Se det Sixtinske Kapel virtuelt uden at tage til Rom og lægge  dig på gulvet på ryggen. Det er ikke populært !

Professoralt knæskud til Geert Wilders

Man ved at Geert Wilders har skabt panik i det hollandske establishment, når en smædeartikel som denne ikke bare gentager klicheen om frisuren, men er pumpet op med ladede, mistænkeliggørende ord – “fight”, f. eks. Professor van den Brink vrænger af Wilders for manglende argumentation, men glider her selv uden om at argumentere mod den ellers solidt etablerede kendsgerning at politik og religion er uadskillelige i islam. Wilders kan måske i nogle af sine udtalelser siges at lukke øjnene for den religiøse komponent, men omvendt er denne side komplet irrelevant for os, for hvem dette handler om politik. Professoren nøjes med at holde synspunktet ud mellem to fingre:

[…] And there is really only one main issue on his party agenda: the fight against Islam, which is regurgitated in ever new and more extreme versions. According to Wilders, Islam is not a religion but a criminal, political ideology, which must be fought on all fronts – not only with arguments but also with force. Criminals of Arab descent, for example, should be kneecapped more frequently, there should be a ban on building Mosques and on wearing the hijab in public buildings. If he had things his way, the first article of the constitution would also have to change. The equality of all people in the eyes of the law would be replaced by the “dominance of Judeo-Christian and humanist culture”. […]

Vi har lige fået at vide at PVV kun interesserer sig for islam, men nu er det det modsatte der gør dem suspekte:

But there are other reasons why it is so hard to outargue Wilders. His views do not follow the usual scheme of left and right. A self-proclaimed admirer of Ariel Sharon and Margaret Thatcher, Wilders is also taking on the world banks, the liberalisation of the job market and the rising retirement age. He wants to close borders, disputes EU jurisdictions, and believes (like the Social Democrats) that the Netherlands has done enough in Afghanistan. At the same time, he tirelessly beats a drum for universal human rights, particularly for women and homosexuals. He believes Dutch culture should be protected from foreign influence and that cultural and welfare subsides should be axed, and more state money handed out to pensioners, animals, the disabled and the police. […]

Det skal ikke hedde sig at Snaphanen kun præsenterer én vinkel på udviklingen i Holland. Denne her er ny for mig – det går (næsten) ufatteligt godt, og Wilders’ succes skal måske forklares med magelighed og livslede:

If you listen to Wilders you would be forgiven for thinking that the Netherlands is teetering more dangerously than other European nations on the brink of social and economic catastrophe. Although the opposite is true. In the current crisis the country is not faring too badly. Compared with the level of affluence, state debt is pretty modest, and unemployment levels are the lowest in Europe. The crime rate is dropping, immigration regulations are stricter than almost anywhere else, language courses for immigrants are obligatory and Muslim women in particular are taking advantage of educational opportunities. Research has shown that the Dutch regard their quality of life as above average and are content, even happy, at least in their private lives. So is it ennui, world-weariness, a reaction to the self-indulgent seventies and a latent fear of globalisation which drives the Dutch to vote for Wilders? It seems so. Wilders practises a form of cultural populism which causes more problems for the Netherlands than if he had proposed radical economic reform. Hans Maarten van den Brink: Compromise, consensus and knee-capping

Det er ikke kun natlige arrestationer af karikaturtegnere eller mainstreampolitikeres deltagelse ved antijødiske demonstrationer der glimrer ved deres fravær i artiklen. Som i al dækningen af Geert Wilders er elefanten i rummet aldeles fraværende: At denne politiker må beskyttes 24/7/365, for et betydeligt årligt millionbeløb, blot for at ytre sig. Denne sandhed kan ikke bortrelativiseres eller karikeres væk, og derfor ignorerer van den Brink og alle andre den (LFPC).

Grünewald og Bach

The final flowering of the Gothic came relatively late, in the work of the German artist, Matthias Grünewald 1470-1528. He was possibly an exact contemporary of Dürer, but while Dürer was deeply influenced by the Renaissance, Grünewald ignored it in his choice of subject matter and style. Much of his work has not survived to this day, but even from the small amount that has come down to us, it is possible to see Grünewald as one of the most powerful of all painters. No other painter has ever so terribly and truthfully exposed the horror of suffering, and yet kept before us, as Bosch does not, the conviction of salvation. His Crucifixion, part of the many-panelled Isenheim Altarpiece, is now kept in Colmar. It was commissioned for the Antoinite monastery at Isenheim and was intended to give support to patients in the monastic hospital. Christ appears hideous, his skin swollen and torn as a result of the flagellation and torture that He endured. This was understandably a powerful image in a hospital that specialized in caring for those suffering from skin complaints. Grünewald’s dark vision.  (detalje fra Isenheim alteret, helbillede her.)

Langfredag er det også værd at minde sig om, at påsken oprindeligt var en gammel israelitisk fest fra nomadetiden, hvor man fejrede foråret og kvægets frugtbarhed.

(udvalgte arier og finale fra Matthaüs Passionen)

Erbarme dich, mein Gott – som for mig altid vil være Andrei Tarkovsky og Gotland, 1986

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein

Können Tränen meiner Wangen

Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder

Roger Scruton: On Gratitude and Grace