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Portrait by Gilbert Stuart
Writers in the various "right" spheres these days are particularly, well, irritating. Here is that infamous "Alternative" Right group, which I've written about here and here, with a convoluted (hit?) piece on Wilders. The writer, Hanna Saigo, says about his appearance:
[C]ould trying to cover up his Indo heritage be the motivation for Wilders’s absurd dye job? Wilders's hair has always made me suspicious of him, as there's just something not right about an originally dark-haired (I think) but now graying 50 year-old man wanting to be a blond. Now I think I understand.
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Let's analyze this:
- According to the The Brussels Journal, a Dutch "cultural anthropologist" claims that Wilders's maternal grandmother came from an Indonesian-Jewish family. This means that Wilders's Indonesian (and Jewish, if you want to go that route, and Saigo, ever-so-subtly, does) ancestry is three generations back. Hardly something that defines Wilders's "non-Dutchness." Wilders has said nothing about this distant ancestry. His stand has always been for Holland in particular, and for the West to which he and his fellow-Dutchmen belong.
- I always thought that Wilders was emulating those 18th century powdered wig wearers. George Washington wore one. I think it gives him (and Wilders) a distinguished air. Wilders has said nothing about his appearance. What man (and politician) would?
- Why should Wilders hide, or expose, his Indonesian and, if true, his Jewish background? All that occurred more than three generations ago. They bear no relation, nor importance, to his current life and mission.
- Saigo has no capacity (or desire) to ask innocent and interested questions about Wilders's appearance. She simply jumps into a derogatory conclusion, aiming to tarnish and harm him: "That racist, politician who (look!) has a non-European ancestor. Imagine him refusing entry to immigrants from Indonesia, or any other part of the world for that matter. Isn't that where he's from, anyway? Who does he think he is!" Allow me to put words in Saigo's mouth. But, I'll bet that I am much more accurate about her thoughts than she is about Wilders's.
- Saigo goes on to say that she thinks Wilders's natural hair color is dark. She thinks. She can't even be bothered to find out. All the more reason to conclude that her piece was more vindictive than journalistic (or informative).
- Of course, the real culprits are the Alternative Right editors. If they keep this up, their magazine will be confined to a narrow (and ugly) niche - like Stormfront.
Such is the state of affairs of our modern world. Truth, and the search for truth, doesn't matter. What matters is getting your venomously crafted opinion printed for all to read.
