Fox News Trashes The Netherlands

I was reading An American in Amsterdam this morning and saw a video posted that left me slackjawed.

Fox News completely trashes the Netherlands, I was shocked.   Many of the things they mention in the report are things I love about this country and I found myself rolling my eyes and ‘pfft’-ing to my husband at the way the report was presented.

Here, have a look:

 

It’s so irritating the way they generalize and almost sneer at the beliefs and lifestyles of the Dutch… but it’s just so damn American, isn’t it? (I know I’m not going to make any friends with that statement, but whatever)

It sickens me how Americans automatically consider any culture that differs from their own as being wrong.   I know I’m generalizing as well but when a media giant like Fox News does a report like this and are allowed to openly trash the lifestyles of others, it gives the impression that such a thing is acceptable in America. 

As I said earlier, the things they mentioned in the report are the things I love about this country.

Legal Weed seems like an atrocity to most Americans.  In a country where getting caught with marijuana means a hefty fine or prison sentence and you have to be 21 to have a beer, it’s understandable.   What they aren’t getting is that by taking away the forbidden nature, you also take away the secrecy and irresponsibility with drugs and alcohol that is running rampant in the United States.

Have a look at this site and then tell me how anyone in the United States has a right to comment on the drug policies in the Netherlands.

Legal Prostitution is again something that Americans can’t fathom.   How can you legalize something so horrible as a woman selling her body.   This really makes me laugh.   It’s a typical response of a country that would rather ignore a problem than actually deal with it.  

Forced prostitution happens everywhere.   Women and young girls are taken from their home countries and forced to have sex for money that they never even see.  This IS horrible and it happens everywhere… this is not the kind of prostitution that can be controlled anywhere, and that’s not what is being aided by the toleration of prostitution in the Netherlands.

There is another side to the prostitution story.   The women who do it by choice.  For whatever reason… they do it knowingly and of their own free will.  

How are these women dealt with in the United States?  They walk the streets, they are bullied and beaten by pimps before being bullied and beaten by their customers.   If they are caught they run the risk of going to prison.

Here in the Netherlands, these women are independent and prostitution is their business.   They pay taxes like anyone else, they can get medical insurance, have regular medical checkups and whatever supplies (condoms, lubricant, toys, clothing etc) they use for their profession is tax deductible.  They work for themselves in a safer and more controlled environment.

How is this wrong?   Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world… women always have and always will sell their bodies for money.  There is nothing any of us can do about it, so why not make it as safe for them as possible?

Yeah… you’re right America, that IS a stupid idea.  Lets just ignore them,  arrest them when we manage to catch them and let them die in our streets.  That’s a much better idea!

Oh and lets have a look at this site where the United States is listed under crime statistics for rapes (per capita) by country as #9 and the Netherlands is listed as #22.  

So not only is the United States a scarier place to live for prostitutes than the Netherlands, but for the average woman as well.

Euthanasia seems to be another hot topic in the news report.  They make it out as though people can go through a drive-thru like at McDonalds and order a side of death with their McChicken meal.   How absurd.

Here in the Netherlands people can be euthanized, and yes that does include children, but there are very strict regulations about it.   You can read the full legislation here but here are the requirements:

Due care requirements

The due care criteria which must be met in order to obtain exemption from criminal liability require that the attending physician:

• be satisfied that the patient has made a voluntary and well considered request
• be satisfied that the patient’s suffering is unbearable, and that there is no prospect of improvement
• has informed the patient about his or her situation and prospects
• has come to the conclusion, together with the patient, that there is no reasonable alternative in the light of the patient’s situation
• has consulted at least one other physician, who must have seen the patient and given a written opinion on the due care criteria referred to above, and
• has terminated the patient’s life or provided assistance with suicide with due medical care and attention.

Again, HOW IS THIS WRONG?!  If someone is suffering unbearably and will do so until they die, which is absolutely certain to happen, why not relieve them from their suffering?   Isn’t that the most humane thing to do?  Especially if it’s what THEY want?   Doesn’t a person have a right to decide when they are ready to die or when they’ve endured enough pain and want it to end?  

If you were told you were going to die a month from now and until then you’d be in incredible amounts of pain, wouldn’t you wish there was someone there who could save you from that?

I guess Americans do have the right idea though.  It’s better to pump them full of morphine until the screaming stops so everyone around them feels better.

Gay Marriages are legal here, sure.  I’m not sure where they are getting the bit about it polygamy being legal here.  I think they made that up because the gay marriage stabs didn’t carry enough weight on their own.

Yeah so gay people can get married here and EVEN have children!  What a ridiculous idea, to let people who love each other vow to spend their lives together.    Oh and to let them have children!  Stop the world, I want to get off!   You know all those gay people are going to do is turn their children into little gay people too!  /sarcasm

Has anyone looked at the divorce rate among heterosexual couples in the United States lately, OR the statistics for children who are in therapy because their messed up parents use them as emotional missiles to shoot back and forth between each other?  

Like heterosexual Americans have any right to preach about the institution of marriage or what is healthy for children nowadays.  Give me a break.

I think it’s fairly obvious now what I think of this news broadcast… also how enamored I’ve become with the Dutch and their ability to deal with the tough issues. 

What I cannot fathom is how a country that sends so many young men and women to Iraq to die for the greed of others has a right to say anything about what the Dutch are doing to make life better for their people.