Touche Amsterdam...

Well, although it has been a few days since I got back from Amsterdam and I am still thinking about all of the things I experienced whilst there. The overall theme of the weekend as my tourist-partner-in-crime and I toured the city asking locals where to go and them responding with the subtly condescending question "Are you American?" (...we would flash our expensively excessive orthodontic smiles and give them the truth as they judged us with progressive Dutch eyes), is that Americans (according to the Dutch) are a bunch of squares. Yes, everything we boast about having is bigger, better, and tastier (dear god the food is dreadful in England), than anything European's could even attempt at creating, but here are the reasons why the Dutch think that we are all a lovely group of unprogressive pricks (with as many pictures as I could provide...which is not alot):

1) Marijuana is openly smoked on the streets and is, therefore, legal. Thus, we become a happy group of green- haters. I would assume the argument Amsterdam makes for why it IS legal is that they have a crime rate about half the size of ours. And as I asked locals and coffee shop owners why they responded with an answer I would assume someone in the South would give for being able to own guns: it's just the way it is and it works just fine. So, touche Amsterdam. However, is correlation always causation?

2) Prostitution is legal. Morality aside because I am not prepared to defend myself in any extensive argument on the subject, but the Red Light district is not exactly Utopia. But, it is taxed which made me wonder if perhaps destroying the black market of this trade, making it legal, and taxing it would help our economy. I suppose the same would be true for marijuana. Just food for thought, if you will.

3) There are more bikes in Amsterdam than people. Which means a couple of things: they are more environmentally aware than any Prius or SmartCar in suburbia could attempt at being, their transportation system is efficient and successful on daily basis, and the people, therefore, are fit and better looking (I kid you not, except, biking may not exactly make you better looking but I would assume that it creates a better gene pool)

Ill-thought-out arguments/politics aside, Amsterdam is an amazing city. And more often than not, they've got it right. But I do have to agree with some of the Dutch. Some Americans won't ever change the way they and past generations have thought. Although I hope this isn't completely true, I am young, stupid and hopelessly optimistic.