As Dutch broadcaster NTD launched a TV show called “Just Bare”, where five naked adults talk to young children, it caused outrage even among open-minded viewers and led to 100,000 people signing a petition to ban the show.
According to Dutch religious activist Daniël van Deutekom, who initiated the campaign, besides the general public, his petition has also received support from opposition parties on the left and right.
Sputnik: Dutch television has many controversial programmes. Why did you decide to take action against this particular TV show?
Daniël van Deutekom: Well, we’ve seen a long tradition on Dutch television – broadcasting provocative ideas. For instance, you’ve got “Adam and Eve”, which is, if I remember correctly, a dating programme where naked people meet each other on tropical islands, and that’s sort of how they meet. Well, we have weird stuff in the Netherlands. All these things, I believe, are over the top. I do believe that there is space for just common sense and being normal. But we should draw a line here, and I draw a line here because they start approaching kids with these lunatic ideas.
You should not stand naked with your penis piercing in front of kids.
Sputnik: The Dutch public is known for its tolerance towards prostitution and soft drugs, which are both legal in your country, people don’t seem to object to the repurposing of churches all over the country, and yet we see more than 100,000 signatures appear in just 10 days under your petition. Are we witnessing a revolt against immorality here?
Daniël van Deutekom: People have absolutely revolted. I do believe that 70 to 80 percent of Dutch people really don’t believe this is normal. So, it’s really something encouraging. Like people know that somewhere there is a line to be drawn. I do believe that this is the line, and they went too far, and they went too quickly. If they were more tactical it would have taken them more years, but luckily they “showed their hands” too quickly and they showed their true nature. It’s a little bit harsh, but they believe that paedophilia isn’t that bad.
They won't say that, but if you believe that it’s really okay to have random naked people in front of kids, well, sorry man, but you’re just demolishing natural boundaries that kids have, natural boundaries that they need to have in order for them to stay safe from sexual abuse.
Sputnik: On 17 March, there will be a general election in the Netherlands, with voters picking members of the House of Representatives. On your Facebook page there is a photo of you with a candidate from the Forum for Democracy (FvD) – an opposition right-wing conservative party. Were they the only political force that supported your campaign against this TV programme?
Daniël van Deutekom: Well, almost everybody on the conservative side – the conservative left and conservative right (we have some conservative left parties) - almost all of them have condemned it. The mainstream parties are really silent about it. The Labor Party (PvdA) – well, one of them was like “Oh, what’s wrong with this programme?” But from PVV – Party for Freedom, Party for Democracy, Denk – a Muslim party, other Muslim parties (we have a lot of parties in the Netherlands), the Christian Union, the Reformed Party – all these parties came together. They said “this is not normal”. Also, the JA21 party – a conservative one, we have many conservative parties. So, I’m really encouraged that they all came together, but there’s still tone-deafness from the mainstream, which is worrying.