Hello from Flanders

[blankbanshee2]

Hello everyone,

 

I am an 18 year old boy from the Dutch part of Belgium. After half a year of watching Stefan videos and podcasts I decided to join the community, which I'm very glad to be part of.

 

I graduated highschool in June (after 6 years of hell) and I have to say Stefan's videos gave me a alot of answers to the many problems I faced during this depressing period.

 

The school mentality and mainstream media kinda rolled me into socialism when I first became interested into politics. I remember supporting Obama four years ago, and Unconditional Basic Income only a year ago.

 

As I started to do my own research I became more right-wing. Being introduced to the principles of libertarianism and voluntaryism this year gave me the final kick to "take the red pill".

 

When I started to debate these principles in class I stumbled across alot of pushback from my socialist classmates/teachers, which didn't make me a very popular person.

 

I am going to start studying history at university next week and I am a little bit afraid most of the lessons will have a left wing bias. From one proffessor I know, who is the brother of a famous politician, that he is a socialist/marxist.

 

I also wonder if university really is the best option for me, but there also aren't many alternatives. I think I'm not very valuable on the market yet.

 

I think I just have to wait until I'm a bit older, or maybe I'll find something while I'm still studying, who knows.

I try not to think about tomorrow and live by the day.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

I am looking forward to learn alot of new stuff here.

[AccuTron]

Welcome.  That is an interesting forum name you use...is there a story there?  

 

As to your value in the job market, there are others here far better qualified to comment in depth.  I can do a surface pass.

 

Value is what you accrue by doing stuff.  As long as you involve yourself with something meaningful, it will add up to something later, perhaps be a tipping point for a job acceptance.  I also read that many successful people didn't even go to university, and used those years for what later are seen as very productive times.  Again, I'm not an expert, just anecdotal reading.  Tho' I add the point that years of trying to talk to people who won't listen is going to wear down something inside you.  Was that Sisyphus with the big rock?  -- it may feel like that.

---------

I know little of Belgium, some historical anecdotes.  What can you tell us about being Dutch, or about Belgium or Flanders, from your view?

[luxfelix]

 

I'll also throw in there that you can have more value than you'd initially think through comparative advantage; for example, when it comes to computer literacy, you'll likely have an advantage over people over fifty years of age.

[blankbanshee2]

Thanks for the feedback,

 

There is no exact story behind my name. I just chose it because one of my favourite artists is called Blank Banshee and I thought it was a cool name.

 

Belgium is a bureaucratic nightmare. As a country with only 11 milion residents we have 5 governments (6 including the EU) that are constantly in conflict with each other because the federal government tries to take control over the regional governments (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the small German canton.) There is kind of a stereotype in Flanders about Wallonians that they are lazy and live from Flemish welfare. Same is for the many immigrants who live in Brussel's ghettos. I guess it's sort of true for many of them, not all of course.

 

Many people regurarly speak out against the big government, but at the and they always turn back to it because our national soccer team won another game, or a well-known politician shows up in a panda costume at a show. This tactic of artificial patriotism makes the idea of Flemish independence unpopular. The biggest Flemish separatist party (N-VA) is taken over by federalists. The only party that takes Flemish independence seriously anymore is the far-right Vlaams Belang who is very unpopular among the youth (called racist by media etc.). Although I support independence, I am very skeptic of some of this party's economic beliefs who lean towards fascism rather than capitalism, which is not different from what we already have.

 

The only libertarian party (LDD) died two years ago because they didn't get enough votes. For the rest, voluntaryism and anarchism are relelatively unknown to the population who is still caught in the socialist vs. fascist pardigram.

 

Over all, I think Belgium is the least anarchic country in the west. With the only "anarchists" being commies from the workers unions who throw molotovs at people because they're mad at things the government did, but are being told by the media that is was the market's fault.