Two-thirds of the Netherlands believe that we are going in the wrong direction. The citizen sees ‘lack of respect and solidarity’ as the main problem in our society. This was the conclusion of the Social Cultural Planning Office (SCP) in 2008. At that time, it had just started with a regular monitor to gauge how the public is flying. The Netherlands was shocked by the sudden rise of Fortuyn and the angry citizen. The SCP surveyed a representative group of Dutch people with questionnaires and asked them how they were doing and what they were worried about.
‘I am doing well, we are doing badly’ was the common thread and the title of the book that outgoing SCP chairman Paul Schnabel published on this subject in 2018. The Dutch indicate en masse that they are satisfied with their lives, but gloomy about the state of the country. The coarsening of society, the economy, integration, security and care – everything is going badly with everyone, except happily with us.
Last week the results of the most recent poll among Dutch citizens were published and what do you think? The biggest concern among the respondents is the polarization, the hardening of the debate and the deteriorating manners. Fortunately, there was no cause for concern in the immediate vicinity. Coincidentally, their circle of acquaintances was always just the exception. There they still treated each other decently and expressed differences of opinion with respect. All those stories about clashing quarrels at the Christmas table, that’s always with the other person, just coincidentally not at our house.
Between the lines you gradually see the researchers not only listening to the respondents, but also talking back, reassuring and fact-checking. When a large majority answers that the differences of opinion on social issues are increasing, the planning office notes that this is not apparent from the figures in any case. We agree on most things.
One notable aspect: many this time emphasized the polarization on Twitter. There are 3.5 million Dutch people on Twitter, about one third of the working population and often the more outspoken part of it. Yet more and more people think that the medium plays an important role in driving polarization. If you look on Twitter, you can see exactly why people believe this. There you see daily evidence of how context-sensitive our behavior and personality are. We think our traits (shy or extroverted, patient or quick-tempered, friendly or grumpy) are set in stone.
In reality, what we do and say largely depends on the context, on the setting. And on the Twitter decor you can see those remarkable metamorphoses. With an @ in front of their name, even the most kind, intelligent, and empathetic people turn into mud-throwing or threatening monsters. And as soon as people close the screen, they turn back into cheerful, helpful people who can disagree with each other respectfully and civilly.
Concerns about bewilderment and manners are a common thread – and it goes back to before the Twitter era. Do you remember Balkenende with his norms and values offensive for a more decent and respectful society?
Read also: ‘The country is doing badly, I am well’: that is now obsolete
Yet platforms like Twitter have distorted our idea of each other very much. We believe that half of the Netherlands will refuse that injection and promptly 80 percent voluntarily rolls up their sleeves. We think that the whole of the Netherlands is very skeptical about climate change, while 96 percent of the Dutch recognize climate change and 60 percent accept the role of humans in it.
We used to think that the Netherlands had lost its decency. Now we think that the Netherlands has lost its decency and its mind. And that’s a problem. Because not only you think that, but I also think that our policymakers are becoming more cautious and wait-and-see as a result. That they dare to make fewer decisions because they keep overestimating the skepticism among the civilian population.
The expectation that citizens will probably get angry again continues to hold us hostage. That is unjustified. Anyone who looks at the figures must conclude that we are actually doing surprisingly well.
Rosanne Hertzberger is a microbiologist.
A version of this article also appeared in the December 31, 2022 newspaper