Arnon Grunberg
Words Without Borders

The Color of a Mercedes

Ian Buruma's book Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance has provoked many different reactions. Whereas in the US the reviews focused on the content of the book, in the Netherlands, the debaters kept themselves busy with the details.
Did the murdered Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn drive a green or a blue Mercedes? Maybe history might have changed completely had Mr. Fortuyn chosen a different color. Who knows what might have happened had Mr. Fortuyn insisted on a BMW, but still it seems to me a rather irrelevant detail.
Yes, an author should get his or her details right, but this kind of obsession is like sabotaging a discussion by talking only about the typos that have been made.
One of the reasons Mr. Buruma's book has aroused a certain degree of hostility in the Netherlands is that Mr. Buruma, rightly or wrongly, is perceived as an outsider.
As long as the outsider keeps quiet and spends his money in the Dutch supermarket, he is welcome, but he should definitely not mingle in internal affairs.
The irony that Mr. Buruma holds a Dutch passport is probably lost on many participants of the discussion.
But the irony doesn’t end there.
Today the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Balkenende, announced that he was disappointed in the intellectuals in the Netherlands because they haven’t joined the political debate.
It depends on who you call an intellectual, but I would say that the self-appointed intellectuals of the Netherlands have done nothing but join the debate during the last couple of years.
Unfortunately, the quality of the debate didn’t improve because of their loud and not always very civilized presence.
I bet Mr. Balkenende hasn’t read Mr. Buruma’s book. Probably he doesn’t want an outsider to spoil a terrific Dutch party, either.
And on the other hand: how much is there really to debate when it all comes down to the color of a Mercedes?


200520062007200820092010

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

10131926