If there is one thing Dutch people really enjoy, it is to complain. It is a daily habit of the dutch, they complain about everything from the weather to the political situation. I guess they are not too alone in this, as most people do like to complain. Mainly because complaining somehow gives us a feeling of satisfaction, and can sometimes make the problem seem smaller since we share our complaints with others. But one thing that do make the dutch stand out, at least a bit, is that they almost never take action.
Of course you can't take action against everything you complain about, but the dutch don't even take action against fundamental negative changes in the tax-system or changes that might make their living situation worse. If someone does decide to take action, these people are usually met with, well you might have guessed it, complaints.
For instance; last year the Netherlands decided to take away almost any benefits for studying, meaning that basically everything the student would get from the government would be a loan. Of course this was met with a lot of complaints and negativity, and for once there was actually action taken: some of the students started demonstrating. Great! This is what needs to happen in situations like these. But, what was the response from the common public? Well, they thought the students were greedy, and that the demonstration was uncalled for. One of the most heard responses was "just get an extra job on the side, that's what we did" or "if we could manage it, then they should be able to as well". In other words, the older people would simply come with the excuse that they also didn't have it easy but look at them, they made it through, and so should you. What?! Excuse me, but if everyone would think like this then we would never progress! But lo and behold, this is a very typical response from dutch people: they love to complain, but only about THEIR situation, they do not care about someone else problem, in fact they will even end up complaining about people complaining about, in their opinion, stupid problems.
I am not used to this at all... I am used to actions being taken even on the small scale. When something changed in school that we students didn't like we would demonstrate, or collect signatures, or hold official meetings with protocols and all and later it would be brought up by a student president. And this was already back in primary school. When there is something big happening in the political world or such then the whole Swedish internet blows up with articles, debates, Facebook-posts that get shared etc. It is noticed quickly that the public is not happy. But in the Netherlands, well, I don't see much of that. Take the current refugee crisis as another example. Among my Swedish and Danish friends on Facebook I see a lot of personal opinions and shared articles and debates from all angles, among my dutch friends I have barely seen any opinions at all, there's perhaps one or two people who have officially made their opinion clear, the rest are quiet or only make small remarks (complaints). I do not see the same level of coverage over the crisis in the media either as I do in the Scandinavian (and English) media. But if you talk to people, or listen to the radio, the complaints are there, as always, but of course, no action is taken on either side of the argument.
Now, as a foreigner, this is actually quite hard for me to live up to. I do love to complain, but I also like to take action, because what is the point of complaining if no action is taken? I see no purpose of it, complaining will only lead to bad feelings if there is no action and change. I am noticing that I actually have cut down in my complaining because of this, and I have started despising people who complain about the smallest things (especially since these small things usually easily could be changed, but instead the dutch just complain but do nothing for it to change). I have become a sour person in some ways regarding this, but I have also become a more content person, at least for the outside person, since I don't voice my complaints as much anymore...but I guess that's what this blog is for, voicing my complaints. Ah, the irony, isn't it lovely?
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