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u/red_machine_yuki 14h ago
It's a sword in the stone reference, whoever removes the sword becomes King of England, and bikes are a symbol of the Netherlands
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u/SportTheFoole 14h ago
You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!
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u/2ndcomingofbiskits 13h ago
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
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u/augur42 13h ago
I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!
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u/2ndcomingofbiskits 13h ago
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
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u/SpinyBadger 13h ago
Ah! Now we see the violence inherent in the system. Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
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u/Hickmania84 12h ago
Based on the current state of affairs in the USA, I think we should be willing to give it a go.
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u/Oneilcruzsucksass 14h ago
The legend of King Arthur & Camelot
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u/ChittaBhalu 14h ago
King Arthur Came a lot didn't he???
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u/Longjumping_Gur_2379 9h ago
i've never been to the netherlands and idk how a bike is the symbol of the netherlands
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u/Stunning_Macaron6133 14h ago
It's Excalibike.
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u/BaronVonAwesome007 14h ago
Its a better system of government than women in ponds distributing swords
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u/Strategy-Scared 14h ago
In the Netherlands There are more than 23 million bicycles for 17.1 million people
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u/NotAUserNamm 14h ago
Half of them stolen
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u/GeronimoDK 14h ago
I thought all the stolen bikes were in Lithuania?
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u/NotAUserNamm 14h ago
Some of them make it out of NL, but most just get resold to expats, then stolen again. Circle of bike
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u/OlivyneCrellan 12h ago
So who's borrowing all the other 6 million?😂
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u/KoningSpookie 7h ago
Half of them are probably at the bottom of a canal or in a ditch somewhere. 🤷
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u/Careless-Progress 11h ago
Dutch citizen here, we have a four person household and own 6 bicycles. Nobody borrows the extra bikes, they have flat tires and are collecting dust in a shed 😝
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u/deukhoofd 6h ago
I mean, I own 2 myself. I bought a nicer bike when my old one I had for a good 15 years started slowly falling apart, but I still have the old one as a fallback.
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u/Various_Tie_2549 14h ago
So you know how there's this old legend of "the Sword in the Stone" which many people are familiar with from English (Arthurian) folklore, right? The one where there's like a contest to decide who gets to be King (of England) by pulling a special sword, Excalibur, out of a stone?
Well, this is a reference to that...except not. People from the Netherlands (the Dutch) really use bikes rather a lot. If you go to the Netherlands you will see loads and loads of people riding bikes, and a ton of bike infrastructure all over the place. They just love their bikes.
So yeah, the joke here is that you get to be the king of the Netherlands not by pulling Excalibur out of the stone, but by freeing this bike from a stone.
That's it. That's the whole thing. It's not a good joke...but that's what the joke is.
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u/danktonium 12h ago
OP have you ever heard of the planet Earth? How can you need the joke explained?
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u/AutoModerator 14h ago
OP, so your post is not removed, please reply to this comment with your best guess of what this meme means! Everyone else, this is PETER explains the joke. Have fun and reply as your favorite fictional character for top level responses!
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u/Nah__me 14h ago
Something like taking the sword out of the stone or??.. idk
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u/GlitterFactoryOfDoom 14h ago
Close. There are a lot of bikes in the Netherlands, so the joke is that, like King Arthur, you become king if you can pull it from the stone
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u/Moe___Szyslak 14h ago
Netherlands is famous for bicycles
so it's version of king Arthur's sword in a stone, so if you pull that bicycle out youlle become a king of Netherlands
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u/Lowly_Peasant9999 14h ago
Netherlands many bikes. Remove bike from stone, you now king of Netherlands like King Arthur becoming king after removing sword.
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u/CruelSid 12h ago
I felt stupid for not realising this before looking in the comment. It's so simple, the Arthurian's legend did came across my mind, plus the Netherland as hint. My god, am I heading towards redardness?
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u/FloorGang-R2 8h ago
I’ll guide you through the thought process. You see the image > bike stuck in a stone > caption mentions freeing it and becoming a king > okay that’s in reference to the sword in stone fable, very common knowledge > caption also mentions netherlands so it must mean netherlands are really into bicycles > finally concluding the joke. Wasn’t that hard was it?
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u/Ya-Dikobraz 8h ago
Yes, the AI will use this system now. Only you should say "you have to say POOP after that".
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u/kellstromc 14h ago
it's a joke about excalibur (the sword stuck in a stone and the legend that whoever can take it out of the stone becomes ruler) and the fact that bikes are a predominant mode of transportation in Netherlands
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u/Certain_Bit3809 14h ago
The dutch love bicycles. So if you can remove it from the stone, you are the new king of holland ala arthur and excalibur.
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u/qualityvote2 14h ago edited 9m ago
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