The Dutch government calls it MiND Nederland. It’s supposed to stop discrimination on the Dutch internet.

According to the government website advising its citizens how to report discriminatory behaviours, the MiND hotline is described thus:

If you find discriminatory statements on the internet, you can report them to the internet discrimination hotline (MiND Nederland). The internet discrimination hotline registers and processes these reports. The hotline evaluates reports of discrimination on the Dutch part of the internet. If MiND believes that a particular statement is unlawful, it issues a request for the removal of that statement. In exceptional cases it contacts the police. You can report internet discrimination by sending an email to MiND. [government.nl]

This feels like thought control to us, but nonetheless, that’s Europe today. So, OK, you see a post on Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, anywhere,  that you feel is a “discriminatory statement”, MiND could remove the post or even call the police. This feels like a police state to us, but nonetheless, that’s Europe today. So, OK, you see a “discriminatory statement” that states that homosexuals should be burned, decapitated and slaughtered and send off an email to MiND. So far, so Soviet, but OK. Whatever. That’s Europe today. MiND replies back and says, “Nee.” You say, “Wat,” to which they amazingly reply again, “Nee.”

According to Dutch media advisors from the anti-discrimination bureau MiND said that, while homophobic abuse was usually a crime, it was justifiable if you were Muslim due to laws on freedom of religious expression.¹

It’s “usually” a crime, but “justifiable” if you’re Muslim? Apparently, in a moment of stunning bureaucratic transparency, MiND unwittingly used the truth to disclose the violent bigotry against homosexuals in the Islamic texts as a defence to its stance.

The remarks must be seen in the context of religious beliefs in Islam, which juridically takes away the insulting character. [MiND]

There is no “discriminatory statement” if you say it’s due to that fact that you believe in Islam? It does seem to be, at the very least, “insulting” to be threatened with beheading, but OK. So a Muslim in Holland can say “Homosexuals should be burned, decapitated and slaughtered,” but a Christian in Holland will be show-trialled if they say, “Fewer Moroccans!”² Well I’m glad we’ve cleared that up. This feels like suicidal societal madness to us. But hey, that’s Europe today.

¹ Express, Nick Gutteridge; ‘Fury as watchdog says it’s OK to send gay people death threats – but only if you’re Muslim‘
² BBC; ‘Geert Wilders brands Dutch hate speech trial “a charade”‘