Having been born in the Netherlands I find it strange that people from other countries hardly ever speak more languages than just their native tongue. The Netherlands has always been a trading nation and one of the first ever tourists - an Italian salesman - noted about Amsterdam around 1650: "People from all religions and colours are welcome in Amsterdam. As long as the Dutch can get money out of them."
Like any people The Dutch too find foreign customs strange but instead of rejecting them, the Dutch assimilated them. Even the most notorious Dutch racists love to get Chinese take out for dinner.We took over habits from Portugese Jews (we consider the philosopher Baruch Spinoza as 'real Dutch', altough his parents were Spanish/Portugese migrants), French Hugonots (they made French the lingua franca of the Dutch upperclass and stimulated the Dutch textiles industry and glass- and clock making), American expats (Black Friday, Halloween and Valentine's Day), German merchants (Mothers Day and 'real Dutch' apple pie) and after Indonesia and Surinam became independent, the Dutch let thousands upon thousands of them in so the Indonesian 'rijsttafel' (fun fact: this 'Indonesian tapas' is not a custom in Indonesia itself) and the Surinamese 'broodje bapau' (steamed breadroll, usually filled with fish or meat) became part of Dutch culture.
Worldwide the (former) Dutch companies Shell, Unilever, KLM and Philips are well known and that little country by the North Sea has made a huge impact, for part thanks to inventions like the telescope, the microscope, the cd and the printing press, the submarine, Santa Claus ('Sinterklaas') and the stock market.
Most likely because 'we' managed to combine the knowledge of 'the new Dutch', learned from their mistakes and build on that. Everybody is welcome but you have to embrace 'Dutch culture'. So, if you want to be welcomed by the Dutch, complain that 'Those bloody foreigners come here to take our jobs!', just like my electrician did. Not realizing his parents came from Morocco in the seventies, stimulated by the Dutch government at the time because the Dutch themselves didn't want to clean up their own mess, work in the mines or in factories.
In short: the Dutch are very tolerant and open minded. But only if they see an opportunity to gain more wealth.
I just lost my part time job and am not making ends meet via entertainment because of covid, so a donation (click) is much appreciated:
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