Now you know how my brain feels when reading your posts. Why do you feel you are allowed to spout generalizations but have the right to be protected against them? You come into a thread and insult Americans and the English and then act offended when one of them cracks a joke in your direction. Suddenly its a high and mighty act directed at me, about WWII of all things. Oh the irony. Where did I do that? Man, you're terrible at reading comprehension. Why, because you don't like me? LOL
Over the course of 4 years of occupation? In addition, how many of those casualties were Jews? Obviously the Dutch suffered, and my intent was once again to point out to johan how incredibly hypocritical she is. However, my statement stands. As horrible as the occupation may have been.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. Obviously 1 is too much. But 15-20K is, again, comparatively speaking not on the worse end of the scale.
August 22, 1942 in History Event: Brazil declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy March 28, 1945 Argentina Declares War Against Japan and Germany March 28, 1945 Hmm, how come these weren't in the original poll question? Way to make a statement, Argentina!!! Guess that didn't stop the Nazis from fleeing en masse to Argentina, anyway - so Argentina gets my vote in this one! http://www.ceana.org.ar/statem.htm Wasn't there a few other South American bandwagon jumpers in the waning ways of WWII? (of the "real" participants in the war-the Vichy French get my vote.)
Why don't you run along to tell the victims of Katrina to stop whingeing as the Tsunami was much worse.
First you tell me the worst thing that happened to the Dutch was the 'accidental' bombing of Rotterdam. Then I tell you about all the other bad stuff that went on and you say you knew that all along. That to me is vintage Nicephoras, but never mind. The point is that to you (and indeed some other Americans) cracking jokes about the Netherlands at war might be funny. To us, it still is not. You deliberately try to discredit the Netherlands (which comes as no surprise as you consistently slag off Dutch football as well), which you're welcome to do in every respect but NOT when it comes to the war, which is the biggest trauma in the collective memory of Dutch people, still today. I don't expect you to understand that. You're interested in facts and figures, but when it comes to understanding what impact those facts and figures have on people, you have the intellectual capacity of a baboon. I hope that in real life you're able to show more empathy and compassion. If not, you're likely to die alone in a dingy apartment half eaten by Alsatians. Good luck with that.
If you want other people to take you seriously (and I don't "slag off" Dutch football or the Dutch, incidentally) and to consider your wishes, perhaps you should refrain from stereotyping about whole countries about which its clear you know nothing about. (Like, say, the United States.) Could this possibly be made any more clear? P.S. I enjoyed your lecture about how hard the Dutch had it. Perhaps one day I'll give you one about how hard my family had it.
You seem to have a problem with me sharing my family's war history. The reason I put that up is to make clear to you that while the sufferings of the Dutch seem insignificant to you, or maybe even from a historical perspective, they are very real to the Dutch themselves and it is not your place to belittle them. I was hoping that that would somehow get through to you. The only criticism I had was not on the US as a country but on SOME Americans (and inded some Brits) who are quick to play the 'shut up we liberated your country' card. You've been around on these boards long enough to know that that is a fact. If I had counted the number of times someone referred to the Dutch allegedly killing off Anne Frank to me I'd probably be close to a thousand now. Your dislike of Dutch football in general and Frank Rijkaard in particular is known to all regulars on these boards. You even called Cruyff not so special once, I recall. So stop making excuses and a fool of yourself.
Seriously, would you tell a Katrina victim that what happened to them is comparatively speaking not on the worse end of the scale?
Probably because you keep saying stupid things and we do it to annoy you. Hey, its working right now. And amazingly, you still haven't figured it out. Maybe its not YOUR place to belittle American achievements in World War II? But hey, you never think about that when making broad general swipes at a population for telling a joke. Huh? You mean because I called Rijkaard tactically simplistic in games where he was technically simplistic? I neither dislike Dutch football nor Rijkaard. I just dislike people who're ignorant. I like most of the Dutch posters on here just fine - Bertje and I seem to get along OK. Its not the Dutch I have any issues with. *HINT HINT* I'd like to see evidence of that. I've no desire to emulate you, rest assured.
Eh? I never did belittle American achievements in World War II for heaven's sake!!! I just pointed out that it's silly to boast about Americans liberating the Netherlands when they didn't actually liberate the Netherlands! And yes that WAS meant to belittle the stupidity and lack of historical awareness of some Americans AND Brits. If you can't see that that's on a completely different level than belittling the suffering of the occupied Netherlands, you have a massive problem with empathy. Did you miss out on something in your formative years, by chance? Trivialising the suffering of other people is tasteless, and points at you having a rather scary, soulless personality. Stop twisting my words Nicephoras. And stop denying that you hate the Dutch. There are so many examples of your anti-Dutchness on these boards it's plain embarrassing.
The Tsunami. Or the 1953 Dutch floods even. I mean if you tell the Dutch that their suffering in WWII was comparitively meaningless, I'm sure you don't mind pointing a Katrina victim to the fact that the people of Sri Lanka, and the people Zeeland before them suffered from floods much worse than theirs. The people of New Orleans will be delighted when you tell them that. They'll feel so much better knowing that even when they lost their home and family, at least someone else had it even worse!
Yes, perspective is a terrible thing. Granted, I haven't said the things you've accused me of, but if you want to think the Dutch suffered more than any people ever during WWII, its been apparent for some time I can't stop you.
Again, Holland was one of the last countries to be liberated in Western Europe. The only people who suffered worse in the region in the last winter of the war were the Germans themselves.
The only Dutch person you're slightly positive about is Robben. And surprise surprise, he plays for Chelsea! The biggest joke they could play on you is Chelsea replacing Mourinho with Rijkaard.
Um, in a draft we did on the BG board I selected two Dutch players. (Suurbier and Rensenbrink, in case you wanted to know.) So, where's that comment by me about Cruyff?