Travel Tips

Send Photo to a Friend

im Wald...

The Derrick Experience

In the eighties, as a child, i for the first time came in touch with the world of Derrick. After the second half of that decade, he was gone out of my mind, since better and more modern TV shows came from the USA, Miami vice and such. But now, Derrick is cult and gets my attention again. What is the typical Derrick feeling? Maybe it’s the ‘derrick music.’ How can you discern a ‘derrick song’ from another song? I tested it and I let a friend of mine hear 3 different songs, randomly, songs he had never heard before in his life. Before I let him hear the songs, I asked him, to describe the typical feeling he might get from the songs. At the second song he knew: this is Derrick music. I myself had also a clear definition of how an ideal derrick song might sound, but had always thought Valerie Dore would come the most close to typical Derrick Music, especially The Night. When you hear that song, you can already imagine Derrick finding the dead body of a prostitute in a bathroom of a sleezy club, with something written by lipstick on the mirror (I don’t know if that scene actually exist but it does come close to the ideal Derrick scene of finding the victim). So, since my friend could clearly point out the Derrick song, we had to find out what constitutes such music. Frank Duval’s music seems more fit for Derrick background, then, let’s say, Madness. Why? Duval’s music is about the sleezy world of fallen women, paranoia love, broken dreams, death and the afterworld of Angels. Whereas Miami Vice had to use the context-less music of Hammer, producer Ringelmann was able to rely on a reservoir of meaningfull music pre-existing. Allthough, the more Duval’s music was used in Derrick, the more Duval got aware of the idea he could compose for Derrick, so that finally episodes and songs got now and then the same title (Totesengel). The mystic, tragic tunes of the dark syntipop of Duval gives the Derrick viewer that experience of melancholy, which made Derrick cult. No other Krimi has this impact. As a matter of fact, the music supports the emotional palet of each episode, which is: love, hate, fear. These human basic emotions, on which Ringelmann appeals, make the series so popular all over the world, since these emotions control human interaction all over the world, regarless class or ethnicity. Apart from Derrick music, - I can already imagine there will be special Derrick Parties with Derrick Music only - , not to mention special ways and moves how to dance on these tracks, - there is also the typical Derrick Scenery. In the past 2 decades, I found myself in a situation that I was confronted with landscapes and sceneries that would be ideal suitable for a Derrick episode. These ‘Derrick landscape experiences’ are a part of my life, and I can already imagine, there will be travelagencies and touroperators that organize such travels and tours in ideal Derrick Landscapes. I am not talking about the sleezy underworld, but just about places, you and me can experience without any planning. First of all, it’s the abandoned industrial landscape. A hugh parking place, totally empty, and old factory buildings, with broken windows. Along the road from Maastricht to Liège, its one big Derrick landscape. Of course, calling in the abandoned industrial scene, one automatically think of the desolated railway: runaway trains and ghost-town- locked stations. Tote am Bahngleis…The third typical Derrick location, mostly in junxtaposition with the latter two – coincidentally or not, they are often in eacothers nearness- is the Walt. If it is not the Bahngleis, then the scene is along the rail, in the forrest. (Especially forrest in autumn, which underlines the tragic in a better way than a forrest in Spring, since spring connotates in contrary to autumn, life.). In 1998, after the series got discontinued, Magaizn The Scientist, published a top 20 list of ideal – real and fictitious – Derrick landscapes.

The Red light district topped the list, - not surprisingly- followed by the Gasstation and the Wald. The abondand factory building made its entry at number 12 in the list, wheras also novelties appreared in the list, such as the Mort-bad (Swimmingpool of death) and the Fun fair (the tunnel of love, more specically). So, for real Drrick experience, new doors are opened. Another aspect of the Derrick Expereince is that, Derrick doesn’t show his private life. We don’t know anything about his family at all. There is a suggestion, that he has no wife, because his work is mostly requiring him to go in the night. His wife, if he has one, never comes in that picture. She doesn’t call him – maybe because there were no mobiles in the eighties- to ask him when he will be home. Is he single? Whereas other police inspectors, such as Columbo, in each episode make up for the fact that their wife is not visible on the screen – by mentioning them at least- Derrick seems to be superior in this perspective, that is, in case he does have a wife and family. He just controls his family well. It is however said by others that Derrick is not married, but lives alone in a suburban house. The last aspect that makes the Derrick Experience complete is the BMW in which they ride to the crimescenes or interrogations. It could have been any brand of car, because it is not so much the physic appearance of the car, but the expectation – the image or idea – of the ‘car’ that immediately comes into the mind of the viewer as soon as Derrick says “Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen”(get the car , harry). The viewer gets that experience then, that ‘action’ is on its way. Allthough Derrick could have said this sentence in a slightly indifferent way, the viewer was satisfied in knowing, that from that moment on, something exciting was going to happen, be it a ride to the crimescene or an interrogation with a wealthy suspect lady in a landhouse. This particular sentence got cultstatus on it self, and is now translated in 235 languages, including tagalog, Arabic (very important!) and Transdnjestrian dialect. In case you might got interested in the Derrick experience yourself, worldwide there are 4.867 Derrick fanclubs, there are special Derrick Days – probably also in your village or town – and there is of course Derrick gear (the raincoat, glasses, Derrick dolls and such). As for Derrick music, you can find compactdisc under the category “best of Derrick songs” at your recordstore

Send Photo to a Friend

Sinterklaas...(nb: not from the "west" but Turkey)

Islamization

An interesting thought at end the day. Rita Verdonk and Geert Wilders who are both dutch right-wing politicians, (i called them the "popes of assimilation" in a former note) are culture-nationalists. They are even proud of that. They are affraid that the typical dutch culture will vanish, or at leat gets infuenced by other cultures, in such way that we lose the dutch identity. Verdonk has in her political program ( no joke) "saving Sinterklaasfeest" Sintreklaasfeest is a typical old dutch celebration, in with Saint Klaas gives presents to good behaving kids and in which bad behaving kids will be put in a sack in order to get "deported" to Spain. Both Wilders and Verdonk fear that the growing influence of the muslim culture in our country will make celebrations as such dissapear. This fenomen they call "islamization"

As i walked trough the shopping mall today, i saw the whole place decorated by christmass ornamnets, christmass music was playing and even the firts christmass presents were shown in the windows. But Sinterklaas presents are nowhere. No Sintreklaas music. It seems the old tradition of the Sinterklaas party made room for Santa Claus, which is traditionally excessively celebrated in the States. Do we have Sint Maarten, this typical dutch celebration? No, Halloween is widely embraced by the kids these days here in Holland. What about the mcdonnaldization of the world, in which standardized fast food huts like McDonnalds etc have blown away those typical dutch heering stands?

So, it seems, the vansihing of dutch culture is permitted, when it is done by the American culture. Americanisation is a good thing, but Islamisation is a "bad" thing. So, who is to decide that one particular culture has a higher moral value than the other? Is it cuz the "islam" culture is "backward" and thus, we meassure cultures on a scale in which US culture is the superior? Why is a mosque "ruining" the typical "dutch" street scenery, wheras a big MC donnalds temple with ugly billboars is accepted? Its not "dutch" either, cuz it origins from the States.

So, using the term "dutch" culture as opposed to Islam culture is a bit puzzling. The culture nationalists better use the word "Western" culture as opposed to Islam. But then they cant win votes because they firts cannot use their slogan "save HOLLAND from the Islam, and second, they will fall in the same mistakes as writers such as Huntington made, namely, trying to catagorize what is supposed to count as "west" and what not. Is Israel "West" for example, wheras their neighboorcountry is "East" or, is Russia "East" or "West"??? Impossible, even the Latin world cannot be seen as "west" wheras at the same time it cannot be seen as a catagory on itself.

In stead of putting the "islam" in a fix box from which we have to be protected, a "bad" box that has to be put on a ship to Spain by Sinetrklaas, we should acknowledge that we have now the time of the posts...cultural globalisation, cross-cultural influencing, multiculturalism. The times of the "nationstate" serve for socio-economical goals, such as welfare and welbeing, but it has no longer a monopoly on imposing one overarching cultural identity. The nationstate is a modernistic instrument, which cannot in its old form survive in A postmodern world. Since in that case, the so called "dutch" culture has not any more rights to claim on the terririum of the Netherlands, than other cultures (like the Jewish culture for example), ehach culture has to have equal chances. Bringing back the Islam to where it came from, discriminating or surressing is no fair play. Islamization is just the way in which a newcomer culture tries to share in a piece of the big pie, and not a threat with terrorism connations as Wilders would like us to belive.

Send Photo to a Friend

coalition for a method

Science-fiction

Science as opposed to science-fiction is a quite a fiction. It’s a linguistic game to cover the unscientific character of “science.” Let me deconstruct this social construction using amongst others History science as example. Since the Enlightment and modernity “science” got strictly divided from other fields by the well known requirements: rationality, objectivity, method, rules. Especially the requirement of pure objectivity gave “science” its connotation of eternal truth. According to the Enlightment paradigm, there was only one possible way to come to objective knowledge: the right method of fact finding. Fact finding was supposed to be a business that was done in a clean environment of the lab without any influence of subjective forces such as politics, religion and societal pressure. So ‘facts’ were there, they existed a priory, and only the objective method was needed for ‘fact’ finding. Once the facts were found, there was no doubt on the scientific truth they incorporated. This reality of the scientific lab however, is quite not so ‘objective’ , prejudice and value free as it is supposed to be.

Let us begin with the ‘method’. Any method necessarily implies ‘selection.’ It is not as if there is only one metod in which ‘facts’ can be discovered. We can use the deductive method, we can use the inductive method, we can use the simple microscope, we can use the magnet-microscope, etc. Eac time, what facts are to be discovered, is a result of the method that is choosed. And this selection implies ‘agreement’ Scientific community agrees on the use of a specific instrument for truth finding, other instruments are discarded. The arguments for discarding a method come from politics, society, religion. As Galileo discovered the imperfection of the moon, and thus indirectly proved the Church dogma of the perfect heavenly elements was wrong, it was Church that questioned the scientific quality of his instrument, the telescope. The found ‘fact’ – the spots at the moon – were denied to be scientific. So, what is called ‘science’ was just a agreement, based on values. But that was before the Enlightment, so it is any different now? The reality is still that the value of methods is not objective. Again and again, the particular choice for a instrument to find facts, is a result of a long struggle between groups, individuals within and outside the scientific community. It’s a process of forming collations. With the best coalition a particular instrument and method will be selected. Ethics come in these debates between coalitions and politics, thus not a clean value free scene of fact finding.

Then, even when ‘facts’ are found, these facts always are ‘interpretations.’ Value free facts don’t exist. The department of History is a good example of how subjective fact finding process is. Firt of all: historians have to rely on facts found in documents, written in times the researcher did not live. The so called facts in the documents are just ‘one side of the same story. ’ An example. Historian A uses a document on an eyewitness report. This eyewitness naturally only states his interpretation of the fact. His personal feeling, embedded in values. So, the historian cannot get clean, value free facts. The next problem is, that the historian himself has post facto to judge about these facts.

Of course, all science implies judgements about the facts, but it is incredible how thin the line is between politics, society and ‘science’ at this point. We can demonstrate that on the famous Sonderweg debate that kept Germany in grip after World War 2. The question here was: was Nazi Germany just a weird exception in the linear German past (Sonderweg) or was it a typical German thing, something that already rooted deep in German Society, a structural phenonmen? Especially victems of the Nazism, Jews, tried to demonstrate that Nazism was not a Sonderweg, filled with hate as they were. They meant to pinpoint the Evil in the heart of German Society, thus implying its German Evil nature. Goldhagen, a jewish historian, represented this view. His apriory value dictated his research method. Eager foe ‘fact’ finding that underlined his hypothesis, he denied all evidence that German society was not deeply anti-semitic since 1871. He searched for facts to make clear ther was a direct line between 1871 and ‘30’s Nazi Germany, no sonderweg. Thus, this makes clear, that the ‘metod’ to select is a matter of value and subjective feelings, e.g. hate. Goldhagen surprisingly got poplular even in Germany, cuz it was the political climate in which Germany was struggling with its guilt feelings. So, the ‘scientific’ truth about Goldhagen facts was mere a result of societal powers, politics and subjective feelings of the scientist in qusyion. As in the eighties, with the arrival of Kohl, a conservative-nationalsitic wind came in the political arena, it was time to search for historians who did some ‘fact’ finding to ‘prove’ that German Nazism was just a Sonderweg. Now, with this new political reality, a more positive view on the past was needed. It was time for self-awareness, finding pride in German history. Thus, the Sonderweg thesis got support, and the ‘scientific’ truth was on gamble once again. Nolte in 1986 didn’t see the structural anti Semitism as the cause for the Holocause, but the traeth of Soviet Bolsjivsm. So, again this interpretation was brought in by values, and subjective feelings, that determined the choice for the research method. So, history as science suddenly became a servant of politics. If a teleological interpretation of the Sonderweg could be proved, then, all pre-1930’s germany and post 1945 germany was saved from the Nazism ‘incident’. Historians on the Sonderweg theses sought the Mittellage as maincause for Nazi Germany, (thus an ‘outside-Germany’ factor) whereas the opponents sought German mentality, leadership, class-society as the cause INSIDE Germany. It doesn’t matter anymore, it is clear that ‘science’ is not objective anymore, it is a political instrument, serving values. Research is nothing more than ‘selecting’ those ‘facts’ that fits best in the value-related these.

.

Facts are not neutral. Fact finding isn’t either. But, what if ‘politics’ and ‘values’ already invade the field of science, even just before any scientist himself has a these in his mind? This is the case when science is done on invitation by government. A sudden political coalition asks ‘science’ to find scientific support for certain political goals. There is nothing wrong with that, because it fits in the rational model of science. Politicians can formulate the research-question in objective terms, and leave it to science. The reality however is, that ministers, councils and other institutions go rather far in the description of the research question. The politicians make sure they clearly give enough direction in the definition of the research question. The definition is not that objective. It leaves the scientist less space for looking at alternatives and other views, when they are performing the research for government. Pressure in deadlines, financial means and such make one-way thinking unavoidable. The tunnelvision results in the required ‘scientific ‘results. The question for example if soft drugs should be legalized is a priopri answered by those who give science the task to find out the ‘facts’. If it is conservative government, the scientific truth will be ‘no’ as an answer. Science and politics, the rational line between those two worlds is fading. Scientific products are ‘border-objects’ on the line between the world of ‘objective, rational, neutral’ factfinding and the world of politics, values and believes. Science is nothing more than a form of ‘believe’ which typicially has gained a special aura in modernity, but in postmodern deconstructive perspective it has no extra value above other values

Send Photo to a Friend

multiculturalism in political culture

The political culture of multiculturalism

As you might have noticed i have a certain interest in politics, especially politiacal culture and the way we have to deal with the actual hot issue of 'multicultural society' Why explicitely talk about politics whereas we are collectively are declaring politics as 'boring'? in my opinion, its especially us , open minded travellers, that should not be indifferent about the political culture. Ignorance is not our additude, because we mind the world around us and we do that in a critical way. Why explicitly talk about multiculturalism at the travelwebsite is not a question hard to answer, because the politics of multiculturalism is about celebrating cultural diversity, and in my opinion, all of us here at VT celebrate diversity. Travelling is after all, all about enjoying this diversity in culture and in my eyes it would be quite hypocrit to enjoy the Otherness abroad while being affraid of the Otherness within society. so, multiculturalism deserves attention within this community. Beyond the multicultual society a discourse goes on, that is highly interesting intersting to follow. its THE hot topic in the media, nationally and internationally. In this blog i d like to share some link that you might find intersting.

1. "Real fiction" this article is about how populism uses language to construct a fiction that is used to problemize the effects of multicultural society. Read: FICTION

2. "freedom of speech versus anti-multiculturailsm" this article reflects on the use of freedom of speech in regard to the multicultural society: should populist politici be silent when they attack ethnic minorities? Read: FREEDOM_OF_SPEECH