EWD621, by E.W Dijkstra [1]
I must make you aware and part of an observation that is scary to the brink of death. Recently I cited, from the rightmost column of the front page of the Saturday addition of the 23rd of April 1977 of the NRC [2], after I had asked who they thought was cited, the following sentence within family circle:
"I'm more interested in the upholding of moral behavior of high standards, than I am in politics."
Without hesitation, my wife and mother, the latter whom was lodging with us that weekend, said "Van Agt, of course!" [3]
And that was just the observation that scared me to the brink of death. Because it wasn't our minister of justice in demission, cited here! Neither was it the highest vote puller on the list of the Christian Democratic Appel's [4] cited here! It was the translation of an answer that had been given by a professional censor from Brazil, a country, noted not particularly high for its integrity of lawful commitment, nor for its level of democracy.
Truthfully, I could have cited the preceding sentence of the censor:
"But, in fact, I'm doing this from personal conviction, to keep high moral values high.",
which has an Agtian appeal on the conscience of the dignitary.
A knowledgeability with a more spicy flavor about this censor by profession, whose nauseating function agreed with not only the conviction, but the willingness to engage in the interview, was his requirement that his name in no way was to be mentioned. That utterances of a representative of such an abject regime about how he experiences the fulfillment of his duty are found to be "zum Verwechslen ähnlich" [5] with our "dolle Dries" [6], is, seen in the light of the man's position, well, fearsome.
Ever when I hear Dries, I must think about my father's comment about Hitler: "If someone wants something per se, he can reach it. Though, he then must hesitate for nothing". And then I fear that too many people forget never to give power to people obsessed with what is decency: because it's the obsession from which the people that are obsessed with decency borrow, not only the right, but even the conscientious duty to "hesitate for nothing". After that, you can't hold them back any more.
I fear that too many people will be sidetracked, by such abundant display and forcefully maintained veil of honorability. I fear that too many people won't be able to remember that in uniform, loafed with crosses and oak, all Nazi-bosses looked highly respectable. I fear that too many people are not aware that the inquisitors of the dark ages were proper gentlemen, looking rather handsome in cardinal red. Ever when I see crazy Dries doing his thing, or his sidekick, colleague Steenkamp, also known as red Pete, I'm trying to comfort myself with the thought that history is not obliged to repeat itself, but rarely this removes my restlessness that this time the master's cloak has been employed [8]. You will not often hear me say something positive about the PvA [9], but Vondeling's [10] reserve to take van Agt's oath for congress depicts him favorably.
Should the decency rascal contrary what's hopefully expected, come to power, let me leave you one comforting thought: during that Occupation [11], golden times will come again to political cabaret, if needed underground.
(End of speech)
[1] I obviously tried to translate the literal meaning of Dijkstra's EWD621 from Dutch into English. But at the same time I tried to do justice to Dijkstra's well known employment of carefully selected words, loaded with subliminal meaning. The translation is probably very bad by all known standards. Firstly, I only learned English as a programmer and at a quite late age, so I'm not a professional translator by any means, I write code, just like you, just with less impact. Secondly, it's hard to convey the correct translation of the subliminal meaning of words. It adds another dimension to translating Dutch into English. Anyway, I felt compelled to translate this 1977 speech because of the many parallels with the spirits and emotions of this time, 2017, 40 years later, and now expressed much more globally than then. The text may not be about programming or mathematics, but it can't hurt to imagine Dijkstra looking over your shoulder. Not many people know that he was rather politically inclined, and I think he would agree with most of the positions you take on twitter.
[2] NRC, i.e. the "NRC Handelsblad", is a Dutch daily newspaper established in 1970 and well known in the Netherlands for its global political viewpoints and opinion pieces, mostly depicted slightly to the right of the middle of the Dutch liberal political spectrum.
[3] Dries van Agt, 1977-2011, a Dutch parliamentarian, minister and later prime-minister for the CDA, see below.
[4] CDA, or Christian Democratic Appel, i.e. the biggest Dutch christian party, constituted one-half of the Dutch parliament when it was founded in 1955, 10 years after the 2nd world war ended for the Netherlands. Currently it's making up about one-eighth of parliament, depicting a slow but consistently decreasing mandate. And by the way, please note that the German border is 75 miles away from the center of the Netherlands.
[5] "Zum Verwechslen ähnlich", German in the original, translates in this context to "easily attributed".
[6] "Dolle", a Dutch name attribution in the original, translates in this context to "crazy" Dries, short for crazy Dries van Agt, see 3.
[7] Piet Steenkamp, 1925-2016, Dutch parliamentarian and considered to be the "spiritual founder" of the CDA, see 4.
[8] Employing the master's cloak: asserting decency from authority.
[9] Partij van de Arbeid, or PvdA is the biggest Dutch Labour Party. It constituted between one-third and one-quarter of the Dutch parliament during subsequent years since it was founded in 1945.
[10] Dr. A. (Anne) Vondeling, president of the Dutch parliament, 1972-1979.
[11] Capitalization of "Occupation" as in the original.