest enthousiast aan bezondigen. Daar waar de onderklasse de strengste armoe kent en de meeste voetballers voortbrengt.
Ik ben atheïst, maar als ik in God zou geloven en denken dat hij bij machte is om de wereld te beïnvloeden en verbeteren, zou ik het al die voetballertjes maar hinderlijke, godslasterende, egoïstische narcistjes vinden. Alsof hun goal het heil van de wereld beinvloedt. Alsof een kruisje voor winst iets is wat God zal willen verhoren. Nee, pure blasfemie zou ik het vinden, een minachting van God en ik zou er tegen ten strijde trekken. Maar goed, al is de conclusie hier vrij snel bereikt, je moet er toch minstens 10 seconden over nagedacht hebben en dat is kennelijk de meeste katho's, refo's en andere reli's niet gegeven. Maar Einstein zou er iets van gezegd hebben!
posted by Huub Vergoossen @ 01:17
4 Comments:
Hello Nijmo,
I heard there is a big dispute between a congress woman and the minister of IND recently which induced the second collapse of your parliament. Is that true? What's the story? I am very curious.... :oP
Well Jen, you are basically right, but let me tell you exactly what happened. It is quite a story, so hang in there. This time I will refrain from my usual sarcasm en cynism, because I don't want to risk being misinterpreted.
First of all, I have to explain some of the persons and organisations, so that the story can be told more fluently.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) is Born in Mogadishu, Somalie. In 1992 she came to The Netherlands as a refugee,
like many more from there back then. In 1997 she gets a Dutch passport and in 2002 she is elected in parliament for the VVD. She became a very known figure and a human rights fighter for moslim women. In 2004 she made a short movie which criticized Islam with director Theo van Gogh. This guy is later murdered because of this by a moslim extremist who threatened her as well. Since then she has constantly lived under police protection.
Hirsi Ali is a very controversial person over here. Some people admire her and agree with her and others hate her guts and think she is to radical and divides people. The line that separates those views runs straight through political parties. So there are many from other parties than the VVD who adore her and there are many within the VVD that are disgusted by her.
VVD is a political party in The Netherlands. It is a conservative liberal party. Most of its voters belong to middle and upper class. The VVD is generally a respected party.
CDA is a political party as well. It is a conservative christian party. Because they usually bend there polical believes a little they can form a government coalition with either the social democrates or the conservative liberals. Because of this "flexibility" they are often not trusted by the public.
D66 is also a political party and a key player is this blog. They are a progressive liberal party. They are a small party, but often needed by other parties to create a majority in parliament. Although D66-people are usually very intelligent and honest, the lack of a coherent ideology makes them very unpredictable.
The current government is a coalition of CDA, VVD and D66 and has a small majority in parliament. New elections are scheduled in 2007, so they are 3 years in place now.
Balkenende (CDA) is our prime minister. In Holland we don't elect our prime minister, he is appointed by the parties that form the government. Balkenende (often referred to as Harry Potter, because of the physical resemblance) is a smart man, but he has no political instinct. He is a very poor leader and has no idea about what the general public wants. Most Dutch people feel ashamed when they see him on tv representing our country abroad. He was able to acquire the current position because of a severe and ugly leadership crisis within the CDA a few years ago.
Verdonk (VVD) is our minister of Immigration. Yeah, we have a separate ministry for that. Verdonk has a mission to keep out as many refugees as possible. She is not a very bright person, but she is very populistic and very popular with lower class people as well as right wing. Her recent attempt to become leader of the VVD has resulted in much friction between her and the party establishment. But she is a great vote getter for the VVD.
Jen and other readers, are you still there?
I apologize for this elaborate introduction, but from here it will get spicier.
A few weeks ago there was a television program that stated that Hirsi Ali had lied about her name and age when trying to acquire citizenship. Technically this was old news and allready known within the government and the incrowd. But for the first time it was stated on a well viewed television channel. Therefore it became a widely discussed item. Verdonk, in the race for leader of the VVD, saw a chance to demonstrate her firmness. She stated that because of the wrong name and birth date on her passport, it was a false one and that one had to assume that she never had gained Dutch citizenship. She was suddenly not Dutch anymore. And she could not be member of parliament anymore. This lead to a big uproar in the parliament from left to right. She had been one of them for 3 years, and now 2 days after a television program suddenly gone.
Unacceptable!
Verdonk hadn't carried out any investigation to see if there were any alternatives.
Unacceptable!!!
Verdonk had been in such a rush for her own political gain. That was the general believe. Balkenende (pm) was criticized as well for completely loosing control. He hadn't managed the situation at all and was responsible as well for the present situation.
The parliament decided that Verdonk had to review the matter and gave her six weeks to do that. She had to find a way that Hirsi Ali could stay Dutch.
Well, creative solutions had te be found. And were found. It was discovered that the grandfather of Hirsi Ali had used a different name in his youth and that therefore Hirsi Ali had a right to use the name she had used. So, her name was her legal name after all. So her passport is valid after all. (everybody seems to have forgotten that she had lied about her birth date as well.) So the ministry of Immigration instructed Hirsi Ali that she had to sign a statement about her grandfather's name and, big mistake!!, that she was sorry that she had misleaded Verdonk. The same day Hirsi Ali stated on television that signing the statement was forced upon her and that her citizenship depended on it.
What was exactly the 'big mistake', you might ask? Well, the statement that she is sorry she put Verdonk on the wrong foot, is not a legal statement. It is irrelevant to the name-issue. It is politically motivated by Verdonk. So Verdonk used her powers as a minister for personal political gain. She used it to look good. That is blamable and possibly illegal.
D66 smelled blood and a chance to show some firmness. They supported a vote of the opposition in
parliament that Verdonk had to go. This motion was rejected by a small majority. The next day the government sent a letter to parliament that the vote was rejected and that they went on as if nothing had happened. This is technically correct, but a bit strange since the vote was supported by D66, a coalition party. Then both ministers of D66 resigned (better late than never) and the crisis was a fact.
The government was not prepared to loose Verdonk, probably because of her popularity and chose to let D66 blow up the whole government.
It is still unclear what happens next. The queen, who still plays a role in situations like this, now invites all political parties and tries to find a common view. But that will conclude beginning of next week.
Well Jen, this is the story. I am ashamed of my own country, I must admit. This is a prime example of poor leadership, political opportunism and immoral behaviour. But unfortunately, it is the truth as well ...
Well, Nijmo, thank you for your extensive and comprehensive illustrations. I now know more of what's going on in the political scanery in the Netherlands. Political opportunism exists everywhere as long as there are politicians. Real statements are rare in this world as they have to be selfless, most of the time, and as a human being it is challenging to achieve.
I do enjoy the story because it makes me know more about the mentality and thinking logic of Dutch people, whom I've always wanted to understand more.
I am looking forward to see how the intervention of your queen Beatrix can turn the table around. Please keep me posted, thanks!
viagra alternative which is better cialis or viagra buy viagra online uk cheap viagra tablets viagra cheap does viagra work viagra blood pressure free sample viagra try viagra for free natural viagra substitutes cheap generic viagra buy cheap viagra online how does viagra work viagra 34434
Een reactie posten
<< Home