This is normal now? No wonder people like me tend to be considered objectionable, then. That was my first response to this front page news this morning.
What on earth has happened in this country while I was abroad? Is this, as some have suggested to me privately, the result of the succession of right-wing Dutch governments it’s had, with the emphasis on materialistic values instead of on morals and ethics and humanity?
It’s never been my favourite country in the first place.
(That would be the US, which has also changed a great deal, however. That said, I’m so hopeful now that Harris is the Democrats’ candidate, with Tim Walz in the second seat.)
The Netherlands really seems to have lost the plot while I was abroad. Ouch. Ouch, because I used to complain so much about the situation in England. Granted, the location where I was warped my view, but I’m sure that I have said that often enough already. Granted, part of the problem there too was too many years of Tory government.
Explainer: Apparently, it’s become a thing for men to jerk off in Dutch public transport, video themselves while jerking off and then upload it all, so that others can pay to watch these videos. I understand that a similar thing is happening in the US, except that there, men are jerking off in parking garages. It’s all too bizarre for words. I suppose that it’s better than men filming themselves beating women but, jeez Louise, in public transport? Parking garages?
These men are mentally unstable, I’d say, except that they’re doing it for the money they can make on it. They are prostituting themselves. So what is the root cause of this?
When I look at all the protests against tourists in Europe, I am equally puzzled. I used to work in tourism in Amsterdam and it’s nowhere near as busy in Kalverstraat these days than it used to be. I also remember needing to weave through the dense crowds later, whenever I needed something from a shop in that area. Those dense crowds are gone.
(I’ve been told that the tourists are more spread out now, but when I explored that in 2016, I didn’t see it. Granted, it’s busier now in the red light district than it used be. Tourists used to restrict themselves to the west of Rokin and Damrak, mainly, but they are now also wandering around to the east. But also Leidsestraat and Leidseplein seem much less busy than they used to be.)
So what’s changed? Airbnb.
As far as I can tell, Airbnb, which started out with a very different goal than it later acquired, pushed tenants out of their homes everywhere and pushed up rents big time.
The novel habit of stripping a home bare any time anyone moves out isn’t helping either. The tenants – and the planet – pay for it.
Rents have gone through the roof, haven’t they?
I used to know a guy who owns a home in the middle of Amsterdam, who complained about the tourists all the time, spent weekends at the cottage in the country to get away from it all yet rented out a floor on Airbnb.
That.
Consumerism and entitlement. Is that the main problem?
I find this negative, thoughtless side of the relatively massive prosperity in the Netherlands hard to deal with. This apparent obligation to spend as much money as you can to be considered “well-adjusted” makes me scratch my head. What’s happened to the idea of people being allowed to make personal choices?
Have most hotels disappeared from Amsterdam, then? I don’t know. I’ll explore that.
