wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk"
> <shempmcgurk@> wrote:
> >
> > A clear example of heartless, cowardly, intolerant liberals.
>
> I might agree with you if I hadn't spent some time
> in the Netherlands. I am not convinced that the
> Dutch *are* liberal. I found them to be (speaking
> of necessity in generalities based on what the
> population as a whole seems to do, not what a few
> individuals do) among the most conservative people
> I've ever encountered on the planet.
>
> It's a surface liberality, a thin veneer for a very
> reactive, conservative mindset. Even in Amsterdam,
> you get the feeling that the city is very permissive,
> but IMO that's just because the boundaries of per-
> missiveness are so broad. However, step one meter
> beyond those boundaries and the wrath of god descends
> upon you, wielded with a brand of sanctimonious
> outrage that would have made Calvin feel quite
> at home.
>
> The Dutch are a strange lot IMO. You'd like their
> attachment to capitalism. One of the keys to under-
> standing the Dutch, IMO, is remembering that they
> were a company before they were a country. The
> Dutch like to make money. And they tend to allow
> things that allow them to make money, like prosti-
> tution and quasi-legal cannibis. But they come down
> hard on anything that threatens the flow of tourism,
> and thus the flow of cash.
>
> In this case, I wouldn't be surprised that if you
> dug into it you'd find that the authorities wanted
> to clamp down on anyone who insisted on making the
> problems in the Islamic communities of the Nether-
> lands *public*. The immediate response is to do what
> is necessary to keep the problem out of the news,
> not to attempt to solve the problem.
>
> Just a guess. I wasn't there when this incident took
> place, but I have been there when similar events
> went down, and I was rather shocked at the arch-
> conservative manner in which they were handled.
>
Interesting insight.
I tend to have a prejudice about Europeans that goes back to the
late '60s in France when all those students rioted and nearly
overtook the country. And, of course, my only personal experience
with Europe is (twice) flying in Zurich, getting onto a bus and
going into the Alps for TTC and 6-month course: airport, drive in
country-side, TM indoctrination. Yup, that's my European adventure.
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