Post 991575828

Hmm. Interesting. On Dutch humour » The idea of a national sense of humour does seem kind of absurd but maybe it is possible to generalise. The British, for example, have their years of repression to keep them amused while Americans just have to elect a new president any time they get bored with the old jokes. But the Dutch? Where does their society throw its banana skins?

"The reformation," says Sutton, sure now that he's on the right track. "I definitely believe that. The Dutch have always had this wonderful way of being the chosen people of the first world and in that sense I would compare them to the tribes of Israel. Because for first world democracy the Dutch were first; the mapmakers, the telescope and microscope builders. The Dutch brought that to the rest of us. So maybe they feel a little bit aloof towards humour. Maybe they feel they don't need humour. They are the chosen ones. They are the light. Liberal humanism, that's where it's at, man."