Holland: Nation of Losers

I've lived here in the Netherlands over 20 years. I've stayed not because I liked it, but because early on I produced two wonderful sons who I felt (and still feel) obliged to grace with my "Daddy duty". While I have no regrets on that point, I've suffered many indignities at the hands of the local population. They advertise themselves as free-thinking and tolerant, but nothing could be further from the truth. Their version of free-thinking means spitting in the face of common sense, and the local definition of tolerance would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world. Some examples:

- Zwarte Piet, or "Black Pete". He's Dutch Santa's bumbling, ne'er-do-well slave. He's black with big red lips and an Afro. Here's a picture of him:



Nice, eh? The locals love him dearly, and don't see anything offensive about ol' Pete. I theorize it's this same mindset that allowed the Dutch to lead the world at slave-trading for centuries. They're unapologetic sociopaths.

More examples of local NL tolerance and free-thinking:

- Recent local elections where party platforms included lowering the age of sexual consent to 12 years of age(!) and decriminalizing sex with animals. No fooling.

- Euthanasia. The Dutch see themselves as world-leaders on this front, although the UN has criticized them numerous times for their vague rules concerning this. Some of the complaints: Doctors informally give life-ending drugs to patients who come to them with complaints as petty as being "tired of living". Jeezus H. Christ! Who amongst us hasn't had a bad week or month where living wasn't a whole lot of fun? And given the convenient opportunity to stroll down to your MD and easily end your life? Bad idea. Also: it turns out that euthanasia isn't always dispensed at the patient's or his family's request. Apparently doctors here occasionally decide that the guy in room 27 doesn't have much to live for, so we'll just surreptitiously slip him a little something to ease his passing. The family doesn't really need to play a part in the decision...

- Liberal drug policy. As nice as potheads the world over might think a drug abuser's paradise like Holland would be, it's created several 'lost generations' here: folks who spend the entire day in the coffee shop, doing nothing but getting and staying high. And don't believe those who say dope doesn't lead to harder drugs. A high percentage of locals walk around with that "meth face" look.

- Back in the 60's, liberal politics began to rule Holland; right when the North Sea oil and gas fields were being discovered. All of a sudden the government coffers overran with money from these mineral royalties. The Dutch Parliament was rife with rhetoric amounting to "work = slavery", so an extensive welfare state was formed, with overly generous provisions for almost everyone. Of course, once the cork is out of that particular bottle, it ain't going back in. A significant portion of the potential work force here has decided to call in sick and stay home forever on the public's dime. Obviously this can't be sustained forever, and NL finds itself in a huge budget crisis. Of course cutting back the existing social programs (which amount to nothing more than 'redistribution of wealth') is unthinkable.

Of course, every country has its problems and a segment of unreasonable people, but Holland takes the cake as far as folks who are simply unwilling to recognize what's right and what's not.