Annemarie van der Woude 1113980

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#1: Zwarte Piet (Black Pete)

As a little girl growing up in The Netherlands, I couldnt wait for wintertime.
Half November he would come with his helpers in a big steamboat from
Spain, filled with gifts to give to all the children. It is the most-popular
childrens holiday: Sinterklaas. The mythical (- as I have know for some years
now) figure modern-day Santa Claus is derived from. Sinterklaas his helpers
are the Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) and just like Sinterklaas isnt really a
several centuries-old man with long white hair and beard, the Zwarte Pieten
arent really black either. They are Dutch people, who paint their faces black
as charcoal, put on bright red lipstick, a black curly haired wig and colourful
outfits and hats. I have to admit that only last year, I was committed to Zwarte
Piet and gave little though to the matter, thinking: Thats just how we do it.
He is black because he comes down a chimney to put gifts in our shoes. Its
just soot from the chimney! After the Golliwogs lecture and how incredibly
racist I deem them to be, I began to review my childhood hero Zwarte Piet.
Shortly after the lecture, Dutch society seemed to do the same as in October
a member of the UN interfered with the Dutch holiday
1
, putting wood on the
fire of the discussion whether this tradition should continue in its present form,
which already grew in preceding years. In response to a suggested ban of
festivities, someone started a Facebook Pietitie (pun intended) that soon had
over 2 million likes. I came across many posts on Facebook stating: Black
Pete is our tradition, if you dont like it go back to your own country!

I take offence to such a strain of thoughts. I became surprisingly aware
that a supposedly modern multicultural society thinks like that, and in all
honesty; I am embarrassed to be a part of it. I know that I am a hypocrite, as I
was completely ignorantly pro-Piet up to recently. In retrospect, I was ignorant
of my own racism for nearly three decades. In light of the discussion, many
national newspapers published articles of an academic degree, related to the

1
Criado, Elisa. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/tensions-mount-in-the-netherlands-
as-un-questions-black-pete-christmas-tradition-8909531.html [accessed last 17th December
2013]

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historical point view of the discussion. Reading up on the matter online, I
came across an article that took away all childish innocence that clung on to
my positive side of Zwarte Piet. In reading an article, I learned that the funny
and colourful outfit of Piet is an almost exact replica of the uniform worn by
child slaves owned by Dutch in the seventeenth century
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. I think that wanting
to hold on to something that not only causes offence to people, but also is a
constant reminder of inhumane cruelty is reason enough for it to be abolished.
Then I started reading some of the comments made to the post of this article
on Facebook and I came across a clip someone replied with, from YouTube.
In this clip, young children from various cultures take part in an experiment
with dolls and images and are asked preferences and prejudice relating to
skin colour of the dolls and drawings. Although this particular clip lacked
description, I watched few related clips and one of these was a rather recently
conducted version, in 2010 by CNN
3
. Here is says the Doll test is derived from
the 1940s Clarks doll experiment. At one point there is a little black girl whom
is asked questions like: Which one is the pretty doll, the white one or the black
one? Which one is the nice doll, which one do you want to play with, which
one do you want to look like? All questions are answered with the same
answer. The white doll. This physically brought tears to my eyes. The young
children are all bias to white. After watching this, I was (and am) done with
Black Pete. Its not that difficult to change tradition, among the suggestions
that were made one stood out for me: Rainbow Petes. Perfect! Children will
believe it. I believed Black Pete was black from soot, despite our heating
running on electronics! If we have rainbow Petes we can show the world that
we are a multicultural society AND that we support gay marriage.





2
Kruijt, Michiel.
http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3531694/2013/10/23/Geen-
twijfel-Zwarte-Piet-stamt-af-van-kindslaven.dhtml [accessed last 17th December 2013]
3
CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/ [accessed last 17th December 2013]

Annemarie van der Woude 1113980
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#2: Facebook God

These days, I dont follow any religion anymore. I left the church-going faith
many years ago, but in present time I do follow God on Facebook. In a way, I
guess that makes me part of His digital flock. I write His name and the nouns
to describe Him with capital letters, as I was born and raised a Protestant
Christian and was taught to do so. In all honesty I mostly do it because
Facebook God does so Himself and it always makes me laugh when I read it,
it really gives strength to his character. It must have been little over a year
ago that I saw His first post. He calls himself Facebook God, with a meme to
go along it, shifting skin colour from light to dark whenever He deems fit.
Personally, I love God. He describes Himself as a comedian on His about
page, where we mortals can also read that there have been two major life
events
4
. The first is the creation of the world when He, Jesus and The Holly
Spirit were bored with one another after not even He knows how long
because He was yet to create time, and second the SMITING of the
dinosaurs
i
. It is safe to say that Facebook God falls under the concept of
blasphemy. I am pretty much convinced that my family agrees with this as the
bulk of them is still church-going. That there is a wide public taking offence in
this is predicable, as the Christian faith is widely adopted in Western society.

He also posts screenshots outraging messages sent to Him via
Facebook of angry Christians who want Him to stop what He is doing, and on
multiple occasion, see him dead. But God is every loving and, apart from
replying by referring such offended mortals to their own Book the Bible in an, -
how I personally interpret it-, ironical fashion as He always finds a fitting psalm
to match the rant in order, He overall replies to hate-mail with statements of
His eternal love despite mortal wrongdoings. It has to be added that,
whenever He re-posts a message, He is discrete by blurring out anyone
recognizable personal information and images. While it might seem that God
is a comedian whom mocks Christians, His flock has grown and by now 1.2
million people are following Him and He takes His job very seriously. There

4
Gods Facebook page, about section: <https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodLordAbove/info>
[accessed last 17th December 2013]
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are often screenshots posted of (apparent) desperate people with suicidal
thoughts whom He then directs to the suicide hotline before telling them how
much He loves them. In an interview with Mashables editorial director Matt
Silverman, God answers the question whether he sees Himself as a vigilante
fighting Facebook ignorance
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:

Ignorance is a pernicious plague. Have you ever seen The Neverending
Story? Remember The Nothing? Thats real, except now its called The
Stupid. The Stupid threatens to engulf this world.

I and others stand against the forces of fear and hatred that bring naught but
misery to you all. You are most welcome.

The LORD has spoken.

# 3 Ask Amy

A few weeks ago, I came across an article on the website of the Washington
Post
6
. It regarded a letter written to their advice columnist, Ask Amy (in every
day life known as Amy Dickinson) by a desperate parent whom names him- or
herself Feeling betrayed. This person is very upset because his or her
seventeen-year-old son had come out to of the closet and he just wont listen
to reason, and he will not stop being gay." My sister is homosexual, and I am
so proud of how my parents coped with it. I am proud of all three of them for
that matter. Honesty is very important in any relationship, kin or not. My dad
didnt give it a second thought, saying that he hated football anyway, so a son
in-law less to jeopardize his Sunday TV was a relieve. He loved his
daughters; the more the merrier. My mom was also okay with it, she very
honestly said that she did find it a bit of a pity and had to get used to it, but
would never love my sister less over this. In continuing reading this persons
letter, the fear that the church group they are in might make fun of him or her

5
Silverman, Matt. http://mashable.com/2013/03/18/facebook-god/ [accessed last 17th
December 2013]
6
Dickinson, Amy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ask-amy-parent-pressures-
gay-son-to-change/2013/11/12/a46984d0-4815-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html
[accessed last 17th December 2013]
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for having a gay son, is unbearable. I could feel my blood pressure rise per
sentence. This might be because I follow now religio, or because I know that
there are too many ignorant people who deem homosexuality as a sin. Even
in my own country, The Netherlands, where same-sex marriage has been
legal in 2001, there are people who still deem it to be so. My sister went on
Holiday, somewhere in 2006/2007 with a friend and her Baptist family to Italy.
When she came back, she told us that the father of the family had let slip
casually that she would burn in hell if she died, for being a lesbian. I still laugh
about it with my sister, whom is quite obsessed with getting a tan anyway.

What this parent writes in the letter is so narcissistic, writing "I feel as if
he is doing this just to get back at me for forgetting his birthday for the past
three years -- I have a busy work schedule,". I am pretty sure that many
people take offence to this persons ideas of parenting regardless of their
views on homosexuality. I was eager to find out what this Amy would reply to
this desperate parents cries for help. It was better than I could have hoped
for, which is probably why I went viral on the internet for weeks to come. The
Ask Amy columnist Dickinsons (pun intended?) incredible response restored
my faith in humanity, as she mentioned that the parent him or herself should
teach the boy an important lesson. She suggests that the parent shows just
how simple it is to change sexuality by doings so his or herself for a year or
so: Stop being a heterosexual to demonstrate to your son that a persons
sexuality is a matter of choice - to be dictated by ones parents, the parents
church and social pressure." Later, she writes that she assumes the parent
will realize by this suggestion that ones sexuality is at the core of who you are
and parents should always accept and support their children. Before referring
the parent to a group that might help the family cope with the situation, Amy
writes that if the parent cannot accept the son and his honesty for who he is, it
might be saver for the boy to live somewhere else. The first part of this article
(or, column) was provoking to me and I am sure that the second part will have
startled people with a different view life.



Annemarie van der Woude 1113980
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# 4 The Doors live performance of Light My Fire on the Ed Sullivan
Show

The first time I watched Oliver Stones film The Doors with Val Kilmer (1991)
7
,
I remembered mostly how they werent allowed to sing the original lyrics to the
song Light My Fire in their live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967.
It was agreed upon beforehand between the band and the producers of the
show that the lyrics: Girl we couldnt get much higher, would be changed into
Girl we couldnt get much better. This was due to the original lyrics referring
to the use of drugs. However, during the performance Jim Morrison stuck to
the original lyrics
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. This caused quite some disrespect from the host of the
show and its sponsors. It must also have been offensive to certain members
of the public. It has been more then fifteen years ago that I first watched the
film and even then, I couldnt understand what all the fuzz was about. Imagine
how they would feel if Jim Morrison had been so provoking as Miley Cyrus
was during the EMA in Amsterdam, and rather than sing we couldnt get
much higher do so by physically lighting a joint on stage.



Annemarie van der Woude
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7
International Movie Data Base (IMDB) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101761/ [accessed last
17th December 2013]
8
MusicPlayOn (EN) http://en.musicplayon.com/play?v=321979 [accessed last 17th
December 2013]

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

CNN Study White and black children biased toward lighter skin (2010).
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/ [accessed last 17th
December 2013]

Criado, Elisa.Tensions mount in the Netherlands as UN questions
Black Pete Christmas tradition (30th Oct. 2013).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/tensions-mount-in-the-
netherlands-as-un-questions-black-pete-christmas-tradition-
8909531.html [accessed last 17th December 2013]

Dickinson, Amy. Ask Amy: Parent pressures gay son to change (18th
Nov. 2013). http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ask-amy-
parent-pressures-gay-son-to-change/2013/11/12/a46984d0-4815-
11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html [accessed last 17th December
2013]

Facebook Gods Facebook page, about section:
https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodLordAbove/info [accessed last
17th December 2013]

The Doors page on the International Movie Data Base (IMDB)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101761/ [accessed last 17th December
2013]

Kruijt, Michiel. Geen twijfel: Zwarte Piet stamt af van kinderslaven
(23rd Oct. 2013).
http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3531694/2
013/10/23/Geen-twijfel-Zwarte-Piet-stamt-af-van-kindslaven.dhtml
[accessed last 17th December 2013]

Silverman, Matt. Holy Satire: God's Irreverent Facebook Strategy (18
th

March 2013). http://mashable.com/2013/03/18/facebook-god/
[accessed last 17th December 2013]