Amsterdam, 'the cesspool', strikes back at O'Reilly

[FruityBud]

A 25-year-old film student from Amsterdam has taken on Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly over his misrepresentation of the Dutch capital.

It is a much-belated response, but 25-year-old Robert Nieuwenhuijs' July 27 video reply to Fox News' description of Amsterdam as a "cesspool of corruption" has nevertheless become a hit on the video-sharing website YouTube.

"Amsterdam is a cesspool of corruption. Everything is out of control, it’s anarchy", a sidekick of Fox News conservative anchor Bill O'Reilly said during a broadcast in December 2008.

The O'Reilly Factor wanted to prove the point that the liberal drug policy of the Netherlands had backfired, since the Dutch government was planning to tighten the rules governing soft drugs use. "The Netherlands are becoming more conservative", said O'Reilly.

By showing smudgy images of Amsterdam's red light district over negative commentary - "It's a moral disaster" -, O'Reilly wanted to make his viewers believe that Amsterdam has turned into a modern equivelant of Sodom and Gomorrah.

25-year-old film academy graduate Robert Nieuwenhuijs from Amsterdam recently saw the show on YouTube and felt affronted by O'Reilly's Amsterdam-bashing. He decided to post a video reply on YouTube, calling it. He looked up numbers about drugs use from American and Dutch national surveys and made some striking comparisons.

For instance, the percentage of the population that has ever used cannabis is almost twice as high in the United States (40.3 percent) as in the Netherlands (22.6 percent). The number of drug-related deaths per million inhabitants in the Netherlands is 2.4, whereas the American figure stands at 38.

Nieuwenhuijs did copy one technique from O'Reilly: he interlaced his facts and figures with his own suggestive images of Amsterdam. Like a father and child cycling through the city, or people waving to passers-by on the city's canals. Nieuwenhuijs' point: With that, contrary to O'Reilly's depiction, Amsterdam is a pretty comfortable place to live. "Come and see for yourself", he asks O'Reilly in the last seconds of his movie.

Nieuwenhuijs' video reply has been reposted to some America's biggest blogs this week "O'Reilly Factor versus reality", wrote Mark Frauenfelder from BoingBoing. The libertarian blogger Andrew Sullivan (Daily Dish) commented: "The issue O'Reilly has with Holland is that, compared with the US in many respects, it values individual liberty."

So far, 1,133 YouTube-users made the effort of posting a reply to Nieuwenhuijs' video.

Video 1: The original O'Reilly broadcast
hxxp://www.youtube.com/v/BRAlejn5gcQ&hl=nl&fs=1&

Video 2: Robert Nieuwenhuijs' video reply
hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPsFIsxM3w

hxxp://shuurl.com/H6129

 

[smokeytheherb]

It blows me away watching that and it saddens me that people can be so ignorant, it is people like that give American's a bad name. I myself have not visited the Netherlands yet but these people have never even been there either I'm guessing and to make insulting judgments like that just shows how ignorant people really can be in those positions.

 

[Piperson]

what a bunch of buffoons. that's why i never watch his crap. I'd like to visit Amsterdam though. :holysheep:

 

[SPEARCHUCKER]

Fox carries the dumbest anchors in history.
Just a couple days ago Glenn Beck called Obama racist.
There is something seriously wrong with everyone involved with Fox news. And its followers who actually watch/believe their garbage.

 

[StoneyBud]

The talking heads on TV are nothing more than money drivers. They do whatever it takes to bring money into the network that OWNS them. If striping down and humping a canine would increase their income, I'm sure they'd figure a way to show it. Don't take what appears on TV so seriously. It's not real life. It's a money making business.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Everyone gets something right once in awhile. The rest of the time, they're nothing more than a popular TV person expressing what their producer tells them to express.

It's not their personal opinion. It's what they're TOLD TO SAY by the money makers who pay them.

Anyone who lets the talking box run their life and make them get mad is being controlled by the talking box, not reality.

Let's stick to reality. Just turn the channel or better yet, turn the stupid thing off.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world to visit. Long before medical marijuana Amsterdam had countless high grade strains and a pot friendly atmosphere found nowhere else until recently. I've done a lot of business and personal travel in Europe and all roads lead to Amsterdam on my map and I usually begin and end my all my European travels there if scheduling allows. It's a culturally rich, international city that is a great blend of the old and the new. Like any city you have to use your common sense about security on the street after dark but I've walked the city extensively and I never felt any more vulnerable to crime than I do in any other major city. And almost everyone speaks perfect English too!

I wish I could go right now.... screw Bill O

Peace!

 

[FruityBud]

Nicely said Dirtyolsouth, and as StoneyBud said, they are just Money drivers. Amsterdam is a wonderful city. I go to Amsterdam 4 times every year, and i have never seeing 1 fight or ever being in any sort of trouble, 100 times much safer that my local town. On a side note, going out there on the 27th of this month for 6 days. If anyone on the forum is going out their that time PM me, would like to meet up with some members.

Peace.

 

[The Effen Gee]

Bill O'Riely...

Lol.

 

[ArtVandolay]

I'll never forget my first coffee shop visit in Amsterdam (about 10 years ago). I asked the concierge where a good one was and off I went. Once inside, I realized I didn't know how it worked exactly . But I saw the booze bottles on the shelf so I did something I'm really good at - I ordered a drink. Then I overheard another customer ask for the menu. Duh , who'd have guessed that??? I don't remember the strains on the menu but I remember hash, rolled and unrolled 8 or 9 different strains. I also remember that was as high as I've ever been smoking mj :hubba:.

 

[meds4me]

I'm looking forward to this up-coming spring trip to the "dam' .....
As far as o'rielly: he's a smuck nuff said !

 

[meds4me]

Okay, couldnt count the "TURDS" in our "news people" here in the USof A.
I dont read the daily "shizzle" as its biased / rude statements like (O'rielly) who give us americans the black eye .....

 

[ArtVandolay]

Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world to visit. Long before medical marijuana Amsterdam had countless high grade strains and a pot friendly atmosphere found nowhere else until recently. I've done a lot of business and personal travel in Europe and all roads lead to Amsterdam on my map and I usually begin and end my all my European travels there if scheduling allows. It's a culturally rich, international city that is a great blend of the old and the new. Like any city you have to use your common sense about security on the street after dark but I've walked the city extensively and I never felt any more vulnerable to crime than I do in any other major city. And almost everyone speaks perfect English too!

I wish I could go right now.... screw Bill O

Peace!

Let's not forget the Lido and the Red Light District :hubba:. Amsterdam had the best Thai restaurants, too.

 

[StoneyBud]

Let's not forget the Lido and the Red Light District :hubba:. Amsterdam had the best Thai restaurants, too.

Damn I love Thai food man! The hotter the better! Man, you eat a full flavored Thai meal, sweat enough to wet your pants down a couple of inches under your belt and you get a high almost as good as MJ.

Plus, it's just damn good!

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Let's not forget the Lido and the Red Light District :hubba:. Amsterdam had the best Thai restaurants, too.

Amsterdam has a lot of great international cuisine and what they're really known for having is the Indonesian cuisine... The result of Indonesia being a Dutch colony from 1600-1949. They are well known for a feast style decadent meal called a rijsttafel - see pic below. It's very good but I prefer Thai food over Indonesian... IME Thai food is much more full flavored and does a bit more of that wonderful balance between sweet, savory, salty and heat as well as much more garlic than Indonesian...

Another similar cuisine is Burmese and if you're in NYC there's a place calle Mingala that slays me... Every bit as good as Thai with slightly different flavors...

oh god... now I'm hungry for Thai food at 8am!

Peace!

 

[ArtVandolay]

...

Another similar cuisine is Burmese and if you're in NYC there's a place calle Mingala that slays me... Every bit as good as Thai with slightly different flavors...

oh god... now I'm hungry for Thai food at 8am!

Peace!

There's a great Thai place (or there was in 2005) in Manhattan on 44th between 6th and Broadway called Yum Thai. Cooked fresh while you watch. Yum!!!

I wonder what great Thai recipes you all might have! I'm very partial to spicy red chili paste recipes. Now I'm hungry at 930 AM!

 

[PencilHead]

Oh man, panang-anything works anytime. I'm going to salivate down to restraunt row right now.