Dutch paradise?
Posted By: A.Nonymous on 2009-05-04
In Reply to: it would also be interesting to know - dnh
I have read that those who are really abusing the system are the colonies of Muslims. When there were small numbers of Muslim immigrants at first, the Dutch government (rather chauvinistically) decided to keep them almost as pets. Sort of, 'Your culture is so rich and much more ancient and interesting than ours, so come here and help us be diverse, and we will take care of you.' Now there are huge communities of Muslims who do not work, have not assimilated, live under Sharia law, and are on the Dutch dole, outbreeding and fleecing the infidels. Soon they will be the majority.
A couple of years ago, a friend vacationed in Amsterdam. Before she got there, she had another friend arrange for a native of Amsterdam to show her around. He warned her in no uncertain terms not to stray from the Dutch business, residential and tourist areas because if a woman wandered into the Muslim areas with her 'bare face hanging out' she might simply disappear - it has happened. The Muslim 'ghettos' have their own quaint customs, and Dutch law enforcement is reluctant to intrude.
In this very moralistic, industrious and proper society marijuana is legal and quite public. While the locals seldom use it, tourists may go into special cafes, order and smoke a couple of joints. Horticulture is something the Dutch have done very well for centuries (and not just with tulips) so they have made ganja culture quite a science, breeding for all kinds of properties. Would you like to laugh uncontrollably? Hear colors? See music? You buy the dope that has those qualities. My friend said that the customs search as she left the country, to make sure no one leaves with even a particle of weed, was amazingly thorough. The tourist trade is such a large part of the Dutch economy they do not want to risk annoying other countries by having their dope smuggled out.
Then there are the red light districts where nearly-nude young ladies are displayed dancing in store fronts. You stroll along looking at the merchandise, pick one out and enter the store. The window blind is lowered, you make your transaction and leave. The blind goes back up and she is dancing once more. The sex trade and the availability of legal marijuana combine to make the Netherlands a European 'Disneyland for grownups.'
Before we go all ga-ga over Dutch socialism, which includes the 'free' health care, I think we really need to look at some of the costs (other than monetary.) As the article points out, this is a society very high on conformity, very low on individuality. Those who wish to stand out usually emigrate. One example: You walk down an Amsterdam residential street, as my friend did, and notice there are no curtains in the first-floor windows. Why? Because you need to be totally open to your neighbors' scrutiny. Draping windows would indicate you are doing something you don't wish others to see. It would be rude. On the one hand, all the natives being polite, well spoken, well dressed, well groomed at all times and not overweight seems a good thing. Who wouldn't want to live among such spiffy and attractive people? On the other hand, this is all part of 'just being normal' and is an expected part of good citizenship. If you would rather lounge around your messy living room in your jammies, you may not, because you have no curtains and this behavior would be considered unseemly by your neighbors. In business, you do not wish to excel, merely to fit in and be 'normal.'
Americans are ill-mannered, scruffy, competitive and individualistic. These are exactly the qualities which have made possible the amazing number of inventions and discoveries coming out of this country. It's a package deal, I'm afraid. As a society, if you want to produce Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Katharine Hepburn, George Washington Carver, Eli Whitney, Virginia Apgar, Henry Ford, Toni Morrison, Bill Gates, then you're also going to get the occasional Boss Tweed, Al Capone, Michael Moore, Roseanne Barr, Jimmy Swaggart, Rosie O'Donnell, Perez Hilton (or Paris Hilton, for that matter). In Holland, in most of Europe, you would not see any of these individuals standing out. In America, not being 'normal' is the norm. I don't know that I would wish to trade all the wonderful and weird features of American culture for Dutch normalcy. Not sure I want to swap our unequal social system for cradle-to-grave maintenance, European style, and the death of personal initiative.
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I think an extended stay in paradise...(sm)
is the least we can do after holding them (regardless that they are innocent) for 7 years. What would you want if someone picked you up and held you prisoner for 7 years for no good reason...not to mention any torture they may have endured...
Dutch ovens
Breakfast, dinner and supper, there's nothing better. Check out these websites:
http://www.idos.com/
http://www.arkdos.org/
http://www.lsdos.com/
Don't know of any Dutch oven groups around here....
but I am not from "around here." Which comes out often...I just answer someone and get the "you aren't from around here, are you?" lol. They do like my accent tho.
NYT article about Dutch "socialism". sm
My good friend was born in Holland and says that the depiction of life there in this article is very accurate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em
I have a whole set of cast iron including the dutch oven
As for electric for the fridge, we have a generator we can use if necessary but it gets cold enough here that we can store our food outside. Ah, the good old days. 
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