[HOOLS] Het VBL Café # 531 - Nieuwe mascottes in de maak

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 09:00 schreef Bjoro het volgende:
ik heb de hele nacht in bed gelegen

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Hello,



I have read your column about the Dutch. Quite enjoyable, I dare say, even more so because there are some serious errors in there. I'll point them out one at a time.



You wrote: " A Dutch hospital is euthanizing — killing — newborn babies who don't measure up to an arbitrary standard set by the hospital. " I would like to know, one thing. Why would they do so, why would the hospital kill babies 'who do not measure up to a certain standard'? Even though Holland has a lot of atheists, I myself being one, they also value life. They will only do so when the baby will die anyway, I presume. And the parents will still have a say. If the parents wish the child to live, so be it. In truth, I think that, out of the 100 times the question 'euthanize the baby?', is asked, only 4 or so times will there be an answer which states that it should be done.



You wrote: " Once a single category of life is declassified as having no intrinsic value and a right to life, it is a very short step to declassify other categories when they are considered inconvenient, or burdensome. " This is true, I must agree, but in this context, there is no proof it is true about Holland. Yes, we do have the euthanizing of patients who are beyond cure. And even that is bound to strict regulations, although it is possible. In Holland, the government has obviously introduced this, but that government was way different from the ones who are there now. Now, we have a, for our standards, central-right government. (Which is about 'left' in the USA, because I deem them to be the same as the Democrats.) But back then, we had a central government, comparable with no American party, really, save a mixture of Nader and Democrats. Different times, different governments.



Drugs, some drugs, are legal in Holland, yes. But the funny part is, you can legally smoke the 'dope', as you called it, but you cannot legally sell it on the streets. Twisted, one could say, and very strange. I do not get the point, either. But to think that all Dutch, as you imply, perhaps not willingly, smoke dope, is wrong. Although some of the youth may think 'okay, cool, let's smoke some dope', most of the youth do not agree with that, but since only the bad things come out, this might account for a twisted view. Holland has relatively few accidents with drugs addicts, and the percentage of them is very low as well.



You also say that there are prostitutes in Holland, who display their 'wares like mannequins in department store windows.' You refer to the Red Light District in Amsterdam, that, I am sure of. But doesn't every fairly big town have one, even if it is not out in the open? The Parisian 'Bois de Boulogne' as an example. When you know where to look, one 'gets the job done', if you excuse my pun.



It is true, we are having problems with the open border policy, I am the last to deny it. Verily, it has led to an open hate of Muslims, although not as severe as in Nazi Germany, I, for one, feared a Dutch version of the German 'Kristallnacht', the Night of Broken Glass, I believe it is called in English. But has not every nation had such things, segregation if you wish? I do seem to recollect South Africa, and also the USA. It seems as if it is 'our turn' now.



At the same time, radical 'Whites' are also on the move. In the week after the murder on Theo van Gogh, the filmmaker you refer to in your column, there were, if I recall correctly, five attacks on separate mosques, each using the infamous Molotov Cocktail or an incendiary bomb. Those Muslims have not assimilated, yet the 'ordinary' Muslims are the victims, because the most have assimilated, save some accents when they speak. (But then again, ever heard our Prime Minister speak English? You should do so, if you wish to have a laugh, it is abysmal, and that is an understatement.)



Furthermore, we have a mayor discussion about freedom of speech right now. But, as someone described to me the other day, on Dutch internet forums, 'there is only freedom of speech for the right-winged'. (With right-winged being a synonym for anti-Muslim.) In this statement, I can see truth in that statement. I am considered very left wing orientated, and whenever I go into a discussion about Muslims, and I say something, which does not go along with the ordinary crowd, I get flamed all the time. Same story if a known Muslim says something. Is this the road Holland is going to take? Now, there's your freedom of speech; only for a selected few. Doesn't that sound a bit like segregation?



And one last point. I see in your column a tad of the Vatican's reprimand to the hospital in question; they think it is killing. The hospital will argue it is not. But what the truth is? One cannot know. But I do agree that it is a slippery slope, and a need for caution is once again there.



What I find worst in your column, is that you, maybe not willingly, compare us to the Nazi's. This is simply not true. The situation in Nazi Germany was very different from our current society. There are but three similarities, one being the economic state of repression, and the other being the fear of others. The third, I have already described, two paragraphs previous. (The Freedom of speech bit.) But we do not take a turn to the extreme, nor have we had a short term of democracy of about 14 years, make that more like 80 years, if you please. Moreover, we have not had a treaty shoved down our throat, and some land taken away in recent years. And there is no propaganda machine at work here; one is not bombed with propaganda here.



I hope you will produce more of such columns in the future, they keep my spirits up, for they are actually funny to see an outsider's view on Holland. But I do hope you will do some research on Holland first, and then make your column, as they would improve it. These are just my views, the views of one being 15 years of age.



Yours Sincerily,

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 09:00 schreef Bjoro het volgende:
ik heb de hele nacht in bed gelegen

en nog geslapen ook

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 09:26 schreef Dylan Dog het volgende:
Patser. Beetje je Engels showen zeker.

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 09:58 schreef PyTh het volgende:
Goeie Morgen

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 11:15 schreef SCH het volgende:
We hebben gisteravond leuk getekend he

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 11:40 schreef Bjoro het volgende:

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laat het je vanavond weten...kan dat nog

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 10:31 schreef Dylan Dog het volgende:

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Aftellen PyTh, het kan elk moment gebeuren!

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 11:51 schreef Bjoro het volgende:

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ben ik heel erg benieuwd naar en ga ik ook zeker luisteren !!

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 11:55 schreef pascalheister het volgende:
ook bekend in welke studio dit gebeurt Az?

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 12:03 schreef Bjoro het volgende:
...

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 11:55 schreef pascalheister het volgende:
ook bekend in welke studio dit gebeurt Az?

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 12:22 schreef Againzender het volgende:
Gisteren hadden wij iemand aan de telefoon, maar opeens ging aan zijn kant van de lijn het brandalarm af. En dat was duidelijk te horen door de telefoon. Zijn reactie: "Sorry, ik moet ophangen, brandalarm!"
Daarnet hadden we hem weer aan de lijn. Even gevraagd wat er nou aan de hand was.
Blijkt dat ze daar aan het darten waren, en iemand zo motorisch gestoord is daar dat hij met zijn pijl precies de knop van de brandmelder heeft geraakt

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 12:22 schreef Againzender het volgende:
Gisteren hadden wij iemand aan de telefoon, maar opeens ging aan zijn kant van de lijn het brandalarm af. En dat was duidelijk te horen door de telefoon. Zijn reactie: "Sorry, ik moet ophangen, brandalarm!"
Daarnet hadden we hem weer aan de lijn. Even gevraagd wat er nou aan de hand was.
Blijkt dat ze daar aan het darten waren, en iemand zo motorisch gestoord is daar dat hij met zijn pijl precies de knop van de brandmelder heeft geraakt

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 13:10 schreef SCH het volgende:
Ben uitzending doen en daarna op bezoek bij Dries van Agt

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 13:10 schreef SCH het volgende:
Ben uitzending doen en daarna op bezoek bij Dries van Agt

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Op woensdag 5 januari 2005 13:25 schreef Dylan Dog het volgende:

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Hoezo dan ? Mooi man, keertje kletsen met Dries!