My father used to tell a story – a Manx parable. He used to say that if you went to a fishing harbour in England, you’d see creels (fishermen’s baskets) full of crabs. Crabs would be sorted, with crabs of the same size put into each creel. Occasionally, you’d see a small crab laboriously struggle out of its creel, and try its best to get into a creel containing larger crabs. Nothing unusual in that, my father would say. However, he would continue, if you go to the harbour in Douglas, and look at the creels of Manx crabs, you’d notice something different. There would be the creel of little crabs, and yes, there would be a crab trying to pull itself out. The difference was that all the other little crabs would be doing their damndest to pull it back…

 

I am reminded of that story when I look at the Hirsi Ali affair. The nastier side of the Dutch character is currently on display in many people and it is not a pleasant sight. This article by Okke Ornstein – the Stoning of Hirsi Ali  describes the situation well. And Hirsi Ali’s own press release from yesterday is a dignified response to the recent sorry events.

 

It seems to me that some people in Dutch society are confusing the letter of the law with the spirit of the law. They do not have the wisdom of Solomon, and would be all too willing to split a baby in two to follow the letter of the law.

A recurring nightmare of mine is to realise that, bit by bit, the society around me is changing to become something that is dangerous to my very survival. Fortunately for me (at least so far), that scenario is thankfully relegated to my paranoid subconscious. When I wake in the morning, the sunlight can drive it away and I can relax.

 

Unfortunately for many, it can literally be how daily life is to be experienced. Take, for example, Salam Pax’s latest post. I would find it terrifying to live in today’s Iraq.

As a result of the house move and buying some new stuff, we’d accumulated a lot of rubbish that needed to be got rid of. It was time to look at the recycling options. When we were in Gouda, we’d just load the car up with the junk and take it down to the Cyclus plant and offload it for free. Here in the Achterhoek, I discovered that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

 

There is a recycling location, Ter Horst in Varsseveld, but as a privatised concern (no longer under the control of the council), you have to pay to get rid of your rubbish. This has had two effects. One, the good burgers of Varsseveld and the surrounding environs tend to just dump their rubbish anywhere rather than actually taking it to Ter Horst and paying someone to get rid of it. The Dutch have a reputation second only to the Scots for being careful with their money. And two, I noticed that a privatised recycling business which not only charges its customers, but which also makes money through recycling the stuff they bring in is clearly doing well. I note this from the fact that the line of cars owned by the employees and the owner of the concern were, without exception, rather expensive BMWs.

 

Ah well, such is life, I thought as I offloaded the junk and received a chit that I had to take to the cash desk. And it was there that I had the experience for which it was all worthwhile. The cash desk was in the kitchen of the business owner’s house, and it was presided over by Gypsy Rose Lee. She was every inch the part, and guarded by two fearsome dogs of some kind of (very large) bulldog breed. The house was doing its best to masquerade as a gypsy caravan, complete with chandeliers, oil stoves, knicknacks and tapestries. Glorious to see that sub-cultures are alive and well in the Netherlands… 

An interesting, and sobering, story in The Guardian today. It’s about the reaction to the death of an American teenager – Anna Svidersky – that has become an Internet phenomenon. Real life and online life appear to be becoming one and the same for some people. Indeed, as the article points out: for some, their online life seems to be more important.

A sobering article in the Guardian today that contrasts the situation of gays and lesbians living in different parts of the EU. The prejudice and homophobia that exists in some countries such as Poland must make life pretty miserable for gay people. Another reason to be thankful that I live where I do.