Remarkably thick

The whole of the Netherlands seems in an uproar over the Sinterklaas festivities that are to be investigated by a UN delegation. Verene Shepherd, head of this delegation, is however already convinced that it should be banned.

This is remarkably thick for someone in a position such as hers.

Most disconcerting is that we are all paying to have people like her do things like this. And I feel the need to point out that in these times of crisis there is every reason to cut on such irresponsible spending. Sack Verene Shepherd and all who work and think like her, because they only employ themselves with things that are of no consequence, if not harmful.

That the very thing she is so vehemently opposing to has been deemed a cultural heritage in Iran, called Noroez, makes it all the more poignant. But the argument she uses is such utter bull, I really can’t get over it how unbelievably thick she must be to spend time on this, let alone all the money that will be involved.

The crux of the matter would be, in her eyes, that the black man in colorful clothing is in a subservient position to the head guy: the white man on the horse. Simply because of this subservient position, she is convinced it is racist.

Now stop a  minute, if you can, to think about this, and repeat for yourself: because the black guy takes orders from the white guy, this is racism. Get it? It is impossible to deny that this has consequences reaching into every crevice of society. Show me a work place where no one has to take orders from anyone else, and you’ll be left with only a handful worldwide.

It’s not about that, will Verene Shepherd say. Well actually, she’s the one who is making it about that. Most of us are in a subservient position in our daily lives whether we like it or not. It starts as soon as we are born. If we are raised right, we take orders from our parents. Then, when we go to school, we do from our teachers. A white teacher telling a black kid what to do is racist? Can you image what this would mean for teachers? We will end up with only a handful of properly schooled black kids worldwide and effectively regress into black slavery because they will become the (willingly) utterly uneducated masses.

As I said: in most workplaces there is a hierarchy where people lower down the line have to take orders from people higher up. Verene Shepherd must be a hard core communist to want to fight this human practice, and a socially blind one to start her crusade with some local folklore that very few people object to. The ones that do, do so on grounds that have nothing to do with this piece of folklore itself, but everything to do with their personal past.

The Dutch don’t help themselves with their modest behavior.

Other countries, such as Iran, were clever enough to have their similar folklore declared a cultural heritage and have it actually protected by the UN. Similarly other countries have had their languages protected. Not so the Dutch. We didn’t feel the need to have it protected. As we didn’t feel the need to have our folklore scrutinized by the UN. We think it is only our business and nobody will bother us about it. And that’s where we are wrong. In this ever increasingly more culturally mixed society there always will be people – and I’m afraid to admit they are increasing in number rapidly – who don’t want to be part of the culture they have landed themselves in. The start kicking and screaming about how great the culture is from wherever their ancestors came and how bad the one they chose to live in. We Dutch can’t seem to place ourselves in that position because we are so very different. Meet Dutch emigrants in whatever part of the world they have chosen to be in, and they will have embraced the local culture even more than the average local. But that’s us: we love anything foreign. Until it turns against us. Well, can you blame us?

So we do not love Verene Shepherd. And not because she says she is black. Actually we think she isn’t black in the sense Zwarte Piet – to what she is objecting so much – is. We do not Verene Shepherd because she’s thick and because she has this great big monkey on her shoulder. And because she has been able to secure a place in our society where she can forcefully spread her delusional ideas. The Dutch don’t take kindly to people playing boss just because they think they can. We feel very strongly that leadership is to be earned, not to earn because of leadership.

And there the irony is particularly poignant.

Because we feel so strongly that you can’t order people about just because of some position you hold, but because we think you actually are someone to lead us, loving Sinterklaas must mean that he leads by example, not by some racial position, and that Piet takes orders from him because he wants to help.

Verene Shepherd does not want black people to help white people. Verene Shepherd believes in segregation. Verene Shepherd, by her actions, seems very much in favor of racism. Just not the one where black people are colorful and kind to children. And because it would be ultimately racist to limit this only to the color black, a Piet in any other color is out of the question too. So the very Dutch, wishy washy solution which was offered to color Zwarte Piet green, purple of blue is no solution at all. As Verene Shepherd agrees with, because she wants the whole folklore to be abolished. Even before she starts her investigation! Which means that every dime spent of this investigation is money down the drain. We should sue her for fraud. And then have her committed for being so incredibly thick.