This is probably not very well written, but Witzl's comment about a 'bullying free zone' on Phil's short story 'The One' suddenly reminded me of a certain phenomenon.
A few years ago Holland was shocked by a number of fatal beatings and two new idioms were introduced to the Dutch language. The first was 'zinloos geweld', meaning 'senseless violence'. Now I think that for someone commiting violence, it always makes sense at the time he does so, and from a philosophical point everything has a sense and a meaning. But some people seemed to think that 'senseless violence' existed. For convenience they ignored the fact that this implied 'sensible violence', but then, 'senseless violence' sounded better than just 'violence', did it not?
The other idiom was 'geweldloze zone', meaning 'violence free zone'.
Whenever you visit the Netherlands, you might recognize these by the tiles depicting lady-birds. As far as I know lady-birds are ruthless predators, but for some reason they were chosen as the national symbol against 'zinloos geweld'.
The initiative was nice: It was a show of pacifism and solidarity with the victims of those tragic incidents and a statement against againt those idiots who think it's normal to beat people up in the street.
But think about the words they have chosen... If the areas marked with lady-birds are 'violence free zones', then what are the unmarked areas?
I am of course not the only one who noticed the flaw in this terminology and it was interesting to see that a bunch of hooligans had interpreted it in their own way. They had officially declared a part of the beach as 'violence zone'. Within the boundaries of the zone, one was allowed to fight and destroy... I don't remember how it ended, but I believe they were removed by the police, probably with some sensible violence.
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Written by Phil (6731 comments posted) 25th February 2007 |
It sounds like the typical sort of nonsense most governments dream up between invading countries and erecting speed cameras.
Phil. |
HI Fledermaus
Written by jean.day (2283 comments posted) 26th February 2007 |
Very much enjoyed reading this, and your witty interpretation of the signs.
I guess lady birds are violent - and we encourage them to eat aphids.
I found the idea that there is no such thing as senseless violence very thought provoking. I suppose if somebody were really frustrated and threw a brick through a window, and felt better for doing it, that would justify it in his mind. |
Written by Fledermaus (3307 comments posted) 26th February 2007 |
Thanks Phil and Jean.
I don't think the government came up with the idea, but they adopted it quickly enough. Those lady-birds can be found all over the country, yet it did not reduce violent crimes. A recent study showed that within Europe only Britain was worse  |
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 26th February 2007 |
I think that this is a well-written, thought-provoking piece, Fledermaus. You are right in that 'senseless violence' begs the question of 'sensible violence.' It is frequently pointed out that we people are jailed for murder, but decorated for killing in combat. Sometimes there is no sense in it at all.
The idea of a 'violence zone' is actually a pretty good one, I think -- a bit like Dam Square being an area where prostitution is licensed. As long as everybody is a consenting adult, perhaps it is not such an awful thing?
And it is funny about the ladybirds. Perhaps a gerbil would have been a better choice . . . |
Written by Fledermaus (3307 comments posted) 28th February 2007 |
Thanks Witzl.
Is prostitution legal at the Dam? I'm not surprised. Amsterdam has about the same reputation amongst the Dutch as the whole Netherlands have amongst the rest of the world 
It often surprises me that in a country where nearly everything is allowed all things go reasonably well. |
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 28th February 2007 |
Now, I'm amazed you didn't know this, Fledermaus!
I first went to the Netherlands in 1983. I had very little money, so I checked into a youth hostel that happened to be right in the middle of Dam Square. Stupidly, I realized that I was in a somewhat seedy neighborhood but did not realize just what it was until it was pointed out to me by the manager of the Japanese restaurant where I got a job washing dishes (there had been an advertisement in Japanese on the bulletin board of the hostel). A whole week in a den of inequity and it sailed right over my head. Typical. |
Written by Fledermaus (3307 comments posted) 28th February 2007 |
LOL.
I had a similar experience when I was looking for a gift for a friend. Together with another friend, I went to Amsterdam. And since this friend is a bit of a hippie, we were watching at a window with some very colourful things, depicting a lot of flowers and such. We had no idea what those things were until we realized they were pipes for smoking drugs  |
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