Most people in the Netherlands are now also opposed to having blackface during Sinterklaas. However, there is a significant group that feel that their identity is threathed if you criticize their tradition. They are not the smartest people in our country (to say it lightly) and they express this opinion by doing stuff like that. Fortunately, they are a minority now and zwarte Piet does not look like that anymore.

It is a bit strange to have grown up in the Netherlands with zwarte Piet. As a child, I really liked him because I believed that he brought me presents. I wrote him and Sinterklaas letters and I have a lot of drawings of zwarte Piet that I made as a child. I did draw him like a stereotypical black person, because that was what he looked like at the time. As a child I did not know any better and I just liked zwarte Piet. But now when I look back at it I feel ashamed.

When I found out the issues with zwarte Piet, I stopped including him in the celebrations as a black person. I also had discussions with friends and family members about this. This sometimes lead to a lot of anger. I think they felt like their innocent and happy memories of zwarte Piet they had as a child were tarnished and they were accused of being racist. That was difficult for a while. Currently, all people in my direct environment do not celebrate Sinterklaas anymore with zwarte Piet as a black person. If I ask them why they were angey before about it, they just tell me that I wanted to change things too fast and they felt accused.

B

I am sorry you feel like this. I have been through a lot, so I know the feeling of wanting to give up very well. All I can say is that I am really glad I never actually completely gave up. Giving up will not make you feel better.

I am not sure whether you are angry, you sound angry. So, do what you have to do to deal with this feeling. Screaming in my car and punching a pillow works for me. And then think about why things are not working the way you want it and try something new.

I love art deco. In Amsterdam, you have this beautiful cinema called Tuschinski. That is really nice as well:

More photos at the bottom of this site.

Ik denk dat je een aantal goede punten hebt. Maar er zit ook een gevaar in dat mensen met racistische ideeën zich nu veel meer gelegitimeerd voelen en zich ook zo gaan gedragen. Bovendien is puur dat zo veel mensen op Wilders hebben gestemd ook echt een klap in het gezicht is van een heleboel mensen. Het gevaar en de schade zit niet alleen in het beleid dat mogelijk uit gevierd gaat worden maar ook hierin.

I think the threat of AGI is much, much lower than that of climate change. It is still debated under scholars whether AGI actually will happen (in the nearby future) and if it does, whether it will actually be a threat to humanity. On the other hand, we are sure that climate change will be a threat to humanity and it is already happening.

I think the main issue with AI on te short term is that humanity will not benefit from it, only large businesses and the already wealthy. While at the same time, people are manipulated at a large scale by these same algorithms (e.g., on social media) to make money for these large businesses or to create societal discord for parties benefitting from that.

I think instilling fears of AGI in the public distracts from that and reduces the chances that this technology will be available to the larger public as these fears might lead to strict regulations and only having a few powerful parties having access to it.

So, don't fear AGI. Fear climate change. Also, be very critical of who has the power over current AI systems and how they are being used.

Me too. Someone needs to explain

So, yeah, they picked the wrong person for the job. He is really good at chest thumping. He is an opportunist who adapts his beliefs to what works best to supports his career. In the Netherlands, he is known for trying to postpone measures to protect nature to keep the farmers voting for him, amongst others.

Ik ben wel echt blij dat hij niet bij de BBB is gegaan. Dat had wat mij betreft wel echt zijn geloofwaardigheid verpest. Maargoed, die geruchten leken me vooral ook een stunt van de BBB geweest om het gevoel te geven dat de partij van Omzigt dicht bij die van hen staat.

Ik ben benieuwd naar zijn standpunten, maar verwacht dat die niet superdicht bij de mijne liggen, gezien zijn achtergrond bij het CDA. Ik heb heel erg veel vertrouwen in de integriteit van de man op dit moment. Maar ik ben nog niet overtuigd van zijn vermogen om ineens zo'n grote partij op te zetten en te leiden. Ik ben wel benieuwd hoe hij het gaat doen.

This is difficult to respond to without further information. Does he want to be alone with the children or does he feel obligated to? Is he easily overwhelmed in other situations, or only this one? Did he have a nice youth with parents whose behaviour he can model, or did he not have a good example of how to deal with children? Did you discuss with him what exactly is making him stressed?

Ik vind haar standpunten vaak ontzettend hardvochtig (bijv. op gebied van asiel). Ik heb haar echt wel eens dingen horen zeggen waar ik persoonlijk echt naar van werd. Dus ik ben niet blij met haar. Maargoed, VVD is dan ook niet mijn partij.

Overigens zie ik wel de meest achterlijke racistische opmerkingen over haar op overige sociale media. Ik hoop dat de VVD en zij het niet ver schoppen deze verkiezingen. Maar als dat gebeurt, dan hoop ik dat dat op basis is van hun standpunten en niet op basis van de achtergrond van Yesilgöz.

I dreamt about my phone. I sometimes suffer from false awakenings (thinking you have woken up, bit you are still dreaming). So, I thought that I had woken up and everything looked like normal. Then I got my phone to check the time and instead of the time, there was a weird cube swirling around on my phone. So, then I knew I was still dreaming.

Then I wanted to wake up, but I couldn't, so I panicked and it became a nightmare where I suddenly saw a ghost in my room that was floating around with her head in a very unnatural position. Then she started screaming and I woke up. (But this is not the important part, the important part is that there was a phone in my dream.)