Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch

Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch

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<div><div><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>It's all in your mind</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>The spirit of tolerance does constant battle with the ghost of Calvin for control of the Dutch psyche. Few Dutch people go to church anymore, but they don't need to. Inside every Hollander's head is a little pulpit containing a preacher with a wagging finger.</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I></I> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>Going Dutch</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>This is the nation that once sold scrapers for getting the last remnants of the film of buttermilk from the inside of the bottle. The Dutch "think with their pockets." Parsimony is not an embarrassment, but a virtue.</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I></I> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>Culture vultures</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>The Dutch are cultural magpies. They keep a beady eye on other people's cultural trends, and are swift to snap up sparkling new fashions. This means that rather than producing an indigenous culture, they have become voracious consumers of everybody else's—true Europeans, whose cultural fads and fancies know no borders. The Netherlands acts as a giant cultural sponge.</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I></I> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>Double Dutch</I></P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I>For the Dutch, the other side of the question is as important as the question itself. Dialogue is the lubricant of tolerance, and the essential ingredient of dialogue is "Yes, but . . ."</I></P></div></div>