Doofpot

. Yet it’s a national symbol, our dear doofpot, so burgerlijk & old-fashioned cozy, this pot traditionally kept next to Dutch fireplaces to put hot coals in… Lift the doofpot lid, drop coals in, fire burns out… Good night, Hansje, sleep tight, Geertje!… Today though it’s a common, cute-sounding word for an ugly practice… of white-washing, diffusing, obfuscating high political-corporate-elite crimes & misdemeanors & corruptions… perhaps!… because you never know, once it’s in de doofpot, lid closed… whole truths, absolutes die!… Reputations saved, damage limited… Next!… Examples… an Israeli El Al cargo plane crashing into an apartment building in the Bijlmer, a poor folk’s neighborhood near Schiphol. Years later… Bijlmer residents, rescue workers who were on the scene… complain… sick, cancerous… birth defects?… Was the El Al plane carrying bio-chemicals, plutonium…? Slow investigation, delays, balls of red tape, parliamentary summer breaks… becoming old news… a hot toxic political potato grown cold… Long live the doofpot!… Today, the doofpot concept is mainstream, the lazy Dutch journalist’s favorite charge… A random Google ‘doofpot’ search produces 59,800 hits’ which is twice as many hits as ‘bestiality’ and ten times that of ‘goats for sale’… for example! for example!… Or recently, lowly Dutch soldier boy in Srebrenica perhaps takes photos of Serbs committing atrocities, atrocities the Dutch Army denies having knowledge of… Back in Holland, same soldier boy gives his possibly damning film to the Army to develop… oops!… sorry… whole roll’s ruined! overexposed!… CAMERA FADE IN doofpot lid opening, red-hot film dropped in, falls in slo-mo, landing next to a three-headed Bijlmeer baby, on top of a file marked, ‘Secret: Dutch Construction Company Fraud % Do Not Open!’… doofpot lid slams shut!… CAMERA FADE OUT a puff of smoke hanging in the air… Which is why the current Royal Family Feud is so damn entertaining!… Jerry Springer meets The Godfather… Oranje Regicide… Apparently, the Dutch Queen & Family hate this Princess M’s husband… Why?… Because hubby’s a slob, gay, dating an Aids patient, hates field hockey… doesn’t matter… Royal Family hates hubby as passionately as they love their Burberry scarves… Allegedly, Royal Power’s been terrorizing hubby… Princess M claims they’ve been bugged, that the Dutch secret police gave the Royals confidential documents about her hubby… Princess M is pissed… She’s royal too, can’t be denigrated, ignored, stuffed headfirst into the doofpot like any old Thom, Dirk or Arie!… But the doofpot lid’s wide open, a creature of habit, screaming, ‘Feed me, Jan Peter!’… But JP’s powerless… Princess M’s raging, going ape!… in magazines, on TV!… She can’t be stopped, bought!… Legal writs are flying!… JP’s got a date with the high court hot seat!… To testify under oath!… The Royal House of Cards is teetering… just one spiller-of-the-beans and… Under oath!… The whole Establishment’s got to testify!… Doofpot… HELP!… Doofy, it never comes this far!… I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me prison sentence!… Is it curtains for the Royal Family… Is the doofpot powerless… Will Beatrix be forced to remove her hat and testify… WE INTERUPT THIS PROGRAM TO BRING YOU A SPECIAL REPORT: SADDAM HE DEAD!… saved by the bombs… Doofpot time!?

It’s the most ‘typical Dutch’ thing I know, but you won’t find a little Delft Blue porcelain doofpot next to the mini-windmills at your local tourist gift-shop… Yet it’s a national symbol, our dear doofpot, so burgerlijk & old-fashioned cozy, this pot traditionally kept next to Dutch fireplaces to put hot coals in… Lift the doofpot lid, drop coals in, fire burns out… Good night, Hansje, sleep tight, Geertje!… Today though it’s a common, cute-sounding word for an ugly practice… of white-washing, diffusing, obfuscating high political-corporate-elite crimes & misdemeanors & corruptions… perhaps!… because you never know, once it’s in de doofpot, lid closed… whole truths, absolutes die!… Reputations saved, damage limited… Next!… Examples… an Israeli El Al cargo plane crashing into an apartment building in the Bijlmer, a poor folk’s neighborhood near Schiphol. Years later… Bijlmer residents, rescue workers who were on the scene… complain… sick, cancerous… birth defects?… Was the El Al plane carrying bio-chemicals, plutonium…? Slow investigation, delays, balls of red tape, parliamentary summer breaks… becoming old news… a hot toxic political potato grown cold… Long live the doofpot!… Today, the doofpot concept is mainstream, the lazy Dutch journalist’s favorite charge… A random Google ‘doofpot’ search produces 59,800 hits’ which is twice as many hits as ‘bestiality’ and ten times that of ‘goats for sale’… for example! for example!… Or recently, lowly Dutch soldier boy in Srebrenica perhaps takes photos of Serbs committing atrocities, atrocities the Dutch Army denies having knowledge of… Back in Holland, same soldier boy gives his possibly damning film to the Army to develop… oops!… sorry… whole roll’s ruined! overexposed!… CAMERA FADE IN doofpot lid opening, red-hot film dropped in, falls in slo-mo, landing next to a three-headed Bijlmeer baby, on top of a file marked, ‘Secret: Dutch Construction Company Fraud % Do Not Open!’… doofpot lid slams shut!… CAMERA FADE OUT a puff of smoke hanging in the air… Which is why the current Royal Family Feud is so damn entertaining!… Jerry Springer meets The Godfather… Oranje Regicide… Apparently, the Dutch Queen & Family hate this Princess M’s husband… Why?… Because hubby’s a slob, gay, dating an Aids patient, hates field hockey… doesn’t matter… Royal Family hates hubby as passionately as they love their Burberry scarves… Allegedly, Royal Power’s been terrorizing hubby… Princess M claims they’ve been bugged, that the Dutch secret police gave the Royals confidential documents about her hubby… Princess M is pissed… She’s royal too, can’t be denigrated, ignored, stuffed headfirst into the doofpot like any old Thom, Dirk or Arie!… But the doofpot lid’s wide open, a creature of habit, screaming, ‘Feed me, Jan Peter!’… But JP’s powerless… Princess M’s raging, going ape!… in magazines, on TV!… She can’t be stopped, bought!… Legal writs are flying!… JP’s got a date with the high court hot seat!… To testify under oath!… The Royal House of Cards is teetering… just one spiller-of-the-beans and… Under oath!… The whole Establishment’s got to testify!… Doofpot… HELP!… Doofy, it never comes this far!… I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me prison sentence!… Is it curtains for the Royal Family… Is the doofpot powerless… Will Beatrix be forced to remove her hat and testify… WE INTERUPT THIS PROGRAM TO BRING YOU A SPECIAL REPORT: SADDAM HE DEAD!… saved by the bombs… Doofpot time!?