Considering moving to the Netherlands? I’m not saying you shouldn’t, it’s entirely up to you. We’ve got clean-ish drinking water, good roads and plenty of food. Chances are, that you want to move because you want to escape something shitty about your own culture. So you start searching online. Or maybe you ask around, perhaps others you know have made the move and tell you it’s worth it.
Here’s the thing, though: every culture has its snakes. If you haven’t figured out to handle the snakes in your own country, how to contain them, keep them out or render them harmless, and instead decide to make a run for it, what makes you think you can do it in another country? That’s assuming you even know, consciously, what the snakes from your home country are. If you’re lucky, they’re actual, real damn snakes. Or alligators. Or scorpions. In this country, it’s the culture itself.
How many sayings do you know with the word “Dutch” in them?
- Talk like a Dutch uncle
- A Dutch oven
- Going Dutch
- Double Dutch
- Dutch courage
- Dutch auction
That should tell you enough about Dutch culture.
Here’s a rule all kids are taught in school: If another kid wants the toy you’re playing with, you have to give it to them. If you don’t want to, and the kid throws a tantrum, the teacher will step in to enforce the rule with a stern “You should share!”
The rest of the world calls it extortion. (I hope.)
How do you get children to share? You don’t. You lead by example, and then leave them to their own devices. Sharing is voluntary. Anything other than voluntary is oppression.
Look, I know, the toys belong to the school anyway, so who decides who gets to play with a toy? The teacher, I guess. But, wait, then it’s all about playing to the teachers emotions, isn’t it? Well, yes, and the kid who throws the tantrum was surely one of the first to figure that out, even before any of the adults did.
If you ever see this Dutch guy online, whose whole shtick is throwing a tantrum at rich people along the lines of: “Give me half your money, give me your money, you won’t even miss it, give me half your money, you’ve got plenty, give me your money, you’ve got enough toys, give me your money or I’ll slander you some more”, rest assured that he’s an accurate representative of the sick underbelly of Dutch culture.
This particular snake can only be handled by recognizing it for the three year old toddler that it is and not giving in. And silently bearing the false accusation that you are refusing to “share”, according to a sick backward dictionary, and are, by extension, therefore selfish and immoral.
Welcome to the Netherlands.