I disagree with this title; I do not think the report smeared the Dutch. All of the reporting regarding sex, drugs and a dramatically fading interest in religion are all true. The only elements that may have been unfair was conjecture regarding a suicide pill (I believe Americans would have no use for such a pill given the easy availiablity of hand guns), and the reports omission of the recently study which concluded that the Dutch use less marijuana than either Americans or Canadians.
Rather than condemn the Netherlands liberal drug and prostitution laws, the report merely contrasted them to the USA's policies, and implied that the USA would not adopt similarly liberal policies in the future due to its higher degree of piousness.
Dude the report completely paints the country as a desperate, lapsed Christian country that is failing because of it. Maybe you are too far into it to know what a "news" report is supposed to sound like.
You know... they have good points, that these things are happening... but FUCK FOX NEWS and Rupert's entire propoganda machine. That news bit was so loaded with editorial commentary adjectives that it was impossible to get what their point was about. When you use words like "happy stoners" and "infanticide" it's impossible to consider a different world view.
No wonder the fox news viewer population is so brainwashed. They don't even try to hide their commentary anymore... it's just blatant and in your face.
Aggressive seculiarity in Europe, yes prolly a bit, but at least we make the difference between religion and politic. It is logical not to acknoledge christian roots of Europe in the European constitution coz this constitution is a political act made for everyone in Europe even jews, muslims or zoroastrian. Faith is personnal stuff.
And helping people suffering from terminal illness to die can be shocking, but it's not something new. It's part of the culture and should not be judge by a journalist from the other side of the world, especially a fox journalist.
I can't wait to move there. Imagine how much easier it would be to enjoy and appreciate life knowing that, as long as one left one's affairs in order, s/he could choose to end it painlessly and guiltlessly at any time.
Individual control belongs in the hands of the individual! :D
I was there a few months ago myself and I met a lot of sexy men. I love an uncircumsised penus and thats what you get in Europe! I got so stoned the whole time I was there, it was wonderful. I can't even remember how many times I got my ass fucked. Viva Europa!
(FOX NEW's AL JAZEERA) not much differance in thoes 2 .both spewing there bull shit in order to sell papers and and try thier best to put fear into people . (n holy fuck its working!!!) sererate church and state no crossing the line . 1. jesus (wasent) a christian. 2. mohammed (was) a brigand. 3. moses was a control( freak). 4. buda (sat) around way to much. there is a differance between religion and spirituality the former keeping the masses in check. the latter is in trying to enlighten one's self. perhaps we should give it a go(the latter that is) instead of blaming the each other. try pinning it on thoes were supposed to trust, who turned out to be the biggest liers of all because there no bigger lie then a half lie, those r the lie's that tear u up. and that is from certain people who give us are new's and most bred politician's . best thing came out of fox network the simpson's, family guy, saturday afternoon yankee's baseball and pehaps a one more im missing. (and fox dident create them thay just broadcast them)
oh and amsterdam holland looks real nice we need to mimic that here.
Fox News is actually pretty accurate with their presentation about the Dutch people's thinking about religion. But what I take exception to is that they seem to present smoking drugs, prostitution, gay marriage, and euthanasia as the 'new way of life' in Holland. This is not the case. The Dutch have certainly become VERY secularized, but I wouldn't say that the people are SCARED of religion, they just feel that it no longer serves them any purpose.
Anyhow, it is interesting to note that the Netherlands has a much lower percentage of their populace smoking marijuana than many other countries.
I am half Dutch and I know for a fact that NONE of my relatives living in Holland are in any way religious. I am, and although they don't believe what I believe, they are very accepting. Also, NONE of them smoke marijuana, and NONE of them partake in prostitution.
'Suicide Pill'??? RIDICULOUS. 'Infanticide'??? I don't even know what to say about that.
HAH! I hope you're being sarcastic, really I do. If any of this report is true, this is a horrible way for a nation to react to religion. Being scared, or isolating people because of their views is just moronic and is more than likely going to be the cause of a future civil or intranational war. Way to go, cousins. I sincerely hope this is fox news butchering the Netherlands for its owner's profit and gain, which is normal.
Anyone who takes this seriously ought to have his/her head examined and the tv taken away forever.
Fox News has been sucking GOP c**k for years now, acting as their media mouthpiece. After some of the GOP Congressional scandals the last several years and the high profile "Christian" right scandals too, the blathering about gays, drugs and the decline of Christianity seems ridiculous.
Oh, and how's O'Reilly's loofa? Did he make obscene phone calls to any other employees lately?
Its about time the world turned more secular. I really liked that Europe is growing more suspicious of religion. Any ridicule they are likely to dish out would pale in comparison to the outright persecution the religious have been responsible for.
I find the term militant secularism laughable though. The religious have had little organized resistance to their influence. Now that average people are saying "wait a minute?" religious leaders are crapping their robes. They're just pissed off because non-religious people are much harder to manipulate. If you want to convince a non-religious person of something you have to make a case, show facts, discuss, or at least construct a decent lie. But with a lot of Religious people you'd tell them god said do something or deliver a message through a "man of god" and the sheep just fall in line. Fox views fall heavy into the last category. Fox isn't so much worried that the Europe is this way though. This is their way of saying "Look at those Godless Europeans, we can't alllow that here!"
Wow! I want to live there! Militant secularization, being able to scoff at stupid Christian lies, sounds great! I have never seen fox make a location look so appealing. Now maybe they should do a piece comparing crime and violence in the U.S. and The Netherlands or ANY other mainly secular society.
i believe in a god. or better yet higher power. and my understanding of this higher power is is very little if its nothing . but i do believe! now i believe that as zealots go from door to door trying to recruit new players for thier teams, it seems to me in thier eagerness to convince us that this or that church is the right or wrong one, thay seem to have missed the point altogeather. god is in all people and all things. and you certainly don't need a church to find a higher power . it's up to us to turn the switch on or not that makes the differance. GEORGE W BUSH is part of his own axis of evil he belives in only serving his masters the oil blood suckers ect... he also believes in the rapture, its a part of the scripture in the bible the second coming of christ the chosen ones will assend to heaven. physically lifted to heaven with the clothes thay happen to be wearing at the time. and this crazy fuck is the leader of my country ! so you can see why i believe in god , cause i need his help in dealing w/ this 24/7/365- 8 years. so as far as religion goes with all those turds playing for one team or another i will sit this out and try a littel spirituality i suggest you do like wise. (just a suggestion)
Please - all of you - go back to your Stalinist websites like DailyKos or MoveOn. I don't see The Netherlands having people slamming the doors of their borders down to get in. Sounds like you all should move there if you hate it here in the USA.
If this is a smear piece, it must be due to the presentation and that last bit about the suicide pill... Most of what the report says seems to be accurate.
In Europe there's nothing wrong with being atheist or agnostic, and read the history books for stuff that we can blame on religion.
I was recently in the US, and was amazed how many churches there are there (not to mention flags ... they're all over the place, are you freakin' nationalists or what?! In case you didn't know it, nationalism in Europe is associated with nazism).
Yes, Europe is a gay friendly and secular continent. Get over it!
"People fill coffee houses, to smoke decriminalized marijuana, and hashish. Prostitutes line the red light district to sell sex. Gay marriage is permitted... EVEN for partnerships of more then two."
Wow.
Not that I have a problem with pot, or whores... but how does the way people choose to marry have ANYthing to do with ANY of that?
And... my favorite part:
"The Netherlands used to be one of the most deeply religious countries, with hardline christian ethics, now its become almost militantly secularized" (paraphrased)
Allow me to quote Abraham Lincoln: "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly."
Spend too much time living as a puritan, and eventually people will realize how stupid it is, change... and remember why it was they changed. Ensuring it never bloody happens again.
Bravo Netherlands. Too me, frankly... while Fox News was trying their damndest to make the Netherlands sound bad, in the end, they came off sounding a hell of a lot better then America, and Fox News came off sounding a hell of a lot like "Triumph of Will".
I have yet to see or hear the first marriage involving more than two Dutch citizen, but hey, maybe Fox knows something I don't. If you really want to know what the Dutch are like, meet them on their websites. Many of them are 'blogging' in English, so that shouldn't be too hard.
Congrats on first canuck. Yuo put the coffee and donut down for long enough (while on the job I might add).
I notice, however, that your first came in conjunction with NO opinion. Feed the argument that you have no original thought of your own, but rather jump on the bandwagon of others.
Fox News was fair, even if you don't agree with it.
It doesn't matter much. The Netherland's choice to be secular has resulted in such a low birth rate that they will be 'going out of business' in the not too distant future. Immigrants have not stopped, therefore their culture will disappear. The muslims will take care of things after that.
I think 'fair' is not the right word here... I think it's prejudiced and exaggeratory. The whole clip implicates that all these things are really really bad and wrong without actually saying it.
the fertility rate of the Dutch is 1.66. The rate at which you just replace yourself is about 2.1, thus you are not replacing yourselves.
The problem with low fertility is that it reduces population size not at all ages but only among the young. Low fertility produces an age structure that creates a momentum for future population decline, a situation that must be stopped at some point if the population is to be demographically sustainable. Also, populations with low fertility can fall in size at an extremely rapid rate.
By the time the Dutch realize this, it will be too late, because you don't turn the fertility ship around very fast. Further, the increasing muslim immigration will increase the rate of dutch emigration, thus exacerbating this problem.
You can act like it's not happening, but that does nothing.
I'm dutch and I have lived in France for 19 years, so usually i'm only surprized about what people think about frenchies.. but going after the Netherlands is a new one!
Fortunately i see that most of you are reasonable enough not to trust everything of what fox news says ^^ because it's bullsh*t for the most part!
Yes lots of things are legal in the Netherlands, and in my opinion it's a good thing.. not sending people in prison for having sex or smoking pot isn't that bad, it allows the state to regulate these activities and makes them safer.
The fertility rate of the Netherlands is around 1.7 so we're not going to die soon, and I don't know any dutch who smokes marijuana... coffeeshops are filled with tourists.
LOL, I was about to say the same. I'm in Amsterdam here, and I really don't know anybody who smokes hashies or does drugs, except for tourists. Well, maybe I do know a couple of youngsters who tried some of those mushrooms and xtasy pills, but other than that, they usually regret using these drugs afterwards, so no big thing there.
feel like most things have been said. except this: WATCH OUT NETHERLANDS! SOUNDS LIKE YOUR NEXT ON THE LIST RIGHT AFTER IRAQ!!!
oh right, one other thing: legalized marihuana (although I'm against it actually) lowers the crime rate AND less people consume it. (fact) legal prostitution prevents rape. (fact) don't have any facts about euthanasia, sorry. and last but not least, if you're free to believe in whatever god and religion you want, you're less likely to end up as a religious fanatic.
So clean up your own mess! don't piss on european countries that weren't stupid enough to follow you to iraq.
Why is that? Explain to me, I'd like to know. Are you jealous or something? Trust me, it's not like we're having sex and drugs all day long, you know. Personally I don't like whores or prostitutes any more than the next healthy man. I mean really, what do you expect? Some kind of HUGE difference between you and a Dutch person? Why? You do remember your heritage, right? If anything, The NL is probably the closest to one of your extended 'independent' states on the globe.
Let's go all the way: Send the commie pinkos back to Russia, the blacks back to Africa, and all the descendants of colonial indentured servants back to the poorhouse. Then this blessed, God-Fearing land of America can be reserved exclusively for really rich guys and their concubines. Unfortunately that doesn't include Rupert Murdoch, an Australian. His great grandfather probably got shipped there for stealing a loaf of bread. God does not bless the spawn of miscreants.
Apparently God does. As much as i dislike the man he has done remarkably well for himself and controls a large part of Americas media - favourable stories to the highest bidder, anyone?
Progressive and relatively calm country. Interestingly, if they were originally Muslim and were leaving in droves this wouldn't be a smear piece but some sort of celebration. A bit hypocritical.
I am Dutch and this report is obviously extremely exaggerated. Separation of church and state is very important. What is absolutely not true is that marriage with more than two people is allowed and the suicide pill.
So why is it, if you have so many freedoms and the people are so tolerable of different ideas in the Netherlands, that you can't be open about your religion and the fact that you go to church. Sounds like they only tolerate people who think just like the majority (which at this time is anti religion)? As long as you go along with the norm you are ok, if not get out.
I'm living in Amsterdam and my parents are both Dutch (they live in France now). My age is 41, yet I have never smoked 1 cigarette in my life, I seldomly drink (alcohol, that is) and I don't like drugs either, but: I detest ALL religions, and I have been atheist all my life, not regretting that one day! Having less people going to church, believing in gods that don't exist, is the best that could ever happen to our planet. Seeing that Fox News slowly realizes that about the Netherlands only makes me proud. The Dutch like a lot of things about the US of A, trust me, but the one thing we look down on is your religious affiliations, and how your government wants to fight one religion with another. Doesn't work like that. Instead, you should listen to Stephen Colbert, John Stewart, Bill Maher, Louis CK, and yes even Michael Moore. These guys know what's up with us over here in The Netherlands ;-)
Oh and what's extra funny is that this is the first news I see about 'suicide pills' and 'Youth in Asia' in a LONG damn time. We have much more important things to 'already be talking about', as this Fox reader states it. Like our future on planet earth, like science, like the fake 'moral fiber' coming from religious folk. Apparently Fox still thinks one needs to 'believe in god(s)' in order to know what's wrong and what's right.
It's especially funny how this is shown through media that would never have come to existence if it would have been up to religious people. Do you think TV would have come about, if we would all still believe in gods like we used to? They're forgetting the science behind almost every technology they're using and depending on, day to day. If you want your mobile phone to work again after its battery died, you're not going to pray for it to magically be full again, you'll put science at work. Bunch of hypocritical a-holes.
Christians are not the end all be all of religions. There are many other religions that are no more or less wrong than christians. The decriminilization of marijuana has many benefits that Americans refuse to recognize, including taxes and revenue made off of its sale. The legalization of prostitution not only protects the prostitutes and johns, but also allows for revenue to be generated by the government for an activity that is going to take place regardless of whether it is legal or not.
Americans need to pull their holier than thou heads out of their asses and stop trying to link things like suicide pills to marijuana and prostitution.
Yeah It's fox news, but didn't sound bad to me at all.
Education, public welfare, and the arts are all held in high regard over there. As a result people generaly develop into more open-minded individuals and are generally happier and smarter. People raised with "strong values" and "Morality" usually end up pretty closed minded, repressed, and dumb. I'd totally live there if they weren't too smart to let me :)
I live in Belgium and have made many visits to the Netherlands (and Amsterdam) in my life. Americans, who claim to hold freedom so dearly, can learn a thing or two about freedom from a country like the Netherlands and many other 'secular' European countries. I have seen numerous Fox News reports on YouTube and I am of the opinion that if Goebbels was still alive, he would be working for Fox News. These people are fascists. Sadly, they don't realize it.
The us has send thousands of young people to kill themselves, and they are bitching about our euthanasia laws. Puhlease. Go shoot yerselves bloody rednecks....
I wouldn't so much as say they've 'sent' them to kill themselves, as much as I'd say they've brainwashed almost every child in their shitty little nation into thinking that dying for their country is an honorable thing. The only thing I see as actually being a potentially negative thing in this report is the shunning or ridiculing of people in the christian, catholic, or protestant religions. However, these religions HAVE been known to do this exact type of action to people they don't agree with, so fuck fox and fuck the us.
I’m Dutch and I find this very frightening. We are being portrayed as a bunch of suicidal anti-christs who do nothing but visit whores, smoke marihuana and take a piss on Jesus.
While Fox gets most of the facts right (Holland is indeed a country with few religious inhabitants, it is indeed possible to purchase soft drugs and yes prostitution is legal), the interpret them in such a negative way that it sounds like we’re next in line to join Bush’s axes of evil.
I know that Fox represents a certain part of the States and that not all Americans are like that. For that, thank [personal god/higher power here]
Furthermore I'd like to add that the suicide pill and the more-than-2-people-getting-married thing is complete utter bullshit, but since this is Fox News I don't think it's such a surprise.
Greetings from a potsmoking, prostitute visiting secularist who will be killing himself any time soon.
How do they dare, Fuck's News, ignorant bastards. The USA, no 1 country in the world if it comes to creation of pornmovies. The number one country in the world of drug abuse. The number one country in the world in violent murders. A country where more religious fundamentalists live then in the entire Middle East. Here in the Netherlands we have no homeless people, but in LA alone there are more homeless then the population of Luxemburg. We do not have whole families waiting in line at community centers for food with the rest of the population having obesity.
Love the US, I can not hate a great country because of Fuck's News ignorant, stupid, condescending way of reporting. Idiots.
my personal views are very libertarian whatever people want to do with their lives should be up to themselves and if your actions effect the life of someone else as long as both party's are consenting I am ok with that. fox seems to believe religion should have a place in government, it doesn't at least in my government the US our constitution deliberately discusses separation of church and state however we have religious right in our country trying to impose their morals and rights onto other people, thats just not right.
You know right after the cameras went off that Fox News reporter went to the red light district and found him self the nastiest three-titted hooker in town and had her fuck him in the ass.
Something to all conservative Americans
Lag Vegas in NOT America and Amsterdam is NOT the Netherlands
When you come and visit the Netherlands then go further then Amsterdam, but a great number of tourist stop at Amsterdam because off the drugs and the prostitution. And im sorry to say that many off them are Americans
Go a few steps further and you wil see another sight off the Netherlands.
You will see that we are also a nation of mutual respect with values and rules which we fulfil and achieve.
You will encounter good hardworking honest people that respect the individual choice of our fellow neighbour despite their religion,race or sexual preference. We call this FREEDOM, what do you call this?
The big difference with conservative Americans and the liberal Dutch are that we look further at an person or society, and dont judge them because of a story, rumour or looks,whatever.
May i say that legal prostitution may decrease rape violations?
When you know how softdrugs work you probably be smart enough to use harddrugs.
And may i ad that that with all the freedom of choices that we have we at least have a law that FORBITS the use and posession of firearms to the civillian population! No innocent victims at our schools.
At last i must say that i love youre country, in theory your country can be an example to the world (regarding unity, something we in europa never will have,how hard we try) if some of youre leading figures closed there mouths and opend there eyes. My personal opinion is that America must go back to their roots, the beginning like your founding fathers had intendid when they signed the declaration of independence.
With all respect, a frustrated dutchman.
I applaud the Netherlands
They allow people to make thier own decisions instead of listening to a bunch of buggering money grubbing clerics
Poor Netherlands no preachers ripping off old ladys social security cks,no snake charming christian kooks, no FLDS raping little girls They should learn how great it is to subjugate your will to the end timers (its comingfor the 63 rd time) like us.
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