The Dutch are known to be a very tolerant people and usually don’t get easily riled. On the rare occasion when they do get angry they usually visit the corner coffee shop (or in their case the hash-bar) and their problems usually go up in smoke. Quite literally.
Amsterdam was one of the only places in the Europe where, when asking for directions, I was told by a very polite policewoman;
“Go straight till you reach the Red Light Area and then turn right at the Blue Banana strip bar.”
And to think I was just asking directions to the local Madame Tussauds.
Anyway the point is that they are a very free society and incredibly tolerant.
But even their famed tolerance must have been tested this week when a prized possession at the national museum turned out to be fake.
The Rijksmuseum is saying that a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by US astronauts is fake.
The museum acquired the rock after the death of former Prime Minister Willem Drees in 1988. Drees in turn had received it as a private gift on October 9, 1969 from then-US ambassador J William Middendorf during a visit by the three Apollo 11 astronauts, part of their "Giant Leap" goodwill tour after the first moon landing.
(Now of course, that goodwill tour seems less a “Giant Leap” and more a “Giant Leap of Faith” tour.)
Meanwhile when questioned, ex-ambassador Middendorf told Dutch authorities that he had gotten it from the US State Department, but couldn't recall the exact details (I bet!).
The US Embassy in the Hague has also said that it was investigating the matter.
It was never tested and apparently no one thought to doubt it, since it came from the Prime Minister's collection.
The fraud apparently first came to light during a showing in 2006, when a space expert told the Rijksmuseum it was unlikely that NASA would have handed out moon rocks so shortly after Apollo returned to Earth. (Messrs Armstrong & Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, ’69)
Testing by researchers from Amsterdam's Free University determined the object was not moon rock.
In fact it wasn’t even a rock. It was a piece of petrified wood.
But the Dutch being as they are, are now planning to hang on to the piece as a curiosity item.
And knowing the Dutch, I am betting that that will soon be one of the most visited attractions at the museum.
And knowing the Dutch, I am betting that that will soon be one of the most visited attractions at the museum.
Meanwhile who knows, all those conspiracy theories (“How is the flag waving if there is no air or wind on the moon?” “How come there are no stars visible in the background?” etc) about the moon landings being staged by NASA may actually be true afterall.
One small lie by NASA, a giant fraud by the U.S.??
Till Next Time...
Luv
Vish
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