The Public Prosecutor Service is investigating whether a joke made by American comedian Zack Fox about Geert Wilders is punishable. The American comedian asked the audience during his show in Amsterdam last week whether they were "gonna kill him, or what.”
Ha! He’s a comedian making a joke. Perhaps not the best joke, but obviously a joke. He’s even on stage in his role as comedian.
After all the vile things Wilders has said that were dead serious I feel like this is nothing.
Probably good publicity for the comedian though, and of course it’s some political points for Wilders and the rest of the far-right (“look how violent these left-wing people of color are!”).
The Netherlands don’t have freedom of speech, though, so that’s immaterial. The closest thing they have is Article 7, Subarticle 3 in general, which only means they can’t legally be compelled to seek prior approval for speech.
This is not a joke that is very appropriate though. In the early 2000s a politician similar to Wilders was killed for his opinions. Another (even further) right-wing politician was assaulted twice in the past few months, and Wilders himself hasn’t been able to go anywhere without bodyguards in the past few years. We’re still a democracy, Wilders should be able to say things without getting constant death threats. Unlike the US, things are not yet as polarized here. To me it feels like the comedian made a very inappropriate “joke”, even if I also absolutely despise Wilders
Yeah I understand the context of Pim Fortuyn of course and I agree it’s not a good joke or anything like that. I just feel like this is made into way too big of a deal for what was probably an off thr cuff comment.
I do think that “fuck around and find out” should be true. Baudet for example is just a fascist who is friends with the Russians and wants to destroy democracy in the Netherlands. I honestly think that until his party is outlawed it’s a good thing he gets hit with umbrellas and beer bottles. Fuck him so hard, I don’t think what he says should be tolerated.
Baudet is definitely on the edge yeah. Obviously there somes a moment where you shouldn’t tolerate the intolerant and a democratic society shouldn’t protect the undemocratic in the name of democracy. Up until now I don’t think either of them has done enough to deserve that tho. Randomly calling for a politician to be killed, even as a joke, is in my opinion still bad taste. It’s not the way I’d want Dutch politics to go, even for those who I disagree with. Violence and hate only creates more violence and hate