or to join or start a new Discussion

Articles/all comments
These 147 comments are related to an article called:

Wilders wins Dutch election

Page 2 of 6

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Onana what's my name? (U14210)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 13 minutes ago
He wont be able to form a government as no one want to work with the PVV. Last time he won they also ended up in opposition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PVV have never won an election before this one
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clog guy said He not PVV

posted on 23/11/23

Calling Wilders 'winner' of the election kind of reflects an Anglo 'first past the post' understanding of a proportional electoral system. It's definitely worrying that such a large number of Dutch voters support a radical right, racist platform, but a huge majority of them voted for parties that do not espouse those views. I would estimate that fairly similar numbers of British voters could be persuaded to vote for a similar platform. We haven't had an explicitly radical right, racist party taking such a proportion of parliamentary seats in the UK, but only because our system creates large parties that are coalitions between fringe and centre views. However, there's less daylight than we'd like to think between Gert Wilders and the faction within the Tory party that has been in the ascendency since Brexit: the party of the 'hostile environment', Rwanda, and talking down the possibility of comfortable assimilation. We're now at a point where that more aggressively culturally right wing impulse more or less defines the Conservative party, and for many months opinion polls show support for that brand of conservatism shrinking to levels not very far from the quarter or so of the Dutch population who voted for the guy with the bad hair.

posted on 23/11/23

We all have record energy prices every year. It's normal.
We pretty much have higher prices in everything every year.its because people working there want a better standard of living, so wage rises.

posted on 23/11/23

Incidentally, what is it with populist public figures and eccentric physical appearance? Wilders has his flamboyant hair; there's the hairstyle and clothing of the newly elected president of Argentina; Boris Johnson used unkempt hair as his trademark (famously actively messing up his hair before going out to face the cameras); I'd add the way Jordan Peterson has started dressing like a Batman villain the more politically engaged and overtly radically conservative his has become.

Is it a case of understanding the appeal to a certain psyche of a character who is larger than life? A case of understanding the value of brand recognition, even if the signifiers are jarring and a little disturbing? I kind of associate it with the way such characters are famed for being refreshingly straight-talking, due to being outspoken, even if the content is offensive or contains lies and logical contradictions.

Hopefully someone is writing a PhD on this and they'll turn it into a readable book.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 30 seconds ago
Incidentally, what is it with populist public figures and eccentric physical appearance? Wilders has his flamboyant hair; there's the hairstyle and clothing of the newly elected president of Argentina; Boris Johnson used unkempt hair as his trademark (famously actively messing up his hair before going out to face the cameras); I'd add the way Jordan Peterson has started dressing like a Batman villain the more politically engaged and overtly radically conservative his has become.

Is it a case of understanding the appeal to a certain psyche of a character who is larger than life? A case of understanding the value of brand recognition, even if the signifiers are jarring and a little disturbing? I kind of associate it with the way such characters are famed for being refreshingly straight-talking, due to being outspoken, even if the content is offensive or contains lies and logical contradictions.

Hopefully someone is writing a PhD on this and they'll turn it into a readable book.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Definitely something about the Bond villain look, it’s like catnip for some

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 30 seconds ago
Incidentally, what is it with populist public figures and eccentric physical appearance? Wilders has his flamboyant hair; there's the hairstyle and clothing of the newly elected president of Argentina; Boris Johnson used unkempt hair as his trademark (famously actively messing up his hair before going out to face the cameras); I'd add the way Jordan Peterson has started dressing like a Batman villain the more politically engaged and overtly radically conservative his has become.

Is it a case of understanding the appeal to a certain psyche of a character who is larger than life? A case of understanding the value of brand recognition, even if the signifiers are jarring and a little disturbing? I kind of associate it with the way such characters are famed for being refreshingly straight-talking, due to being outspoken, even if the content is offensive or contains lies and logical contradictions.

Hopefully someone is writing a PhD on this and they'll turn it into a readable book.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent post, and true. Even as far back at Hitler.

posted on 23/11/23

More and more European countries will become far right.
It's simple,but wrong, they want little or no immigration.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 30 seconds ago
Incidentally, what is it with populist public figures and eccentric physical appearance? Wilders has his flamboyant hair; there's the hairstyle and clothing of the newly elected president of Argentina; Boris Johnson used unkempt hair as his trademark (famously actively messing up his hair before going out to face the cameras); I'd add the way Jordan Peterson has started dressing like a Batman villain the more politically engaged and overtly radically conservative his has become.

Is it a case of understanding the appeal to a certain psyche of a character who is larger than life? A case of understanding the value of brand recognition, even if the signifiers are jarring and a little disturbing? I kind of associate it with the way such characters are famed for being refreshingly straight-talking, due to being outspoken, even if the content is offensive or contains lies and logical contradictions.

Hopefully someone is writing a PhD on this and they'll turn it into a readable book.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent post, and true. Even as far back at Hitler.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Single handedly killed off the toothbrush moustache

posted on 23/11/23

Not really surprising that a far right people have won elections in both Italy nd Netherlands. Both countries have chequered pasts. Italy had Mussolini and the Dutch were responsible for Apertheid in South Africa.

Electorates are so easily swayed with nonsense migrant rhetoric. It`s been going on for centuries.

No doubt Farage will cut short his jungle stint to congratulate his fellow racist in the Netherlands.

comment by Cloggy (U1250)

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Onana what's my name? (U14210)
posted 41 minutes ago
comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 13 minutes ago
He wont be able to form a government as no one want to work with the PVV. Last time he won they also ended up in opposition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PVV have never won an election before this one
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah you are right, they were 2nd biggest but ended up in opposition.

comment by Cloggy (U1250)

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club... (U18109)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
There are only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other peoples cultures and the Dutch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you go on and hate an entire people You are a xenophobe if I ever saw one. Are you Hitler's grandson?

posted on 23/11/23

comment by 0 (U7899)
posted 1 hour, 59 minutes ago
The Dutch don't think that Islam is compatible with their way of life, good luck to them. The sooner we have mainstream political parties calling out stone age religions rather than pandering to them we can move in to the 21st century.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a socialist and an atheist I have worked in Indonesia with 50 Islamic schools developing social enterprise. There is much in Islam which is compatible with sharing wealth and serving the community and our UK schools could learn a lot about what being a real community school is. Incidentally they had no problems with my lack of religion

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club... (U18109)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
There are only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other peoples cultures and the Dutch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you go on and hate an entire peopleYou are a xenophobe if I ever saw one. Are you Hitler's grandson?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Read it again.

comment by Cloggy (U1250)

posted on 23/11/23

comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club... (U18109)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
There are only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other peoples cultures and the Dutch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you go on and hate an entire peopleYou are a xenophobe if I ever saw one. Are you Hitler's grandson?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Read it again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Banter

comment by Firkin (U19526)

posted on 23/11/23

You've got a recent populist election win in Argentina, too:

https://news.sky.com/story/javier-milei-nicknamed-the-madman-and-a-fan-of-al-capone-meet-argentinas-new-president-13012159

posted on 23/11/23

I don't know enough about Dutch politics to know about the parties that have lost votes but I think almost every close run democracy will see major changes in voting pattens due to the events of the last few years.

This likely won't be the only extremist to get a major vote share but it'll depend on what's happening/happened with the current serving government.

In the UK we already have extremists in power by most measures, with Johnson having cleared the party of any sort of moderation (of people who could at least act as if they were fairly moderate). So I doubt you'll see huge support for extremist parties at our next election.

It'll be interesting to see what actually happens if/when a one trick pony like Wilders gets in. I know from people who worked in government back in the early/mid 2010's that when UKIP got a load of local reps into power they had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

It was all well and good shouting about immigrants but once they actually had to do something they were completely stumped and had to go begging for answers from the more established parties...

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 23/11/23

comment by N2 (U22280)
posted 2 hours, 44 minutes ago
The far-right popping up in a lot of places now.

Problems ahead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Entitlement went too far.

I feel this is the future of politics, leaders having to go further to either side of the fence with sensationalism to win elections. You'll see a party to the left every 1-2 elections then to the right in the next 2-3. This is probably the result of social media.

Generally, I think the majority of people can agree on MOST things, governments should only be learning to the left or the right, or ideally, dealing with issues in isolation not resorting to their parties political rhetoric.

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Nichoglou (U14419)
posted 37 minutes ago
comment by 0 (U7899)
posted 1 hour, 59 minutes ago
The Dutch don't think that Islam is compatible with their way of life, good luck to them. The sooner we have mainstream political parties calling out stone age religions rather than pandering to them we can move in to the 21st century.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a socialist and an atheist I have worked in Indonesia with 50 Islamic schools developing social enterprise. There is much in Islam which is compatible with sharing wealth and serving the community and our UK schools could learn a lot about what being a real community school is. Incidentally they had no problems with my lack of religion
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Indonisia is about the only peaceful Islamic majority country on the planet right now.

posted on 23/11/23

I doubt he’ll become the PM, however it’ll be interesting times ahead if he does, I’ve made a few Dutch friends over the years and they’ve been wanting a change, maybe they’ll get their wish.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Mack (U6574)
posted 2 hours, 36 minutes ago
History shows that whenever there is mass poverty and hardship, a divisive character tends to win an election. It’s all about uniting a population in finger pointing. “It’s THEIR fault you haven’t got enough money to pay your bills, vote for me and I’ll get rid of them”

Extreme versions of this saw hitler get to power.

Even the tories bring out the small boats when they want you to look away from their disastrous governance.

It saddens me that as humans, we still seem to fall for it every time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's all part of the human condition which is why we never, ever learn. As each generation passes, lessons erode.

I saw an amazing article by a professor in human history which showed a timeline/graph of human behaviour and patterns seen in and out of conflict and the results were scary. He looked at the whole thing completely objectively so there was no deliberate fearmongering. He showed projections of where current socioeconomic trends will take us and he basically said something along the lines of "it's not a matter of if we enter another world war, it's starting already". It's a pattern and we're now hitting the next upward curve in terms of conflict. If history has taught us anything it's that the whole "lest we forget" thing is utter bullshiiiiit. Generations pass and the true horrors of war are forgotten. Then we repeat and repeat and repeat.

If you balance off global economic problems, a mood swing to the right alongside a climate emergency, I think we're about to hit one of the darkest ages in human history. It won't be long before a third of the world's population will seek refuge in colder climates. The fall out from that alone will be catastrophic so even though what we're seeing at the moment is just another big bump in a long pattern of bumps, it's going to get so much worse than that.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 16 minutes ago
I don't know enough about Dutch politics to know about the parties that have lost votes but I think almost every close run democracy will see major changes in voting pattens due to the events of the last few years.

This likely won't be the only extremist to get a major vote share but it'll depend on what's happening/happened with the current serving government.

In the UK we already have extremists in power by most measures, with Johnson having cleared the party of any sort of moderation (of people who could at least act as if they were fairly moderate). So I doubt you'll see huge support for extremist parties at our next election.

It'll be interesting to see what actually happens if/when a one trick pony like Wilders gets in. I know from people who worked in government back in the early/mid 2010's that when UKIP got a load of local reps into power they had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

It was all well and good shouting about immigrants but once they actually had to do something they were completely stumped and had to go begging for answers from the more established parties...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well it's a but like Brexit isn't it. They all shouted about it for years. As soon as it happened they didn't have a clue how to do it.

Someone like Farage has made his career being an unelected politician. He can shout from the sidelines but we all know full well he wouldn't have a clue if he ever won. When he did win a seat as an MEP, he just didn't turn up.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 54 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club... (U18109)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
There are only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other peoples cultures and the Dutch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you go on and hate an entire peopleYou are a xenophobe if I ever saw one. Are you Hitler's grandson?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s a quote from Austin Powers you tiiit. The only thing I dislike about the Dutch is you

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Hawkeye78 (U22468)
posted 2 hours, 54 minutes ago
comment by 0 (U7899)
posted 21 minutes ago
The Dutch don't think that Islam is compatible with their way of life, good luck to them. The sooner we have mainstream political parties calling out stone age religions rather than pandering to them we can move in to the 21st century.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Built on the myth that Islam is effecting their every day life when, of course, it isn't.

They're just racist nut jobs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bit harsh on Muslims, that.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club over there (U18109)
posted 41 minutes ago
comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 54 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club... (U18109)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
There are only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other peoples cultures and the Dutch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you go on and hate an entire peopleYou are a xenophobe if I ever saw one. Are you Hitler's grandson?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s a quote from Austin Powers you tiiit. The only thing I dislike about the Dutch is you
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What's weird is that even if you weren't familiar with the Austin Powers line, it's quite clearly a joke.

posted on 23/11/23

comment by RB&W - One man down, One nil up (U21434)
posted 3 hours, 32 minutes ago
comment by Mack (U6574)
posted 6 minutes ago
History shows that whenever there is mass poverty and hardship, a divisive character tends to win an election. It’s all about uniting a population in finger pointing. “It’s THEIR fault you haven’t got enough money to pay your bills, vote for me and I’ll get rid of them”

Extreme versions of this saw hitler get to power.

Even the tories bring out the small boats when they want you to look away from their disastrous governance.

It saddens me that as humans, we still seem to fall for it every time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
its a indicment against the wider standards of education and information gathering available in the western World right now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nail on head saans.

Page 2 of 6

Sign in if you want to comment