Hotseat 12: The Skipper

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Pretty tight idea tbh

Didn't see more than a couple of seconds of it, but it looked pretty "loose" to me!

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Didn't see more than a couple of seconds of it, but it looked pretty "loose" to me!

I always knew you were a back-door guy

(not in a gay way)

Sorry Skips. I'm done now.

[Myself 793]

which addiction is worse...

addiction to the computer, or to weed?

imo its computer, easily

[Beepu 1,714]

Hi Skipper!

1.) I'm probably most curious about how you carry yourself here. There are alot of tension sometimes in the forum with different opinions, hostility, etc, and what I realise about you is that you are always very calm and respectful in your posts, how do you usually stay calm and respectful if something said bothers you? There are other members who doesn't resort to name calling but you are one of the few ones who does not put down others for having a different opinion or for lack of knowledge. It is truly a great quality and shows maturity I believe, which brings me to my second question.

2.) Can we be friends?

3.) What are some of the best places to visit in the Netherlands (as a local) I've been there twice and really enjoyed it, but I went when I was abit younger so I didn't understand much nor I remember exactly where I went, just remembered going to this cheese place and seeing windmills. I will probably go to Europe again in 2016.

4.) You mentioned that you're of Ghanaian ancestry, are your parents both from Ghana? Have you ever been there?

5.) I've always wondered about how the non native people live in NL, are there racism at all there? I know alot of people there are of Arabic and African background. Were there ever an issue of integration with the different communities?

[The Skipper 20,593]

which addiction is worse...

addiction to the computer, or to weed?

imo its computer, easily

Yup, definitely the former. People can't live without technology these days and isn't seen as a bad thing, and it's always readily available everywhere unlike the latter.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Hi Skipper!

1.) I'm probably most curious about how you carry yourself here. There are alot of tension sometimes in the forum with different opinions, hostility, etc, and what I realise about you is that you are always very calm and respectful in your posts, how do you usually stay calm and respectful if something said bothers you? There are other members who doesn't resort to name calling but you are one of the few ones who does not put down others for having a different opinion or for lack of knowledge. It is truly a great quality and shows maturity I believe, which brings me to my second question.

Hey pal!

I guess it's just who I am and how I was brought up. I don't look or react to hostility or negativity as badly as others... It takes a lot of nonsense to get me angry. When I do get angry though it's a different story, I pretty much explode.

2.) Can we be friends?

Of course!

3.) What are some of the best places to visit in the Netherlands (as a local) I've been there twice and really enjoyed it, but I went when I was abit younger so I didn't understand much nor I remember exactly where I went, just remembered going to this cheese place and seeing windmills. I will probably go to Europe again in 2016.

Hmm... As a local I really enjoy going to places like Haarlem or Groningen... Both are very rich culturally, and beautiful cities. I enjoy grabbing a bike and just exploring the cities, and the beauty of them. There are also a few museums and historical places there which you might enjoy i.e. in Haarlem there is a tree rumoured to have the initials of Napoleon's soldiers which they carved in themselves... Of course there is also the excellent cafés around in pretty much every city that you just must try.

4.) You mentioned that you're of Ghanaian ancestry, are your parents both from Ghana? Have you ever been there?

Yeah they both are. I've been numerous times and absolutely love it there. Might even retire there God willing.

5.) I've always wondered about how the non native people live in NL, are there racism at all there? I know alot of people there are of Arabic and African background. Were there ever an issue of integration with the different communities?

It's really nice down in NL when it comes to racism and discrimination - almost everyone is completely against such. Holland is probably one of the most tolerant countries in the world. However, whilst I personally never had any problems there are some issues that do arise now and then. For example right now, there is the 'Zwarte Piet' phenomena going on. Incase you don't know who Zwarte Piet is, he is one of Sinterklaas' (the equivelant to Santa Claus) helpers:

Even though it's been part of Dutch culture for decades, people are now starting to realise/protest that it's actually pretty derogatory towards black people. A lot of campaigns and protests are now starting to pick up steam to remove "zwarte" (black) from Zwarte Piet. A quick google search; here's a decent article from the BBC detailing such actually:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24744499

[Beepu 1,714]

Interesting, in Indonesia we have the zwarte piet as well. Alot of Indonesian words came from the Dutch, hmm like kulkas(fridge), resleting(zipper), kopling(gear shift in cars, clutch?), arloji(watch), kamar, etc. I call my grandparents opa and oma as well, om & tante for uncle and aunty. There might be some differences in spelling compared to real Dutch! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_loanwords_in_Indonesian#From_Dutch

[Spike 12,049]

@The Skipper, Blackface isn't offensive in Australia. A while ago there was a sketch on TV that had a group of performers in black face dancing to Michael Jackson, no one in Aus cared but a bunch of Americans and Canadians threw a wobbly about it.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Black Pete is black because he enters our houses trough chimneys, that's what basically all the kids get told here in Belgium anyway. There was no racial issue at all, before some stupid American reporter threw a tantrum a few years ago.

Sorry to derail your thread Skipper

[Stingray 9,441]

Black Pete is black because he enters our houses trough chimneys, that's what basically all the kids get told here in Belgium anyway. There was no racial issue at all, before some stupid American reporter threw a tantrum a few years ago.

Sorry to derail your thread Skipper

True .... was a bit of a debate here as well on it.

[Kieran. 6,317]

@The Skipper, Blackface isn't offensive in Australia. A while ago there was a sketch on TV that had a group of performers in black face dancing to Michael Jackson, no one in Aus cared but a bunch of Americans and Canadians threw a wobbly about it.

Blackface is always offensive..you're deluded if you think otherwise

[The Skipper 20,593]

[The Skipper 20,593]

Interesting, in Indonesia we have the zwarte piet as well. Alot of Indonesian words came from the Dutch, hmm like kulkas(fridge), resleting(zipper), kopling(gear shift in cars, clutch?), arloji(watch), kamar, etc. I call my grandparents opa and oma as well, om & tante for uncle and aunty. There might be some differences in spelling compared to real Dutch! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_loanwords_in_Indonesian#From_Dutch

Oh wow, that's very interesting. Never knew that. I guess I can add Indonesia to 'countries I'd like to visit' now... Tell me a little bit about your country... What are the main attractions and such?

[The Skipper 20,593]

Black Pete is black because he enters our houses trough chimneys, that's what basically all the kids get told here in Belgium anyway. There was no racial issue at all, before some stupid American reporter threw a tantrum a few years ago.

Sorry to derail your thread Skipper

That's interesting, the main debate seems to be however that Black Pete has atypical 'black features', hence why some think it's derogatory. Some extreme people try to relate it to slavery? As in the Piets are Sinterklaas' slaves... Funny I know. I personally don't have much of a problem with it though, although I can see why some may find it a bit offensive... But maybe that's because I'm not permanently located in NL anymore, so my views on it aren't worth much IMO...

[The Skipper 20,593]

@The Skipper, Blackface isn't offensive in Australia. A while ago there was a sketch on TV that had a group of performers in black face dancing to Michael Jackson, no one in Aus cared but a bunch of Americans and Canadians threw a wobbly about it.

Blackface has it's similarities with Black Pete but I think Blackface sketches are definitely more offensive IMO, since they do try to imitate stereotypical black actions and such, with a typical one being the 'happy guy from the plantation' sketch which used to be huge in America when slavery was big. It might be due to the fact that there isn't a huge black population in Australia (I think), as compared to other countries.

[Spike 12,049]

Blackface is always offensive..you're deluded if you think otherwise

Except when there is no one around to be offended by it...like in Australia. Maybe some people are, I can't speak for everyone but black face is a non-issue here.

If I were in a room alone and said the 'n' word, would it be offensive? No, becuase there isn't anyone to be offended by it.

[Spike 12,049]

Blackface has it's similarities with Black Pete but I think Blackface sketches are definitely more offensive IMO, since they do try to imitate stereotypical black actions and such, with a typical one being the 'happy guy from the plantation' sketch which used to be huge in America when slavery was big. It might be due to the fact that there isn't a huge black population in Australia (I think), as compared to other countries.

It was a pretty awful sketch mind you and I understand why people would be offended but I was trying to state that in different cultures things are very different. It was five men in black face dancing like Michael Jackson and another painted white singing Michael Jackson. They didn't portray Africans in a negative manner, there wasn't any negative stereotpyes portrayed, there was an offensive image shown but the way Africans were portrayed wasn't in a negative light. The only reason it could be construed as racist is the connotations it has with the 'happy guy from the plantation', which it shares no similarites with outside of black painted skin and curly hair (there was no big lips). If it were examined on its own as an independant phenonmenon it would just be defined as an unfunny comedy sketch.

Australia has a growing African population that is relatively free of the stigmas that are associated with African-Americans. Australia is often viewed as a racist country but after traveling to America I can safely say that Australia is very much an accepting country with high amounts of multi-culturalism. There have been issues in the past and one I can blame on the American media. Pre-9/11 there was almost no anti Middle-East and Muslim sentiment and this is verified by older Arabic-Australians. There integration was seamless but after 9/11 and a series of brutal gang-rapes committed by young Muslim men targetting white women, there were riots, violence, gang fights and everything between.

[The Skipper 20,593]

It was a pretty awful sketch mind you and I understand why people would be offended but I was trying to state that in different cultures things are very different. It was five men in black face dancing like Michael Jackson and another painted white singing Michael Jackson. They didn't portray Africans in a negative manner, there wasn't any negative stereotpyes portrayed, there was an offensive image shown but the way Africans were portrayed wasn't in a negative light. The only reason it could be construed as racist is the connotations it has with the 'happy guy from the plantation', which it shares no similarites with outside of black painted skin and curly hair (there was no big lips). If it were examined on its own as an independant phenonmenon it would just be defined as an unfunny comedy sketch.

Australia has a growing African population that is relatively free of the stigmas that are associated with African-Americans. Australia is often viewed as a racist country but after traveling to America I can safely say that Australia is very much an accepting country with high amounts of multi-culturalism. There have been issues in the past and one I can blame on the American media. Pre-9/11 there was almost no anti Middle-East and Muslim sentiment and this is verified by older Arabic-Australians. There integration was seamless but after 9/11 and a series of brutal gang-rapes committed by young Muslim men targetting white women, there were riots, violence, gang fights and everything between.

Fair enough. Very informative, thanks Spike.