PVV Absurdities

I’ve written before that I worry about the popularity of Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (the PVV) here in the Netherlands. While I find the demagoguery of Wilders extremely disturbing, I take some comfort from the fact that others in the PVV seem to be little more than political clowns.

We’re about to enter into an election for seats in the provincial governments. So all the candidates are out there and using every opportunity for campaigning. No problem about that. But when one of the PVV candidates for the Gelderland province (where I live) calls for repatriation of Highland cattle back to Scotland and Polish ponies back to Poland, then I have to wonder why anyone should take clowns like this seriously?

Since some people have commented that surely no-one could be that stupid; I give you PVV candidate Olov Wullink, in person, uttering his inanities (from 1:10 in the second video linked on this page here). Sorry, the full absurdity is only intelligible to those of us who understand Dutch.

However, I think it’s worthwhile to remember that, while events like this have their humorous side, the politics, and subsequent impact on all of us, are deadly serious. The rise of Wilders continues to concern me. I don’t think it is good for us.