Amerika - Hallo! Ik ben Cara Bloom

Ik ben op de linker

Dit is mijn vierde en laatste jaar op de University of Michigan. Ik kom uit Chelsea, Michigan een klein stadje in het westen van Ann Arbor. Mijn ouders nog steeds wonen en Chelsea. Mijn zus studeert aan de University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Dit is mijn geboortestad Chelsea

Ik hou van studeren informatica en ik ook hou van mijn Nederlandse les. Ik studeer Nederlands omdat afgelopen zomer ik woon en Amsterdam. In Amsterdam ik werk bij een kleine bedrijf. Elke ochtend ik fiets door het park aan het werk. 

Ik fiets in dit park elke middag

Ik ook fiets in Ann Arbor. Vandaag het sneeuwt daarom fietsen is moeilijk. Ik zal binnenkort naar huis gaan en thee drinken met mijn kat. Misschien zal ik ook iets koekjes eten.

Zwarte Piet: 

I was first exposed to a lot of Dutch culture on the website Stuff Dutch People Like which includes things like "gezelligheid," stroopwafels, Canadians, tulips, and of course Zwarte Piet. What I found more interesting than the article itself was the conversation being had in the comments. There were a three basic stands that Dutch commenters used to justify the tradition: 

• Zwarte Piet is a Moor, not an African and this was a caricature that is based on history. 
• Zwarte Piet has become a tradition and isn't offensive. If you get offended then that's your fault. 
• Zwarte Piet is for children and they don't find it racist so if you are offended it's because you're not the target audience. 

And one common counter argument: 

• Zwarte Piet shouldn't have a place in modern Dutch society because it is an antiquated, offensive racial stereotype. 

One person echoed what Annemarie said in class yesterday with an insightful comment: 

"What often surprises me is the Dutch people’s inability to anticipate how things are taken by others. “We didn’t mean any offense, so it’s your problem that you feel offended”, is not a very good attitude as global citizens." - Reggie

This was what I found when I discussed Zwarte Piet and other strange traditions with my Dutch friends. Some who had lived abroad could see why others would be offended, but many couldn't understand it and almost none thought that the offense was on the part of the offender. They tend to blame a person for becoming offended instead which has huge cultural implications such as liberal gay rights policy and the Dutch people's frank way of speaking. Because these types of behaviors are so well regarded in the global community, I think the Dutch have been lulled into a false sense of hubris about their cultural standpoint on offense as being correct in all cases. By taking a few steps back and doing more quantitative and qualitative research on how traditions like Zwarte Piet actually effect people, the Dutch will be able to logically assess and separate which traditions are appropriate in a global society from those that are not. 

Questions: 

What kind of bike do you have? Where would you like to go (other than NYC) if you came to the US?

Toedeledoki! Toodaloo!