Theo van Gogh is no more

It was a shock to many when the news came through yesterday morning that Theo van Gogh had been murdered.
For years I’ve been familiar with his columns, and I regularly listened to his interviews, because he (in my opinion) could interview like no other.
He dissected his guests mercilessly and was razor-sharp in exposing hypocrisy.
That he presented himself as a great mocker and insulter pur sang did, of course, not escape me either.

Below are a number of characteristic quotes from him, taken from an interview five years ago.
It was published in Trouw (Dutch newspaper) and dealt with God (“the Great Screenwriter”) and the Ten Commandments.

“The Van Gogh family once received 18 million for three hundred paintings and six hundred drawings, which by now are worth five to six billion.
They let themselves be fobbed off with a pittance.
And yet I see that as a justice of the Great Screenwriter, because if you, like me, believe that everyone should have equal opportunities to develop themselves in this life, it would have been very unfair if I had been sent into the world with a billion guilders.”

“I take pride in earning as much money as possible.
If I serve any god at all, his name must be Mammon.”

“Not that I make much of an effort to deny God; if you cling rigidly to the idea that God doesn’t exist, then in fact you also believe in Him.”

“I’d rather be called trash than be idolized for my ‘humane’ interviews. My child, my friends and girlfriends know well enough who I am – that’s the only thing that matters. The rest is nonsense. You’re not going to present yourself to the outside world as someone who also has a ‘soft’ side, are you?”

“In my view, you should above all try not to lie to yourself, but that’s very difficult.
They’re always moral choices you make, of which afterwards you wonder: did I do the right thing? Or: wasn’t it perhaps a bit of vanity that played me false?”

“I should be worried if I were widely accepted. That would mean my opinions aren’t worth all that much.”

“It sometimes bothers people that I’m always cheerful. They’d rather see you staring gloomily out the window, but I have no reason whatsoever for that. I’m happy – always have been – and I grow wiser every day. I’ve come to realize that I’m completely ridiculous. That realization is the highest form of wisdom.”

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