The Netherlands is a country that is wealthy.
There is plenty of money.
They have an excellent welfare system.
Nobody lives in poverty.
These conditions boost individualism.
Living in a rich country drives people to get the best for themselves.
There is no need to do things together anymore.
This is why many people in the Netherlands have become extreme individualists.
The highest and most important in their lives is their individual freedom.
They must live without restrictions, otherwise they loudly protest.
In a city like Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, this attitude among the people can be clearly noticed.
The ones that ride a bicycle and of them there are many.
Driving the bike in town makes them sit on a moving island and nothing must get in their way or they get upset.
Because their individual freedom is obstacled.
It is very common to see cyclists who disrespect traffic laws and simply do what they want.
For example, intersections are equipped with traffic lights.
As we all know, a green light means you can proceed and a red light means you have to stop.
Not so for cyclists in Amsterdam.
If they approach an intersection, they look if any car is coming and if not, they simply proceed ignoring the red traffic light.
It is a similar situation with pedestrians crossing.
White and black lines on the road offer an opportunity to pedestrians to safely cross because the traffic laws say all vehicles must stop.
Not so for Amsterdam cyclists.
They feel they are above pedestrians and higher in a hierarchy.
They see pedestrians crossing, ring the bells of their bicycles and expect the pedestrians to get out of their ways.
If not, they get angry and start shouting severely:
"Get the fuck out of my way !"
It is a sad thing these demonstrations in traffic of extreme individualism.
Because a society that consists of people that only choose for themselves, is a society that is rotting from within.
It will shrivel and crumple and stumble.
Collapse in anarchy.
Lose the coherency of unity.
Rome revisited.
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1 comment:
Individualism is not the same as selfishness. What you are describing is selfish, arrogant behavior. One can be an individualist without becoming an arrogant bore who has no respect for anyone else. Okay, semantics, yes, but it bears stating that individualism is not what you are witnessing.
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