Duncan Riley> this was originally a post about news from The Netherlands that a blogger for the GeenStijl.nl blog had been attacked in an apparent pay back for one of his posts. Thanks to Shutterclog I am now aware that this was all an apparent hoax. (The original post is reprinted at Shutterclog). I’m not going to waste many more lines on the fools at GeenStijl, but I will say this: a good humoured prank is one thing: this one was just sick. There are parts of the world where bloggers are jailed and physically attacked for their views. I wrongly presumed, following a tip off, that this sickening form of violence and intimidation had spread to the Netherlands, and editorialised in support of their rights to freedom of speech. Well GeenStijl: you can stick your free speech where the sun doesn’t shine. Free speech should be respected, and whilst you apparently are happy to use it to attack your enemies, your prank, and the coverage you received from those who genuinely wanted to defend your right to free speech, shows what gutter dwelling pieces of slime you are. I hope one day somebody doesn’t knock on your door and bashes you senseless. I’m not sure if this story is common in Europe: “The Little Boy who Cried Woof!”.
To Shutterclog: I thank you for letting me know, and yes, I jumped on the story as I had no reason to doubt a sincere email from Richard-William Loerakker of IT Dijkproducties in the Netherlands. Perhaps I am guilty, amongst others, of falling for the same trap big media does with stories like these. But there is one difference here, despite their differences, most bloggers are honest, and thankfully there are relatively few bad apples, and unlike big media, bloggers do not have the capacity to verify in any great depth stories such as these: it is the very nature of blogs that we take a lot of what we report in good faith.
Violence strikes Dutch Blogging Community: free speech at threat Dutch bloggers play sick prank
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