There is an unprecedented conflict between the most important TV experts in our country: Victor Vlam and Tina Nijkamp. He thinks she’s a politically correct whiner, she can drink his blood. “Silly!”
Chinese skater Ziwen Lian collided with Joep Wennemars during the Olympic skating evening, causing him to miss out on a possible medal. The media reported extensively about it and consistently referred to Ziwen as ‘the Chinese’ or ‘that Chinese’, which is an insult to Tina Nijkamp, who has adopted two Chinese children.
Tina pissed
Tina thinks it’s stereotyping. In particular, she lashed out at Henry Schut of the NOS, Anette Gerritsen of RTL Tonight and Thomas van Groningen of Nieuws van de Dag. “Everyone has a name. Also Chinese skaters. I understand that it is not meant in a bad way, but it does not help,” she wrote on her analysis channel.
“Perhaps formulating something slightly differently next time will help. By mentioning a name first and then the country where he/she comes from, it becomes something individual instead of an entire country. I hesitated for a long time to post this, but as a mother of two kids with East Asian roots, I still wanted to give this as a tip.”
‘Jesus Christ!’
Tina was also allowed to repeat her complaint last night Today Insidebut she found very little support there. She was called in after the broadcast Show news even reviled. “Jesus Christ. Why? Isn’t he a Chinese too?!”, shouts Ronald Molendijk. “You can just say ‘that Chinese’, right? She is now turning it into something negative!”
“We now lump together all kinds of discussions about discrimination with the interpretation of an athlete who makes a mistake. He is from China! You represent your country at the Olympic Games! You all walk in with that flag. When the Games open it is also: ‘Here come the Dutch’ and ‘Here come the Chinese.’ Let’s get this over with!”
Rob sometimes
Rob Goossens, the TV talking doll from RTL Boulevard, does agree with Tina. “Apparently Asians are still some kind of third-class, completely interchangeable citizens in the eyes of even the NOS,” he sneers in the show section.
Both Rob and Tina talk bullsh*tsays TV critic Victor Vlam. “The fact that referring to ‘that Chinese’ would be racist is surely the most stupid riot of this year so far. Nationality is a point of pride. If I were called ‘that Dutchman’ on Chinese television, I would only like it,” he writes. X.
Difficult name
There is no discrimination or racism here at all, according to Victor. “The reason we refer to ‘that Chinese’ is because we don’t know him and he has a difficult name. If it were a Spaniard, Belgian or American, we would have said it that way too.”
He continues: “What people like Tina Nijkamp and Rob Goossens don’t seem to understand at all is that it is wrong to call a Dutch person with Chinese appearance ‘that Chinese’, but it is widely seen as offensive. But here it is really about a Chinese person. Then it is simply accurate.”
Polarizing
Tina is inciting everyone, Victor thinks. “Constantly accusing each other of racism and discrimination is extremely polarizing. Only use this when it is really appropriate.”
Ouch, this doesn’t sit well with Tina. She is completely done with Victor and gushes on Instagram: “Dear Victor Vlam, this was not a riot at all. YOU are now making a riot by wanting to stoke the fire. Just throw out some grotesque statements without context and voila. But I am not participating in this.”
Abacus
Bee News of the Day Tina’s statements were also received with annoyance. “Pff, what are you worried about?” Henk Westbroek, for example, calls at the desk.
Presenter Thomas van Groningen promises to mention the Chinese by name next time. Let’s hope he pronounces it right. Otherwise he will still get an abacus to the head…
