The Dutch Character

"The Dutch Disease," a conservative U.S. columnist called Holland's social liberalism. But not many of the hookers in Amsterdam's Red Light District are Dutch, and relatively few denizens of the smoking coffeeshops are Dutch. If Amsterdam's a latter-day Sodom and Gomorrah, it's one for foreigners mainly. The Dutch themselves are a moderate, conservative lot, whose stable history in a small, densely populated land has led them to seek social consensus rather than confrontation whenever possible.

For centuries, Amsterdam has been a magnet for the oppressed and persecuted, particularly in the 17th century, when it became a haven for Jews and Huguenots driven from France and other Catholic countries (though, for a time, Catholics in Holland were not allowed to practice their faith openly). That tradition of tolerance has continued into the 21st century, though there are signs it may be beginning to fray around the edges. In 2006, a law was proposed to outlaw any other language than Dutch in public. The idea never flew but seemed to be a sign of the times.

Amsterdammers aren't particularly emotional or hotheaded, but they aren't shy about speaking their minds either. They are fiercely independent, yet so tolerant of other people's problems and attitudes that their city nearly equals New York as a traditional haven for the world's exiles and émigrés.

The liberalist tradition impacts areas of personal and social morality that in other countries are still hot-button issues. Such topics are researched and debated, and perceived solutions implemented, with a surprising lack of partisan passion -- indeed often without passion of any kind. In 2002, the world's first same-sex marriage with legal status identical to heterosexual matrimony took place in Amsterdam, and the Dutch parliament legalized regulated euthanasia ("mercy killing"), making the Netherlands the world's first country to do so. And then there's the easygoing approach to prostitution and drug use.

Authorities aren't duty-bound to prosecute criminal acts, which leaves a loophole for experimentation in areas that technically are illegal. It's been said the Netherlands has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe because whenever something becomes a criminal problem, the Dutch make it legal, thereby reducing crime with a stroke.

Don't laugh, at least not in Holland. The Dutch will take aim at anyone, on any issue, outside their borders. Just so long as it's understood that everything inside has arrived at that hallowed state of perfection. Run through any list of America's international misdemeanors and the Dutch will nod sagely and open-mindedly in agreement. Laugh to your heart's content about the soap-opera antics of Britain's House of Windsor, and they'll laugh right along with you. But refer, however obliquely, to negative aspects of the Dutch Way, and watch the air turn cool. Go so far as to openly criticize the country, or to joke about Queen Beatrix, and you'll quickly find that you have touched the natives where they are tender.

Thin Red Line -- Prostitution is legal in Holland and prostitutes in Amsterdam's Red Light District work in clean premises, pay taxes, receive regular medical checks, are eligible for welfare, and even have their own trade union. The streetwalker heroin whores, however, are excluded from these ostensibly idyllic conditions for the world's oldest profession.

Drug Haze -- Popular opinion notwithstanding, narcotic drugs are illegal in the Netherlands. But the Dutch treat drug use mainly as a medical problem rather than purely a crime, and there's no Dutch "war on drugs." Treatment -- not arrest -- of addicts is the Dutch way. Authorities distinguish between soft drugs like cannabis, considered unlikely to cause addiction or pose a serious health risk, and hard drugs like heroin and cocaine, which are addictive and significantly deleterious to users' health. Both types are illegal, but the law is tougher on hard drugs. Dealers who import and export drugs face 4 years in jail for soft drugs and 12 years for hard drugs.

Amsterdam's casual acceptance of pot-smoking and pot-smokers makes some dissidents crazy enough to make you wonder what they are smoking. In recent years, the Netherlands has bowed to pressure from surrounding countries regarding its drug policy and has tightened the rules for "coffeeshops" -- establishments in which hashish and marijuana are sold. You used to be allowed to buy and retain 30 grams (1 oz.) of soft drugs for personal use; now, you can buy only 5 grams (1/5 oz.) at a time, though you're still allowed to possess 30 grams. Coffeeshops aren't allowed to sell hard drugs, to advertise, or to sell to minors. If they create a public nuisance, the local burgemeester (mayor) can shut them down. In Amsterdam, many coffeeshops have been shut down and the remainder subjected to strict rules. Nonetheless, Amsterdam remains a mecca for the marijuana smoker and seems likely to remain that way.

Supplying free heroin to addicts, with medical support, has helped prevent the spread of HIV and slashed the drug's street price so that addicts commit fewer crimes to feed their habit, and so that healthcare and law-enforcement costs have gone down. The Netherlands has significantly lower rates of drug use, drug-related deaths, and heroin addiction than Britain, France, Germany, and other Western European countries that criticize Holland so fiercely on this issue.

Say it With Flowers -- Holland has long had a close relationship with flowers, and it's not merely that the tulip fields around Lisse are a springtime blaze of color that attracts worldwide admirers. If it were, the flower frenzy could be written off as "just business," good for bringing in tourists. Flowers have deeper roots in this land of flat, green polders. Amsterdam's flower market is only the best-known example of a sales network that makes a flower store a vital service in Dutch towns and villages.

Maybe because so many people live side by side in such a small, well-ordered country, flowers provide a breath of fresh air, a touch of the natural world when much of the environment is artificial. A Dutch house without flowers would be like Edam without the cheese. Window boxes, vases, balconies, rooftop terraces, and gardens are all pressed into service. Additionally, no visit to a dinner party or to friends or relatives would be complete without an accompanying bunch of flowers. You can forget the wine or the pralines, but not the bouquet. And Dutch men don't share the macho hang-up that some nationalities have at being seen carrying flowers in public.