Visualizing political opinion in Holland

Today the blog Islam in Europe reports from the dutch preparations for election. Here a visual compass has been created by the newspaper Trouw to assist voters with reading disabilities to find the party close to their hearts. Among the thirty issues raised are expulsion of immigrants and the right to free speech. 

As Islam in Europe notes, the illustrator has decided that no blondes (or read-heads) should be present in the Muslims crowd, while the presumably right-winged group on the left have several blondes. Another interesting feature is the way the speech bubbles seem to communicate the message that the mullah is propagating a positive message about gays, Jews, and western women, while the blond politician is giving a straight forward-speech on Muslim immigrants. For a reader not fluent in dutch, like me, the message then is "should we be allowed to talk (positively) about other groups in the society", rather than the actual "Everyone may say in public what he wants, even if it leads to discrimination".

Another image show immigrants leaving Holland. A man in a wheelchair, a woman in burka and a family. Here the illustrator is able to communicate the message well. Expulsion has grave consequences for the individuals involved, and should not be done lightly, although I'm quite sure the blond politician above would have drawn the image quite differently.