Just had a company event and out of nowhere they all started talking about ma freeze peach and how China is “literally 1984” and how we can see that our main conflicts nowadays are between “evil autocracy” and “democracy with western values where it could never happen that the press is lying”. I had to bite my tongue so hard the entire time, which I think they noticed. In the end I just said that I don’t want to provoke the inevitable world war 3 even more, which killed the mood hard lol.
It’s so frustrating to be alone in a group of “intellectuals”… Especially if you need to stay civil to not get fired.
You said it Dank, NL is chock full of ‘enlightened libs’. It’s a shame.
I remember when I first moved here so many people I met “knew” that the 9/11 story wasn’t quite right. They all had their own theories of course, but that’s beside the point. For me it was nice to meet so many people talking about unofficial narratives.
From my perspective, after the Ukrainian missile/plane event in 2014 (or was it '15?), people fell way deep into the tribalism and ‘listen to the masters’ mindset. Even more so after the U.S. 2016 election. Dutchies care way too much about the American presidents. Now after Covid and this new Ukrainian event it’s like talking to BBC/CNN personified. The current China rhetoric is already making me nauseous. There is no debate or getting through to people who’ve continued to eat every establishment line, it seems their brains are broken. I don’t know what else to do, so I just avoid talking to people as soon as it starts.
Not to mention our healthcare is getting worse and more expensive, minimum wage with the cost of living makes it almost like the U.S., public transport is some of the most expensive in the EU, and we have the highest amount of wiretaps per capita. Got some room down there in Belgium for NL immigrants? facepalm
The thing with public transport is that there is no public transport lol. It’s all privatized, resulting in unaffordable tickets.
One of the reasons I left is housing really. I wasn’t able to find a place in NL with two years of searching. In Belgium I had a place within two weeks of looking. In the middle of Antwerp, very affordable.
Ten years of neoliberal hell that is Rutte, I have seen the country go down the drain. Healthcare is in crisis, housing is in crisis, transport is in crisis, education is in crisis, everything is in crisis. I don’t understand why people keep voting for the twat. He hasn’t done a single good thing I think.