Torero Posted November 13, 2014 Posted November 13, 2014 Hi to all, Great to be part of an online community to talk about and hopefully advance in the necessary fight for freedom, the natural state of mankind. I'm Torero, a Dutch guy living in Colombia, and I hope to learn and contribute on various topics related to anarchism, libertarianism, voluntaryism or whatever you like to call it. Being raised in the Netherlands in a family of social democrats I have experienced all the "benefits" of statism. From an early age I've always questioned unnecessary and injust "authority", power and coercion. I must say I'm not such a reader of books, more visually oriented, so happy with the YouTube way of sharing information, thanks, Stefan! Main points of interest on the contribution side are: - War on Drugs & the decriminalisation of them - "Antropogenic Global Warming" & the flaws from a physical and historical perspective - Reducing statism and coercion in your own life Nice to be here and let's fight peacefully to (re)gain our freedoms. Cheers, Torero
Mister Mister Posted November 14, 2014 Posted November 14, 2014 Hello. Can you tell us more about your experience with growing up in a modern European Socialist society? What kind of obstacles does the State create in your country? What would you say to Americans who think that a place like Holland is where it's at politically? How did you come to be skeptical about the State? Have you talked with other people around you about this, and what is the reaction of friends and family to your rejection of the State?
Torero Posted November 15, 2014 Author Posted November 15, 2014 Hello. Can you tell us more about your experience with growing up in a modern European Socialist society? What kind of obstacles does the State create in your country? What would you say to Americans who think that a place like Holland is where it's at politically? How did you come to be skeptical about the State? Have you talked with other people around you about this, and what is the reaction of friends and family to your rejection of the State? Together with Scandinavian countries (I saw some Swedes are active here as well, who might tell you more about their experiences), the Netherlands is one of the most socialist societies in the world. Almost all schools are public, all universities (except 1 or 2) are public and that means in the educational system Dutch people are drilled to become State supporters. The video Stefan made about the State as Religion is a very good one. It's a comparison I use for a long time on other forums so I was happy to see he had the same view. It really is a belief. The State should solve all problems, even if people, grown up, healthy, educated and all (not the poor, not the needy, no, regular people) put themselves or others in problems, the answer to the problem is the State. A main point in especially the Netherlands is the drive towards equality. Although Holland may seem to have a very liberal and tolerant character, when you live in the society, it's different. There are two sayings in Dutch which describe this very "well": "don't stick your head above the field, or it will be chopped off" and "act normal, that's crazy enough". Apart from smaller scale subcultures and even in those it is like that. That has to do with this equality fetish and with the huge population density of the country. Only South Korea, Bangladesh (not really an example) and Taiwan are more densely populated than the Netherlands of all countries of a serious size (not counting Monaco or Singapore). This has several effects but a main effect is social. People watch each other and what they're (not) doing all the time, and open and direct as we are; criticize each other for every tiny difference. Then equality. I discussed a lot on different forums in Holland, my first forum I even debated the current leader of the Social Democrat Party, back then an employee of Greenpeace. You get an idea. People are obsessed with equality. Everyone is equal according to that culture. I tried to explain to them that the opposite is true; everyone is different. And it's the differences between people you should respect, the equalities are obvious and do not need to be focused on; people with equal beliefs, culture, ideas, ethics, etc. will find themselves easily, there's no need to coerce that from a State perspective. Also economically the country is very leftist. Taxes are enormous and now (I live 6 years abroad now; 3 in Germany and 3 in Colombia) with my decent but not super rich salary the tax level is an astonishing 59% income tax!!! Not counting aaaaall the other taxes. Gasoline is only more expensive in Norway dus to the enormous taxes the government puts on it. Taxation is well supported by the Dutch because they think that taxation caused it to become such a well organized and arranged country. Then there's the biggest problem of all in Europe and that is the European Union. It is a superstate which is horrific. Anti-EU feelings were strong in Holland when we rejected the European Constitution in 2005 by 66%, the highest of all European countries which were "allowed" (Statists don't like the voice of the people) to vote in a referendum. As the European Union Elites did not like that they simply pushed a slightly adapted version of it, without the possibility to vote against it anymore. The way Statists work; increasing power and coercion and reducing freedoms. I have been quite a rebel for all my life, questioned authority from the age I could speak and always was looking to excel in freedom and avoid the power seeking individuals that are around us. Growing up in a family of very statists, anti-religion and pretty sociopathic (I won't go into detail) and a mother who was a feminist (I always say Feminism in Holland is like building an artificial ice skate track on Antarctica), I have been drilled with Statism. Due to the education system I experienced only afterwards how much religious push there was from that as well. That's by the way a factor in many secular to antireligious countries; where religion disappears, the state takes over, like Communicating Vessels. Although Holland has a very tolerant image on drugs, the actual situation is quite different. Even the most liberal (in the sense of liberalism; liberal in Europe is "right wing", not left wing like in the States) party who is in power together with the social democrats (like a coalition of Obama and Bush) is very anti-free use of substances. I myself have experienced very nice things and drug parties in Holland are the best in the world; great atmosphere and very nice people, better than alcohol parties. My resistance against the State has arisen from a young age but became stronger in recent years like with many of us here, I suppose. The idea of taxation, the equality fetish, the strong influence in schools and media, it all boils down to keeping and distributing power. Power over a people which is -at least in theory- very self sufficient, very moral, educated and normal. The State has lost its meaning like the Church lost it when people became more educated. Not counting belief in a deity as I do not share and even oppose the ridiculous antireligious feelings in Holland; everyone should believe in whatever he/she wants, as long as you do not disturb others with it. I have been active in the second liberal party when I still thought politics could do any good. Being very different from my fellow members, the discussions were fierce and my views were regarded as strange. I learnt there this minipoliticians are as bad as any other party and left quite quickly. I have discussed my libertarian views with some friends (not so much as I left the country quite some time ago) and many share at least part of the resistance against state power. But still believe in the good, ethical and moral standards of the State, even when we start invading other countries (we helped the USAmericans in Iraq and Afghanistan). On fora I felt ridiculisation. "Go live in Somalia", you know the standard replies who just show the other does not have enough arguments against yours. That's why I am happy to be a member here and able to talk freely without these useless remarks. Right now I am living in one of the best countries of the world. Colombia is a country with a booming economy, the nicest people you can imagine and a great future. The image people have is still from the 90s, a time when it was indeed horrible I would imagine. But those times are over. With an economic growth of 6.4% 1st quarter this year (!), an inflation below 2% (!) and the safety improving, it's a great country to live and -if you want- to invest in. Not to mention the overwhelming beauty of the women here... ;-) So yes, I am happy and feel I've left Europe in the right moment as nowadays things got worse and worse in terms of economy, (un)employment and taxes. And due to the everyday growing power of the superstate EU it is even worse. I have even more anarchist plans for the future which I will elaborate more on when the time comes... interesting as it really became my plan in life. Feel free to ask more, Cheers, Torero Nice to meet you Welcome to the community Thank you!
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