The thread where you couldn't be bothered posting the article

[Scot Dutchy]

Well it is not here. If you give a party you give it but parties are not common here.

Gwarsh !! I wonder why??

I should mention, that the many Dutch I knew at university in Brisbane (there's a hell of a lot of Dutch doing postgraduate study here in Oz) had no problem socialising at Australian BBQs, and in fact were some of the more sociable people I have come across. I think this might be a Scott-centric problem...

No. Dutch are always very adaptable. They are a nation of merchants and explorers but at home quite conservative with a small c. I had no trouble socialising but they way things were done were very alien to me. Like drinking beer out of cans in little funny holders. Just no style but that you could say about most things there.
A Dutchman's home is a private place and being invited in is quite a privilege. A Dutchman will never say "you must come round one evening" and he would probably say "we must meet for a drink". That is in the circles I have moved in which were and are normally educated people.
Ex-pats often have problems with social customs here. The Dutch love diaries and like to have everything planned. We have so many people in a small space planning and organisation is very important.

[pErvinalia]

And you've got a lot of dykes there. Lesbians aren't as common here...

[Scot Dutchy]

And you've got a lot of dykes there. Lesbians aren't as common here...

That old chestnut. We have quite a lot of gays here. Gay marriages have been here a long time. In my apartment block of 24, which I am chairman of the owners association, we have 4 gay couples. Three male and a female couple. One male couple have been together since the 50's in Britain. They can tell a few hairy stories of the early days.

[Brian Peacock]

I've been to the Netherlands several times. I've found it to be an amazingly vibrant and open culture. First time I went we got totally lost looking for the camp site and as light was fading we couldn't find anyone to ask directions on the deserted semi-rural roads. In the end we came across a guy in his 60s who walked about 3 miles out of his way to make sure we found the site. Lovely chap. I've loved the Dutch ever since. Yeah, so they give you sugar sandwiches for breakfast, but then again some people here like black pudding and kidneys for breakfast. Different strokes for different folks.

[Scot Dutchy]

I am glad to hear it.

The sugar sandwiches are something from the war time. The first Canadian food that was dropped was white bread and sugar. It is has remained in the psyche.

[JimC]

It sounds a bit like our "fairy bread", popular at kid's parties years ago, which was fingers of white bread, crusts cut off, buttered and then sprinkled with "hundreds and thousands", which is actually tiny coloured balls of sugar...

[pErvinalia]

"According to research commissioned by the army, anti-Muslim sentiment is “strong”, with 80% of ADF personnel believing Islam promotes violence. And that climbs to 91% if they've had cultural sensitivity training." Someone needs to rework the "cultural sensitivity" curriculum..

[JimC]

At the risk of being called islamophobic, perhaps the "cultural sensitivity training" involved reading the Koran and seeing some videos showing how sharia law is applied. All straight-forward factual stuff...

[pErvinalia]

But that's not what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be teaching people to be more accepting of diversity and differences.

[JimC]

Imagines officer saying something like this:

"OK, you blokes, we have to learn to be nicer to the camel fuckers. The sooner you read all this guff, the sooner you can head off to the pub"

[pErvinalia]

To be honest, that's probably exactly what it is.

Unless of course that parasite - the HR industry - has made its way into the armed forces. In which case it will be like the regular workforce where they get great sums of money to implement all this crap, while both management and most of the workers give next to no shit about it.

[Svartalf]

But that's not what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be teaching people to be more accepting of diversity and differences.

some differences just are not acceptable, especially when the different ones try to impose their customs on you folk
k

[pErvinalia]

Australia's live cattle trade is in the shit again. New footage from a Vietnamese abattoir where they kill the cows with a sledgehammer to the head. In the footage it took nearly ten hits to kill the cow. What the fuck is wrong with some people?!

[pErvinalia]

#trybeatingmelightly. Fucking Islamic fuckwits.

[Seth]

Australia's live cattle trade is in the shit again. New footage from a Vietnamese abattoir where they kill the cows with a sledgehammer to the head. In the footage it took nearly ten hits to kill the cow. What the fuck is wrong with some people?!

Nothing. It's a cow. Cows are stupid beyond belief and are made by man for man...to eat...and just because one guy was bad with the hammer on one occasion doesn't mean the practice isn't both rational and "humane" by and large. Besides, it's Vietnam, a fucking Communist country that should be hitting it's leaders in the head with a sledgehammer instead, but doesn't, so who cares? Not me.

You give a fuck about how cows are killed but you don't give a fuck about how living human babies are dismembered alive during abortions?

There's some serious cognitive dissonance evident here.