Demagogue

From the And Now For Something Completely Different Department: sparrow porn. Or, as I like to call it, just another day in the Netherlands.

First, from the mind of John De Mol, the man who gave the world "Big Brother," came a seemingly less noxious kind of reality TV: a televised attempt to break the world record for domino toppling. But then tragedy struck. A sparrow flew into the exhibition hall where "staff had spent weeks setting up four million dominoes" and set off a chain reaction that knocked over 23,000 of them (dominoes, not staff). Whereupon an exterminator was called upon to shoot the sparrow.

Almost instantaneously, a website (translated URL: www.deadsparrow.nl) was set up to mourn the sparrow and has gotten more than 400,000 hits.

The website features a condolence register. Readers can also post messages and discuss articles about the sparrow, whose plight has made international headlines....

Some contributors showed great empathy for the bird and even wished its 'relatives' the courage to get on with their lives. Others took the time to compose poems in memory of the fallen sparrow.

There are also many posts on the site criticising the fuss about the killing of the little bird.

Animal rights group Dierenbescherming [Animal Protection] is taking the issue very seriously. It launched an investigation into the legality of the shooting and it compelled the provincial government to do the same. The man who fired the shot has received death threats.

A radio DJ offered a reward of more than $3000 for anyone who could knock down more of the dominoes before the record attempt (this led to another tragic death, this time of a mouse). Staff members began receiving threats.

The head of a bird protection agency appealed for calm....

Hans Peeters of the Dutch Bird Protection Agency appeared on Friday's television programme and said that though it was a "very sad incident" it had "been blown out of all proportion".

"I just wish we could channel all this energy that went into one dead sparrow into saving the species," he said.

Organizers of the website take his point:

Fuss over a dead sparrow is of course really over the top. Therefore, it has taken on more of a symbolic character. Thanks to Bin Laden, Volkert [who killed Pim Fortuyn], Mohammed B [who killed Theo van Gogh] & Bush...hope is dead...We hope that the Netherlands will always take death seriously.

Next to this message is a scrolling display of the messages written by visitors, many of which (from my quick, unscientific sampling) ridicule the whole thing.

The TV station that will broadcast "Domino D-Day" (I think they really ought to consider changing the program's title at this point) has also taken notice.

SBS 6 said it would begin its coverage on Friday with a tribute to the dead bird. "We will stand still for a moment in light of the events of the last week," a spokesperson said. "There was no other option than to eliminate the sparrow".

So how does porn come into it? I'm glad you asked. It seems that during the initial frenzy when the site was getting a ton of traffic, someone hacked in put "very explicit porn" on the site. I think it's something about Friesland, the Dutch province that has its own language and (I gather) is viewed as a bit different. The slaughter took place in Leeuwarden, the province's chief city; is it a coincidence that the Ingrid and Durkje scandal originated in Friesland as well? I merely ask the question.