New Souvenirs To Pick Up

A friend sent me this from Am'dam with the following note;

"Behold Dutch legislative ignorance. An Amsterdam sub-council decided pot-smoking youngsters are a pain in the ass in a certain city area, and placed this sign. The text underneath it reads:

blowing prohibited
due to troubles in the area
50 euro fine, art 2.8 sub 2 blah
​

(My "civil servant English" is really shit, but the above attempt should draw you the picture.) Of course, there's a whole story behind it. But the ignorant part is where the sign, within 24 hours of it being put up, got nicked.

Gimme a D,
gimme a U,
gimme an H.

Name one smoker you know who wouldn't want a trophy like this on his or her wall...

By the way: tourists coming to A'dam for reasons of mind expansion shouldn't worry. Coffeeshops are still open, and for now a prohibition like this only goes for a very small part of the city, far away from the centre."

I'm not sure it makes any difference to be honest, smoking in the streets has been frowned on for a while, I can't see how signs that don't last 24 hours will change anything.

 

Yeah, I ordered one for my livingroom wall.

I think they are only targeted at the underage troublemaker area's.

 

try immigrant areas..........

this is nothing more than dutch oppression,
an illustration of the Dutch's striving need for a tolerant citystate FOR DUTCH PEOPLE. U think that a culture that seemed to "learn" by being oppressed would have seen tolerance as a universal ideal rather than a selfish desire to preserve it for thereselves alone.

 

The picture decided not to load for some reason.
(pasted the URL and then saw it)
What a laugh, I love the graphics and the shape of the cone, lol
No doubt these signs are going to crop up diligently all over the place.

 

That's where the trouble is. Really not any different then our "No Loitering" signs. No big deal if you ask me.

 

I'm being "Idealistic" about the situation. In that scope it is a big deal because the underlying theme is "tolerance for us, SCREW everybody else". It may not be a big deal to tourists in general, especially considering the dutch have always had this mentality. But in terms of ideals, it is a terrible mindset that will bite other groups on the ass in unexpected ways at unexpected times!

 

Stop doing that.

 

Sir Yes Sir

 

Come On SinPusher?!!! Are you out of weed again?

There is a helluva lot to be said for idealism. If the Dutch ain't perfected it, I don't know who has. Koopa is dead on with his statements, imnsho of course.

"You do know the Dutch started the Slave Trade, Right?!!"

 

You can now also BUY the sign.
It costs 90 euro, and the yield goes to charity

dutch link below:
http://www.nieuwnieuws.nl/archives/2006/02/te_koop_blowverbodsbord.html

 

if I knew how to read dutch I'd probably order one just to have it........

 

No man, I just out grew my rose colored glasses is all. I see no problem with no loitering signs. If a group of youth were hanging outside my business smoking weed and bothering my patrons, I would put a sign up too. Again, no big deal.

 

I can sympathize with your pragmatic approach.........
and I've already made it quite clear that its the ideals that bother me so we should agree to disagree and appreciate both positions for what they are!

 

Its only in one area and its true they made the sign for sale, beacuse people steal it. Only at 'the mercator plein' its illigal now.

 

Just wanted to throw this in guys. After my recent trip, I noticed something about the "immigrants". Sure some are homeless and after talking to a few they all stay at the salvation army shelter. Maybe they are drug addicted and depressed. But to be honest they were still more polite than a lot of the dutch I encountered. I gave some change, some cigs. But when I said no, they really werent bothersome. I know not all dutch are rude to americans, but I got a hell of a lot of stares and people shouldering me when they walked by. Fuck them!! I know im a guest in your country, but i would show some respect to you in you were in mine!! Please dont flame me for this, this is just my opinion, and I will not read or respond to any replys.

 

an observation I do not doubt............
but there are definately lots of dutch people who are great too, there just hard to find (few and far in between)

 

How to worked up about a dumb sign!!

Ok. It's quite an anal and ill thought out idea.

But, and I mean this as a big but (no jokes please), isn't everyone just getting a little too wound up about nothing here?

Someone, somewhere, tell me that their local council (or whatever wherever) hasn't had more stupid ideas? Why can't I drink in public in your country? Or smoke in public? Or drive at a reasonable speed?

Koopa - you're great my friend but this is an amusing aside from the Big Book Of World Wankers featuring public servants and nothing more. It's impossible for me to believe that the vast majority of the Dutch have an oppressive wont based on the mechanations of some idiots whose only job is to invent signs.

Back when I moved to England in '87, my local London council (Hackney) spent thousands of pounds putting up signs stating that they were "Nucleur Free".

Which is what you'd expect from an inner-city borough of London....

This story is funny, nothing more. Go back to your pipes, there's nothing to see here (now that the humour has been extracted).

 

shiny J: Ofcourse our "worry" mainly has to do with our "mecca" being threatened IN ANY WAY. But I've also acknowledged the lighter side of the situation when I said I sympathize with Sinpushers position. But thats no good reason for me to deny the underlying dutch motivation behind it....nor a good reason for me to suspend judgement.

I'm not making a big fuss about it.....but the "dutch double standard" has always been a bit of a sore spot with me. Probably because its one of the few things I dislike about the culture. And the fact that they have targeted an area that is far from popular with the tourists just screams that it is LOCAL POLITICS in play. This is also what you are suggesting, you are just claiming there is no malice behind it and I am claiming there is. Simple as that friend!

I still want a sign though

Seriously........so if anybody can help me read that link and order one it would be appreciated.

 

P.S. if you think that this sign is what caused me to believe what I believe then you seriously underestimate my intelligence. My beliefs come from first hand experience interacting and speaking with the dutch. The sign is just another example of this long prevailing trend.

 

You know what Koopa, I won't disagree with you. I'm sure there are people out there as you say, there's bound to be.

But, I too have first hand experience of the Dutch, they're my extended family through my partner, I've worked with Dutch colleagues, I've visited more times than I can count (4 times last year and once already this) and consider some of them to be my best friends. I just don't get the same feeling you get - what's going on there?

I don't know you well enough to underestimate your intelligence Koopa but the fact is that I know that your sweeping statements (like all generalisations) are inaccurate. You're using a racial stereotype to accuse someone of being racist and that's, ummm, hypocritical.

As my friend noted "Behold Dutch legislative ignorance.", you could replace Dutch with Irish, British, American or Iranian and get a less tolerant and possibly more heinous story.

*I'll the get the translation for the link for you over the weekend.