Steemit Basic Income Giveaway (Your country)

in #alldutchenglish6 years ago (edited)


I'm going to post this a bit before the other post pays out, as it was done on Japan time, and I'm not going to wait for that now that I'm in Europe again!

Most of us have a connection, whether it is strong or weak, with a particular country on Earth (I hope it is Earth....). Sometimes, it is a hugely patriotic or fundamental part of our identity and at other times it is nothing more than the place that we live and that issues us our passports!

Whichever camp you fall into, it is hard to deny that where you spend a significant part of your life does shape and mold your character and sense of identity. We pick up (or rebel against) the habits and cultural norms of the people around us, our languages and customs shape us and even mundane things like preferred physical proximity to others can be defined by our surroundings.

As a musician, I travel a lot, and so I'm lucky to be able to constantly see different cultures and peoples during my working life. This last week, I was in Japan where I have to say that the culture and people are vastly different to what I experience in Europe. Neither better nor worse, just different!

In our own cultures and countries, there are many things that we would be proud of, and many other things that we are less than proud of, and then many things that we would be completely blind to! What one person might be proud of, another might be not so happy with... the complexities of people... we are not hive animals at all!

My Question

My questions this week are pretty simple in comparison to other weeks!

  1. What are things that you are happy or proud of about your country, that you would tell others about? It could be anything, customs, food places....
  2. What are things about your country that you are not so proud of? Again, it could be anything at all!

My sample answer

Well, seeing as I'm Australian, but I live in Netherlands, I will give two parts to this answer. One for my birth country and another for my adopted country!

Australia


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The thing I like best about Australia is the variety of cultures and backgrounds that have chosen to settle in this country. This brings a wealth of foods and customs that in general serve to enrich and bolster the fabric of society. The natural colours and vast variety of natural habitats and animals is something that is hard to describe to an outsider. The greens of the plants are completely different to the rest of the world, and the animals are plain bizarre at times!

The thing that I am less proud of, is the growing wealth inequality and growing gap in living standards. We used to be a country that prized egalitarianism, however, in the last couple of decades, we have followed the path of America and in good economic times, have been obsessed about chasing wealth, instead of preparing the future for the less good economic times.

Netherlands


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There is no question about what I love best about Netherlands! The great infrastructure (and the lack of hills) for cycling around! Everything revolves around biking, and it is even better when the Sun is shining! You don't need bikes with gears, the kids learn to ride around with us, and we even have a bakfiets (a big bucket bike, like a truck on a tricycle!) for doing the big shopping trips! The paths and road rules are set up in a way that you never feel in danger from cars, and you don't have to wear a helmet!

The Netherlands isn't really well known for it's culinary prowess, and as such, it can be quite difficult to get good food (either at restaurants or just to cook with!). Supermarkets tend not to stock very good cuts of meat or vegetables, which means that you need to go to specialists or wholesalers to get decent food. However, that said, things have improved quite a lot in the time that I have been here!

Rules

  1. Upvote if you want, it increases the payout and then I can hopefully sponsor more people.
  2. Resteem is NOT neccessary, but the more people see this, the more the people will be likely to be sponsored.
  3. In the comments, answer as best as you can the questions that are posed in the "My Questions"!
  4. I have added a small Steem-Bounty to the post, so that everyone who replies with a valid entry will get something back. If I give your post a small upvote, it is valid (also, subscribe to @dustsweeper for maximum benefit!).
  5. I will be sponsoring as many people as this post pays out in liquid SBD/STEEM. Also I will kick in at least the required amount to round up to the full number. Winner is by random generator after a shortlisting of quality comments!

Steem Basic Income

One of the first communities that I came in contact with at the beginning of my time at Steemit was @steembasicincome. As a author starting out on your fresh new Steemit account, Steemit can be a daunting and lonely place to be. OFten, it can feel like you are posting into an abyss with no one listening and with no ability to grow out of the situation. A share of Steem Basic Income gives you a guaranteed vote on one post a day, thus giving you a small but over time cumulative support to your account to help grow you out of your initial wilderness!

With this post, I want to help sponsor people who might not even have the spare 1 STEEM that is required for registration. So, when this post pays out, I will sponsor people depending on the payout of this post. Basically, I will round up the SBD payout from this post and then that will be the number of people I will sponsor. (So, if the payout is 2.3 SBD, I will sponsor 3 people). OF course, this is not simply an altruistic move, as the sponsor of a Steem Basic Income share also gets a share, so it is a great way to help others whilst helping yourself!

Last week's winners

The last post is going to pay out around 3.8 STEEM (before curation) in liquid earnings. So, that would make 3 shares to be safe! I will do the extra one tomorrow, if it ends up over 3 after curation.

The winners by random draw are:

@niallon11

@theironfelix

@a0i



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Thanks for the contest @bengy; I'm a big fan of Steem Basic Income.

As for the questions, that's tough. I live in the USA, was born and (somewhat) grew up in Denmark; lived in both Spain and the UK for many years... as a result of which "home" has become a very fluid state; more like a state of mind than a geographical place. But in honor of the competition, I will stick with Denmark and the US.

What I love about Denmark is that it's small and its infrastructure is such that you can walk and bike everywhere, and the public transportation will take you everywhere else. There is a sort of "serenity" there that goes with a functioning social democracy; people are less "on edge" because they know there is a "safety net," even if they never need it. The popular myth about Danes being "the happiest people" in the world is a bit of a misnomer and mis-translation. Danes are actually on the somber side... BUT they have an extraordinarily high sense of "life contentment."

What I love about the US is the incredibly wide open spaces and extreme variety of environments. Just within a two hour drive of where we are, we have marginal desert, rainforest, alpine glaciers and more. I love the fact that I readily have the ability to work for myself; something that would involve miles of red tape and regulations in Denmark. And I like that living here remains at least somewhat affordable, compared to most developed nations.

Thanks again!
=^..^=

Hey @curatorcat! Thanks for making an entry, just for a complete valid entry, you would also need to address the second question:

What are things about your country that you are not so proud of? Again, it could be anything at all!

Anyway, I have been to Denmark a couple of times, and it does seem like a decent place to feel content in! What people don't tend to realise (from other countries) is that that sort of "safety net" comes with the social contract of a higher taxation, so that everyone supports each other in that way, but often, people want the safety without the bill and social obligation...

I can imagine that you love the open spaces of the of the US, it is definitely something that I miss a lot from Australia. The Netherlands seems so packed in comparison....

This is one of the easiest questions that you can ever ask me. I won't lie, I fucking love being irish. We drink, party, live life and cause trouble but are still accepted all over the world. Anywhere you go if you identify as irish you will be welcomed and warmed. If you meet other irish you are instantly best friends and can do whatever you want together. It's like having a passport to fun.

Now maybe we cause some trouble from time to time but for rte most part we as a people try to have fun at no cost to other people. Its pretty much a culture that we have where everyone gets on and goes together.

There is a stereotype out there but to be fair it's actually mostly true. Anybody that I grew up with are mad bastards who love the drink.

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Hey @niallon11, sounds a bit like being Canadian ... like me! We love our beer and probably are just a bit more polite "mad bastards who love the drink" :)

Mad bastards in the best sense of the word. Not to cause trouble but can do anything of a night out. There doesn't seem to be that voice there to say that this is a bad idea and not to do it. Instead it just goes, "do it, it will be grand". No matter what it is.

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hahaha I was never blessed with "that" voice that says, "this is a bad idea" haha Mine instead says, "go on, what's the worse that can happen?" :)

But that's where all the fun is. If you don't pass the line you won't ever know where the night might take you. The best nights out are always the random ones. The ones where there is no plan you just keep following the fun.

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That's totally what we say all of the time!!! Some of my very best memories out are the ones that weren't planned at all, but just 'kinda happened'!!

Sounds like a great country and nationality to belong to! Ireland is on the list of places that I want to visit, oddly enough, I had always thought that it was a quiet and green place!

Just for a complete entry, you also need to answer the other question :

What are things about your country that you are not so proud of? Again, it could be anything at all!

Sorry i missed that part. What i don't like about the country is the levels of corruption and incompetence at government level. We have a housing crisis, healthcare crisis, mental health crisis, etc....... And our politicians either can't or won't do anything about it. We have families sleeping on the streets and houses that people cant afford to rent but foreign companies are paying 1% tax to operate here. There are a hundred other examples. It's a great country with some great people but the top politicians and companies care nothing about the people.

Oh I'm with you about the senselessness of creating a tax haven (either for individuals or corporations). They will park their money there, but they do as little as possible to achieve that "right". In addition, it takes away from the countries that the taxation should normally go to without the accounting tricks....

It's a valid entry!

PS: I'm coming to Ireland for the first time in a week or so! I'm curious to see how mad you guys really are!

Great to hear it. It depends on what part of the country you go to, it gets a lot wilder out the west of the country but there is still plenty to see and do around the place.

Have you any plan for the trip or just coming over to see a few sites? It should be fun either way.

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Just coming for work, so I will be in a single area... Not sure how much free time I will have, but will definitely try the local drinks and food! Any recommendations?

Depends on what area you will be in. Ask anybody local and they can point you in a good direction. My idea of a night out might be slightly different to yours but i'm sure that you can find something to do during your trip. It can't be work all of the time...!!! Obviously you will have to drink some guinness but i like my whisky and you can find a lot of varieties around too.

Of course! Irish whisky, will have to keep an eye out for that!

I am having to come back and read some of these. This question could lead to some answers not all will like but remember we all come from different places.

  1. I live in the USA. I as born in Southern California one of the most liberal areas of the USA and have never moved away. The thing I love most about my country is the acceptance we have for some many things. Within blocks of my house we have a few Christian churches, Jewish temples, catholic churches, Muslim, Korean, and Chinese sorry don't know the names for all of them. We all live so close to each other interact with each other. Our kids go to schools together and races and religions intermingle and we all Americans. This has been testing in last few years and from the outside it might look like we don't like each other. But very few places in the world are like this. We fight with each other but it comes from the freedom we all feel. We have all been told we have this freedom and to never let anyone take it away from you. Why I will fight for rights of people even if they do things I don't like.

  2. I don't like our media and how it works. We have a lot of 24 hour news stations and it is law that all the major stations have to have some news. Yet our news has become more like shows. They are on one side our the other. They don't focus on things that really matter to me. They always spend a lot of time on the bad things that happen here. You can have a great day and come home and news looks like your country is failing. It is odd.

Well, from what I understand, California is pretty much a country in it's own right! It's great that it is a melting pot of different cultures and peoples generally living in harmony and creating an shared indentity!

I agree with you about the 24 hour entertainment news idea... most of the news should be boring and analytical, not something blown up to be exciting. Unfortunately, that is what sells, and so there is a huge market for that... pity, it really plays to the ingrained sub-surface tribalism in all of us.

  1. What are things that you are happy or proud of about your country, that you would tell others about? It could be anything, customs, food places....

I am happy being an Indonesian😊 because we have a beautiful country with hundreds of ethnics and its local languages. I am proud and happy of my country because of its multicultural community and religions living together in harmony. What do you expect from an archipelago tropical country? Beautiful beaches, coral reefs, the various types of plants and animals, hardworking people and their struggling to keep the peace and information minded.

  1. What are things about your country that you are not so proud of? Again, it could be anything at all!

I'm not so proud of my country because some people trying to destroy the peace and harmony by terrorism acts and the politicians are corrupt, and sometimes people are trying to hurts others because of the different political view and choice.

I just listened to a podcast about Indonesia, although ti was more focused on politics and statecraft rather than social and the ordinary people. Even so, it did seem like a vast variety of peoples, spread out on so many diverse and different islands! It does sound like a beautiful place, although most Australians would only know of Bali and not much else (and I suspect that Australian tourists are probably seen as a necessary evil...).

I had heard of the difficulties with the local extremists causing problems (well, Bali was affected many years ago...), and the recent election turned up quite a surprise! I guess that people had had enough of the corruption, I hope it begins to get better, but these things can take a long time to change...

Flyin' by to make that entry comment now!Flyin' by!.gif

Cuba

Oh this was hard to pick a country that I had a particularly strong liking for, so lemme explain why Cuba is in this spot.
For the history it had, Cuba had liberated itself during the 1956 revolution from the clutches of US imperialism that was carried on the island, kicked the American mafias and bankers of as well and any gusano that helped American interests. From that point, Cuba had been the best Global South nation to not only withstand American sanctions but also develop way faster than every other South American nation. Literacy rates shot up, Cuba sports and can prove it has the highest amount of and best medical personal, adopting better LGBTQIA+ policies way before even the USA would clamor its achievement and things have been moving forward ever since Canal came into power.
With a firm stand to defend the independence of the country, the culture had been able to finally breathe and not conform to US interests. I say I've seen more that Cubans are usually nice people (even in the "poor" sections), the cigars are lovely there, old retro cars they still use thanks to US sanctions and they've been moving forward lil' by lil' towards a more electronic Cuba as to combat the sanctions. Of course, are they perfect despite these remarks: no. But they've done more and continue to hold onto that longer than most countries would dare to dream of.
Czerwony salut to Che Guevara, the Castros, Canal and the Cuban people for their valiant struggle in a World that wishes to stomp them hard.

USA

Of equal difficulty, but lemme go on to explain why I have a big fault with the USA. Now it won't be a whine of the symptoms like Donald Trump or a backwards Democrats, though they tell a very dangerous tale and where the USA is heading.
No I find fault with other symptoms like the education system that is pseudo mix between "free" and "systematized" - to explain this, the edusys of America is Common Core where standardized testings don't even line up to what companies want nor what is culturally valuable to a workforce even. To go further, the focus of funding education is based upon rewarding who's performing well and punishing the less performing well (this is a recipe for disaster, especially if we really want to take this to the level of crime and funding police less if crime is more active). But moreover, the fact that creativity and democracy are de-emphasized in the USA, the purported champion of democracy and freedom, makes it feels like a bad ironic story when reading this. Yet I can't even make half of this shit up if I picked a random city out of the blue and find out how bad they're education is!
This recent political controversy of Donald Trump and backwards Dems needs to take a backseat to the literal future of kids - else they're begging for people to spark violence and do more than a mere "political" revolution whence they see reforms aren't an option anymore. But, let the USA learn that lesson yet again (looks intently to every student and workers' revolt ever in the USA).

I think you slightly misunderstood the questions, but no matter, it is still a valid entry as you put such a big and detailed reply in!

PS: Thanks for the treeplanter vote!
I often hear good things about Cuba from people who come from there, and some things of it, I would have to agree seem to be quite progressive in the country. However, I am not sure that so much power vested in a small number of people, (however enlightened or well intentioned they might be) is a stable and long-term viable solution?

I do find the education system in the United States to be a strange thing, the idea that curriculum could be dictated by politically elected school boards is quite odd to me. I'm afraid I'm not able to make an intelligent comment on Common Core or the schooling system in general, as I don't really know much about it!

The thing is that Cuba has a Supreme Soviet (Grand Council) system, not an elites club. Even then you’re probably confusing the Central Committee for the elites thing - in which case, those positions are voted in by those in Supreme Soviet who in turn are voted in by workers who are workers themselves. Now you may point out the lack of parties, but the thing is that there’s multiple ideologies under the Supreme Soviet, yet they don’t display what party they belong to - the same goes for even the ML (leading) party, they represent the Cuban proles and their concerns not their party and not their concerns. Anyways, I got this info from my sources (contacts) from Cuba and been personally in Cuba to see it - thus were I get my info on Cuba.

Huh, I only know a little bit about the country and it's governance! Thanks for the information and education!

I live in the USA...Texas and one of the things I love about my country is that we have a large number of immigrants coming here every year to build a better life for themselves and their families as our forefathers did for us. It is no small accomplishment to leave the country you grew up in and go somewhere else to build a new life I can respect that.
I hate most about my country is the racism. We are all part of other races and no one race is better than another. My God built all men in his own image....

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My parents were also immigrants to a new nation (Australia), and they also had many immigrant friends from various nations around the world. Both of our nations (Australia and the US) were built on the backs of immigrants who migrated to seek and build a better place of opportunity for their children. That is the sort of drive that propels them to do great things!

Unfortunately, racism is everywhere... it is the easiest and basest way to deal with others, to tribalise and refuse to engage.

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I'm from the Philippines. There a lot of things that I'm proud of like the beautiful places that you can visit here and its diverse culture. What I love about being a Filipino is that most of us are hospitable.

What I don't like about this country is the discrimination on the health care workers especially when it comes to wage. I really don't know why they can't even raise the salary of the people who work so hard treating patients in the hospital.

Thanks for this contest!

I'm really sorry I missed your answer! I have included it in the list for the drawing though.

It's okay but Thank you for giving us this oppurtunity

Good questions, @bengy. For me, writing about my country, the USA, is like writing about my family. These are associations I was born into. My country is very close to me, so I love it. And yet, anything held that close will show flaws.

  1. What I love: I love the idea of my country. That is, the way it came into being, with indignant individuals deciding to make a break. Deciding they wouldn't accept rule from afar. I love the ideal of equality expressed in our founding documents, an expression that inspired independence movements around the world. I love the beauty of the land, the vibrancy of the city. I grew up in the foothills of a mountain chain, and moved to New York City, so I benefited from both land and city.

  2. My dismay arises from the way the reality separated from the ideal. In our Constitution, we speak of human beings as 3/5ths of a person, and these human beings were given even less dignity than that in practice. Women are not mentioned in my Constitution; not until 1920 were we even allowed to vote. Our great Manifest Destiny, which meant the political boundaries of the nation would expand westward, was enabled by genocide of original peoples. I know the USA is not unique in practicing slavery, in denying women the franchise, and in expanding politically at the expense of other peoples. But this is my country, my family, and these are aspects of my country that disappoint me. Today, in my country, there is a legacy of this unequal history. We are trying to sort things out so the reality comes closer to the ideal. This will take time.

There it is, @bengy. My love, and my disappointment, in my country, my home, the USA.

It's great that you grew up mid way between the two worlds! Now, if there was only a way to do that easily at the same time, it would be an ideal thing! Maybe with a private helicopter it could be possible?

It is amazing, the founding narrative of your country. It was such an idealistic (and practical...) step to have taken, although, I'm not so idealistic to believe that it was only pure intentions! However, it did set a precedent and became a guiding light for so many to follow and rally behind.

It is true and disappointing that we haven't managed to achieve true equality for the population, however, that said, we (the first world at least) have made large gains in such a short time of human history. I am hopeful that it can continue in this way, if we are vigilant and continue to advocate for these ideals.

... but it is from a love and expectation that such a dissapointment is born, from a desire for the country to be better than in is going into the future!

... but it is from a love and expectation that such a disappointment is born, from a desire for the country to be better than it is going into the future!

Yes. Just like me. There's what I want to be and what I work toward being. The two will never be identical. Thanks for your thoughtful response.

Thanks for the contest @bengy
There are a lot of interesting and wonderful things in Russia that I could talk about for a long time! :) And not even once think about what to tell... OK. The first thing now preslaw mind is our cartoon.

  • Masha and the Bear cartoon, which is known around the world and the children of all countries are happy to watch it. This cartoon. absorbed all the best traditions of the Soviet animation school. He not only entertains children, and teaches them to distinguish between good and evil, good and bad ability to enjoy life and carries a lot of positive!
    25.jpg

  • Well, since I started talking about television, I will say that I do not like today's television in Russia. It's a political talk show. They are all entirely rehearsed and built on scandals. No positive, all only very loudly speak or even shout, interrupt each other, and there is no desire to agree.

    26.jpg

    And of course very annoying ads :)
    Sorry to take your time and attention. Thanks.
    Pictures are taken from the site https://yandex.ru/images/

No problem! My child loves Masha and the Bear! I should have guessed from the name that it was Russion, I just didn't think too hard about it, and it is overdubbed in Dtuch, so I really had no idea where it came from! I'm afraid that the news everywhere is a bit staged to varying degrees, it is possible that you might have a slightly stronger version of it though....

I'm coming to Russia later in the year for a bit of work, I'm looking forward to it as I've never been there before! Do you have any suggestions for what sort of food or drink I should be looking at trying?

You are absolutely right @bengy, this cartoon can now be found everywhere on the Internet (personally for my taste-Masha herself is very hyperactive, as her Bear suffers? ))). Yes, all news programs are always engaged.
Come to Russia, it is a very interesting country. As for food and drinks, just recently after one contest I started to write a column about Russian cuisine and there are already a couple of dishes, which I told in my virtual John Silver's Cafe, it's Herring under a fur coat

7.jpg

and Russian salad.
6.jpg

I have just started this column and now I'm going to tell you about the Tatar national cuisine. It's delicious!!!)))
Come to my virtual cafe.....
But if your trip is already close, I am ready to tell you about delicious dishes and drinks by Express method)))
The Choice is yours )))

Wow, that first one looks like a cake until you look closer! I have followed, curious about the food!

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