March 20, 2006--Dutch Treat
As in a number of other Western European countries, just last week the Dutch introduced a new citizenship test (see NY Times article linked below). In Germany for example, new questions were added recently about married life (“Do you believe a wife is a husband’s possession?”) as well as in England where there are a series of questions about proper imbibing behavior in pubs.
Many have suggested that questions of this kind are designed to discourage Islamic immigrants from seeking citizenship and to encourage them to either continue to stay on as “visiting workers” or, better yet, go back to where they came from. To Turkey.
The Dutch, who pride themselves on their liberality, openness, and resistance to all kinds of prejudice, be it religious, gender, or sexual-preference based (after all who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis?) have gone one step further than their EU colleagues—in addition to introducing a new test they have developed some modern methods to help aspiring citizens study for that exam—they give all applicants a DVD in a package of study materials that provides them with a glimpse of Dutch life as it really is. In other words, they tell it like it is to live in Holland, as if citizenship applicants haven’t somehow figured that out while living and working there for years.
In spite of this snide comment, one might think using DVDs as an instructional tool is not such a bad thing. It feels like a very up-to-date way to be helpful.
Less helpful, however, is some of what appears on the DVD. Telling it like it is includes scenes of nude sunbathers (a Dutch cultural pastime) and homosexuals French Kissing, sorry Dutch kissing. Presumably, some say, to let the many Islamic immigrants know that if they want to become Dutch citizens they had better get used to this sort of thing.
When I told some friends about this film one or two said, “But isn’t this a good idea, to let people know about Dutch values and mores, things they will have to live with as they also need to learn the Dutch language?” I thought about that for a minute but then wondered out loud if for citizenship aspirants who are from the United States or other European countries there are scenes of Islamic Dutch citizens in head scarves, at daily prayer, and shopping in Halal stores to inform these non-Islamic test-takers that Holland has already become a substantially Muslim country?
I checked, and discovered that there are no such scenes included in the two-hour long film, so film length was clearly not the reason.
And while researching what is in the video I also discovered that there is really no need to include scenes from Dutch Islamic life because applicants from the United States and the European Union nations are exempt from having to take the citizenship exam.
Many have suggested that questions of this kind are designed to discourage Islamic immigrants from seeking citizenship and to encourage them to either continue to stay on as “visiting workers” or, better yet, go back to where they came from. To Turkey.
The Dutch, who pride themselves on their liberality, openness, and resistance to all kinds of prejudice, be it religious, gender, or sexual-preference based (after all who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis?) have gone one step further than their EU colleagues—in addition to introducing a new test they have developed some modern methods to help aspiring citizens study for that exam—they give all applicants a DVD in a package of study materials that provides them with a glimpse of Dutch life as it really is. In other words, they tell it like it is to live in Holland, as if citizenship applicants haven’t somehow figured that out while living and working there for years.
In spite of this snide comment, one might think using DVDs as an instructional tool is not such a bad thing. It feels like a very up-to-date way to be helpful.
Less helpful, however, is some of what appears on the DVD. Telling it like it is includes scenes of nude sunbathers (a Dutch cultural pastime) and homosexuals French Kissing, sorry Dutch kissing. Presumably, some say, to let the many Islamic immigrants know that if they want to become Dutch citizens they had better get used to this sort of thing.
When I told some friends about this film one or two said, “But isn’t this a good idea, to let people know about Dutch values and mores, things they will have to live with as they also need to learn the Dutch language?” I thought about that for a minute but then wondered out loud if for citizenship aspirants who are from the United States or other European countries there are scenes of Islamic Dutch citizens in head scarves, at daily prayer, and shopping in Halal stores to inform these non-Islamic test-takers that Holland has already become a substantially Muslim country?
I checked, and discovered that there are no such scenes included in the two-hour long film, so film length was clearly not the reason.
And while researching what is in the video I also discovered that there is really no need to include scenes from Dutch Islamic life because applicants from the United States and the European Union nations are exempt from having to take the citizenship exam.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:22 AM
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