| Too many Cooks … |
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This picture is intended as a way of letting some of the air out of Wim
Kok's tyres. Wim Kok* is convinced that it's him who's calling the shots. In
fact, he feels he's not nearly enough in control, otherwise he'd never have
locked horns with the "condoning culture". Now, if I ask you to look at this
tangle of wires, can you tell me how many people in the Netherlands know
what they're for, how to hook them up and, more importantly still, which
ones to switch in order to wreak havoc or channel grants in alternative
directions without a soul understanding why, or even appreciating what's
going down? Which makes this a picture of someone who's genuinely in control.
* Even though Wim Kok has been the Netherlands' prime minister for some seven years now, amusingly enough there's always this slightly awkward pause whenever English-speaking newscasters find themselves having to actually say the man's name out loud. You'd think they'd have got used to it by now, but no. Mr Kok (the name means "cook", by the way - nothing risqué about that!), who in the course of his two terms of office as PM for the Labour Party has mysteriously managed to secure near-divine status for himself, recently announced that he's calling it quits when his term of office expires next year. |
| And now for something completely different. Have you any idea how easy it is to interfere in administrative affairs? This artery of the Netherlands has been secured using two lengths of red-and-white plastic ribbon. Not a guard in sight. All you need to bring is your inflatable mattress and hey presto, your temporary accommodation is thrown in for no extra charge. |
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A society without force owes its very existence to patience in resolving
conflicts, with an attitude of forgiveness representing a key element. Those
who refuse to condone are dictators. War breaks out when two parties decline
to condone. Enhancing the capacity for forceless resolution has caused a
complex interaction pattern to emerge, and no matter how awkward this may
be, it cannot for the sake of simplicity be pushed to one side. If I'm not
mistaken, mankind most certainly subscribes to the idea that it is gradually
growing more intelligent. Assuming that one's efforts to appreciate such a
complex pattern should meet with acclaim in such a context, it's funny for
such a dyed-in-the-wool politician as Wim Kok to throw in the towel.
Or should the public start clamouring to the authorities that they too have had enough of condoning? And what would your response be if they did? We live in a complex society, which in addition to calling for an insight into the complex mechanisms without which democracy cannot function in a densely populated country such as ours, also requires a fair bit of patience until the various processes have slotted into place. So far, so good - but whose responsibility is it to lead by example when things don't go as they should, democratic principle-wise? You've got it in one: the government, and not by refusing to be forgiving. So what happens if the rules are shown to be lacking? Then condoning will help bridge the temporal gap between emerging practice and law, as a dual carriageway. Here too the government should adopt a subservient stance … vis-à-vis the people, that is. |