Site Columns
By ChristianMay 12, 2002 - 6:45 PM
Hello World!
How things can change in just one week.
Just a week ago, I wrote here about how I was worried about the popularity of the right-wing populist politician Pim Fortuyn, who was doing so well here in the Netherlands. Two days later, Fortuyn was assassinated, and the entire country went in a state of shock.
Unlike the events of the 11th of September, which I only found out about a few hours after everything had started, here I was watching the news from the very moment it started, and thus experienced the sickening feeling of everything falling apart at a merciless speed. First the news presenter at the end of the news read a notice that said Fortuyn had been stabbed, and more details would follow. Then it became clear he had been shot, and ambulances were trying to get to him. Only a few minutes later he was indeed pronounced dead, and the country changed. First at night there was the silent memorial in Rotterdam, where Fortuyn lived, and the riots in The Hague, where the government is located. And then in the days after that there were the impressive memorial services, but also the threats that were suddenly directed at other party leaders..
Clearly, no matter what people thought of Fortuyn, it's disgusting that he was murdered, and something I never thought would ever happen here in the Netherlands. I'm also really afraid of the consequences of the murder. Of course it was just the work of one madman who reportedly disagreed with Fortuyn's views on the environment, but that hasn't changed a lot of grieving people from blaming the current government for his death. The amount of anger and polarisation present is quite scary, and I hope it will be possible to come to a bit of unity in the country again.
Bizarrely, the elections are still going forward as planned on Wednesday. Opinion polls are no longer being conducted, so no one has any idea what the results will be. All political campaigns have of course also been halted, so there's no telling what the 30% of the people who last week hadn't yet decided will now base their vote on. There's a good chance many of these people may decide to still vote for the party Pim Fortuyn assembled a few months ago, even though it's a bit unclear what their policies actually will be and the party is already showing the first signs of falling apart without its leader.
Whatever happens Wednesday, it's clear the country will never be the same again. I just hope that when the smoke clears up Wednesday and the election results become known the hate and anger that's present everywhere will finally be able to subside a little.
Trek BBS Today
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
-Why don't phasers vaporise people anymore, like they did in the Original Series?
-Whatever happened to unofficial third-party Trek books?
-And in Science Fiction & Fantasy: Is anyone still watching 'Earth: Final Conflict'?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS
Trek Two Years Ago
Below are some of the most important headlines that appeared on TrekToday on Thursday the 12th of May, 2000:
- Four Trek Actor Interviews
No less than four interviews appeared online on this day, with people ranging from LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge) to Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres). At time time, Burton still expressed an interest in directing the tenth Trek film. "Would I be interested in directing a Star Trek: The Next Generation feature or episodes of the new series?" he asked. "Yes. I would be interested in that. Absolutely." - Trek Must Die!
We published the first of what turned out to be a very short-lived series of columns by Joe Beaudoin.
More news from this day can be found in our May 2000 archives.
Poll Results
Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:
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45% - (485
Votes),After this week with two new episodes, it should come as no surprise that the new poll deals with the second episode of the week, 'Desert Crossing':,
Today's Television Listings
- TNN will be showing the Next Generation episodes 'Manhunt' at 2:00 p.m Eastern Time, 'Ménage à Troi' at 3:00 p.m, 'Cost of Living' at 4:00 p.m, 'Interface' at 5:00 p.m, 'Dark Page' at 6:00 p.m, and 'Inheritance' at 7:00 p.m.
- In Canada, Space! will be showing the Enterprise episode 'Fallen Hero' at 8:00 p.m.
- In the United Kingdom, BBC2 will show the Original Series episode 'The Enterprise Incident' at 11:40 GMT with 'And the Children Shall Lead' at 12:10. Sky One will show DS9's 'Ties of Blood and Water' at 14:00, with TNG's 'Devil's Due' at 15:00, 'Clues' at 16:00 and Enterprise's 'Acquisition' at 17:00. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!
Tomorrow's Television Listings
- TNN will be showing TNG's 'Lessons' at 8:00pm EST and PST, and 'Bloodlines' at 11:00pm.
- The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series's 'And The Children Shall Lead' at 6:00pm, followed an hour later by 'Spectre of the Gun.'
- In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series's 'The Man Trap' at 10:00am and at 2:00pm Eastern Time, TNG's 'Gambit, part One' at 3:00pm, DS9's 'Apocalypse Rising' at 4:00pm, and Voyager's 'Dark Frontier, Part One' at 5:00pm and 10:00pm.
- In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing TNG's 'Schisms' at 16:00 GMT, Voyager's 'Good Shepherd' at 17:00, and Enterprise's 'Oasis' at 20:00. The British Sci-Fi Channel, meanwhile, will show 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' at 22:00 GMT. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!
- In the Netherlands, V8 will be showing TNG's 'Redemption, Part Two' at 18:00, while Nederland 2 will be showing Voyager's 'Repentance' at 20:35. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!
- In Australia, TV1 will be showing TNG's 'Transfigurations' at 23:45. Thanks go out to Sci-Fi TV Schedules International!
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