Oh yeah and saw a protest today. I asked a policeman on duty …of which there were many, what it was about… and apparently it was one of these anti-immigration, anti-muslim things, which also involved standing up for the Netherlands Santa Claus tradition where the little helper person is some black dude that gives out coal or something.
All the politically correct people that only just get wind of this…. And this is some tradition that’s been going on for a while by the way, decide that …’this is terrible…despicable ‘ or something.
I don’t get it, I mean, it’s kind of funny THAT people get this angry about something which doesn’t concern them or affect them or ever will do. Same as the South Park and the Muslim groups saying that they couldn’t show the face of Muhammad in season 10 episode 3 …..because they only just started paying attention to it; even though South park already showed it back in Season 5 episode 3 ‘Super Best Friends’.
I think sometimes people just want to make a scene about it. Some people are just bored I guess, they end up trying to justify themselves saying that it hurts the perception of children, or it hurts the image of black people or something.
I really doubt that…. I mean this little black helper fellow is not some absolute dickhead going around giving black people a bad image, he’s just the helper of the Dutch Santa Claus.
True, I think as some people don’t know the Dutch were big traders….and this included ‘trading’ in people….ie. slavers like the French. So it’s likely that this originated from those times.
But there’s plenty of cultures that have traditions that originate from something similar. …which to be fair doesn’t make it right.
However when you look at it, is it really THAT bad? I mean who is this really affecting?
Children don’t think of it as anything bad, the only way that they can think of that, is if someone promotes it over the top that the little black dude is a untrustworthy bastard or some crap.
And the Dutch don’t do that because they are a reasonably integrated society. A society that has comparative religion studies for example kind of showcases at least that the majority of society has informed opinions that allows for tolerance and understanding as well as integration.
Anyway, there’s always going to cultural traditions that people don’t agree with. I mean take a lot of the Muslim world, a lack of rights for women, or various other religions restricting people in allowing them to do things other people take for granted.
There’s going to be some remote culture that does some weird shit, that WE find weird from our perspective, but we shouldn’t be the ones to enforce them NOT to do it, just because we have a problem with it. Then again, there ARE some things, that I DO think we should interfere in which doesn’t directly affect me, but I’m not content to know that it goes on. For instance when the Catholic dick-baggish religion is promoted across Africa which already has their own cultural beliefs and you end up getting shit like people not having sex with condoms …because ‘that’s not what god wanted’ -thanks Catholic dickbags, and people contracting AIDs, and then the cultural belief that if men has sex with a virgin then they will be cured of their AIDs, and therefore the spread is incredibly prolific because of these 2 dumbass ‘cultural’ beliefs. Both which I have to add, have zero degree of proof.
Yeah, that kind of thing would be good to stop to be honest.
…..The Catholic religion…. I think by far my most hated religion and organisation. I’m surprised there’s not more groups out there trying to stamp this religion out. It’s way, way worse than anything the anti-muslim people talk about, it’s the ultimate expression of control over dumb people.
But anyway….the protest was about anti-muslim, anti-immigration….and far right kind of stuff. And to be honest, I don’t think all the police gathered there today were because they were worried the people from the rally were going to do anything stupid, I think they were more worried someone was going to attack it.
That being said, …I walked straight through the rally, .. but I wonder what would have happened if a Arabic looking guy walked through.
The whole anti-immigration thing, closing borders and what not , I think is quite funny, because it always leads to anti-foreigner sentiment. But the simple truth is that the reason why many countries are successful is because of trade and dealing with foreigners. Especially so for a country like the Netherlands…it is after-all a trading country.
That being said, the way that it did trade was the same way that many European countries did trade, which can be seen in its slavers history. It is not …fair trade to be sure, like the British, going to a country, putting a flag in the ground, claiming it as theirs (even though there’s already people native to the land living there) forcing that native population into submission, and then taking as much stuff from the land as possible and using it to better their own country.
It is….what essentially made Britain, the Netherlands, France…and now even the USA so successful. IN one way or another that made ‘unfair trade deals’ … and sometimes just plain old pillaged the land for their own advantage, and then have the audacity to come across as the ‘civilised countries’ that are doing things the right way for trade now.
Bullshit.
Anyway, unfortunately the point is, that without trade, and it’s not just trade of goods, but of knowledge as well….countries would not grow as much as they do. Where would China be if it never opened its doors? I think much in the same position as North Korea… they would definitely still be living way behind the rest of the world. They would have no cell-phones, no internet to monitor, no cars, they would be still living by the lunar calendar, and be a mainly agricultural society… but of course trade has done wonders for China.
When it says it doesn’t need foreigners…..obviously this is bullshit, because it wouldn’t be where it is today, if they really didn’t need foreigners.
The point however, is that trade is never completely fair, and with unfair trade there is always 1 party taking advantage of another group. It is up to the people and the government to limit other countries from taking advantage of them. Just as there are limits to trade in terms of making sure you’re not taken advantage of too much, there are limits to immigration.
People often talk to me about Australia, the fact that it’s such a big country and that could easily take more people, but the simple fact is, that a country only has so many resources. Water…is a resource that is greatly lacking in Australia, and as it’s a key requirement for human life….I think it’s fairly important. The other thing is that the government of a country is made to be able to handle a certain amount of people at a time. Of course it grows, but to maintain the social network and benefits as well as maintain the countries values etc., it can only accept so many new people each year.
It’s understandable then, that even though some people are in a bad situation, and wish to move to other countries that there has to be a limit. Without simplifying it too much, the group that was protesting today…just believe that this limit is being constantly broken.
It’s not an easy issue, and I doubt there’s so many proper racist people in those kind of groups, the only time I’ve seen true racism in my life was once in Australia, once from a couple of American (white) guys in China, and then on tv in America.
I’m talking about proper racism, not just ignorance….because otherwise the whole of china would count as racist. But I mean not Beijing ignorant about another race or culture and still hating them…. That’s just shit.
I’ve met quite a few British people as well that are incredibly steered by their preconceived ideas, and they also had the audacity to say that other people were racist, just like many Americans I guess.
Anyway, what was my point?
Trade is essential to develop, provided you actually want to make things better.
Trade brings immigration.
A country only has so many resources
The majority of trade is unfair in some way
Countries must limit how much they’re taken advantage of
To do this they must put limits on trade, immigration as they only have so many resources, and the more they give away the less they’ll be able to control their country.
People that protest this kind of thing are either Racists (hopefully not likely ) or….much more likely believe that their country’s government has reached the limit of what is acceptable and believe that any more will be a detriment to those already living in that country.
I think that’s it. It’s a fair point, it’s just an argument of what IS enough, and what is not.
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