Breaking "news": Belgium split in two.

[CaptainCernick]

The Belgian public television station RTBF ran a bogus report saying the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence.

Later it said Wednesday night's programme was meant to stir up debate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6178671.stm

And do read the whole article before commenting, you lazy slob!



What are your thoughts? Can a newsreport report false facts as a joke?
Is it perhaps allowed to provoke thought and debate?

FYI, this is a very real issue in Belgium. The subnations are progressively growing further apart and will quabble like 8 year olds over the most stupid things.

[bigfootedfred]

well at least they fell for something halfway realistic.
Unlike a certain country..

"It's very bad Orson Welles, in very poor taste," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, referring to the famous director's 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. That spoof fooled many Americans into believing Martians had invaded.

Haha. Many Americans barricaded themselves in their basements for that one.

[The White Knight]

Hehe, yes this was quite an interesting event. I'm unsure to how (un)tasteful it is (I hope to see the whole things one day). I think debate is necessary; so that people understand the seriousness of seperating before scanting all kinds of slogans without thinking. The manner of bringing this debate to the foreground is however debatable.

[Muizer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6178671.stm

And do read the whole article before commenting, you lazy slob!



What are your thoughts? Can a newsreport report false facts as a joke?
Is it perhaps allowed to provoke thought and debate?

FYI, this is a very real issue in Belgium. The subnations are progressively growing further apart and will quabble like 8 year olds over the most stupid things.

Had this been a commercial channel I would have said "poor taste". Since it's a public broadcasting corporation I'd say its a bit more serious. They are supposed to give people reliable information in all sorts of crises and their credibility shouldn't be compromised this way.

[Erik]

My initial reaction:
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! LOL :tooth:
That's one of the funniest news stories I've ever heard.

What are your thoughts? Can a newsreport report false facts as a joke?

Yes, and here it's quite common for them to do so on the 1st of April. ("April fools")
But never something as big as this, and certainly not something that could cause panic.

And Hilarious as it may be I do think it takes away some of their future credibility.
If a second 9/11 happens tomorrow I don't think many people would believe their report.
So I think it's unwise for them to do things like this.

Whether it's ethical or not I don't know.
I personally think those Belgians were fools to fall for this hoax.
Sure there is some friction between the Flamish and Walloons, but nobody with half a brain should believe that Belgium could suddenly fall apart in just one day, even if it's reported by "serious" news channels.

[Aristophanes]

I guess Americans don't have a monopoly on stupidity after all.

Belgium, like Canada, has its frictions between ethnic groups. And the informal agreement is that no matter how much separation is touted or discussed, no one really wants it; it's just a political tool to scare dumb people into subsidizing a way of life, or a culture of corruption.

[Marcus II]

I guess Americans don't have a monopoly on stupidity after all.

second to you

[Dionysios II The Great]

First thing i did after i finished my exams was coming here, searching for the RTBF topic off course.

It's simple: THIS IS THE BEST NEWSFLASH ever.
I literally laughed my ass off.

And after i stopped laughing (that took quite a while), i realised that it's too bad it didn't really happen.
What i don't like though, was the report of the trams being stopped near the famous "language-border" because of a decision of the Flemish Parliament.
That's sort of cruel, we wouldn't do that or anything.

Though i hope that the world realises that Flemish independence isn't some fantasy, because we are the majority in Belgium, we could even declare independence like in the RTBF scenario, but we don't, we try it by changing state stuff etc., on a Democratic way, so we're not as intolerant or extremist as some people claim we are.




This morning i read the newspaper and laughed my ass off again, the party in Antwerp had over 10.000 Flemings singing several song like "Voor Outer en Heerd", "De Vlaamse Leeuw" etc.

While at the Royal Palace in Brussels, 50 Belgicists gathered to protest against the "split", but since the Walloons believed it, alot of those guys weren't actors by the end, and real Belgicists.

If you look at statistics, about 70% of our population wants the split.
Perhaps not directly, but the following parties support a sort of Flamigantism, and if you count the votes they get, you get seventy percent.
CD&V = Confederalism
NVA= Separatism
Spirit = Confederalism
Vlaams Belang= Separatism.

So we can conclude that Belgium is dying bit by bit anyway.
Besides, it's just a historical error, nothing in history indicates to "a Belgian people".

Why does the country even exist?
If one half is clearly French and the other clearly Dutch, wouldn't it make sense to integrate the two into their respective homelands?

Now you've boiled my blood (joke )
What you just said their about Wallonia joining France is called "Rattachism", they have a party their over in Wallonia that supports it, but the majority votes for the socialists anyway (PS)

What you said about Flanders joining the Netherlands is also an very tiny branch of Flemish nationalism these days. The people who wants that are called "Groot-Nederlanders", and the people who wants a united low countries are called "Heel-Nederlanders"

Groot Nederland= "Greater Netherlands"
Heel-Nederland= "Whole Netherlands"

But they only are one small branch in the Vlaams Belang that nobody likes anyway.
Face it, Flemings don't want to join the Netherlands. The most supported Flamigant ideas are confederalism and seperatism.

[Sammur-amat]

Was that peak into the future?...

..One day is enough for this type of things to boil just not enough get such large dimension.....

...I hope that helped sumone to realize that blind believes in media aren't justified....

[Erik]

...I hope that helped sumone to realize that blind believes in media aren't justified....

That's probably the only good thing to come from this.

[Dromikaites]

He, he, now we see why both the French and the Duch have jokes about the Belgian stupidity.

[LSJ]

Haha, someone pulled a Welles.

And succeeded...
Although it would ruin my trust for the station.

[LoZz]

hahaha

[Erik]

Apparently they also claimed the new Flamish government was meeting in "a secret, underground 10th globe of the atomium"
That's beyond silly.
It's the equivalent of saying Osama Bin Laden is hiding in a secret room inside mount Rushmore.
How can anyone still take it seriously after such a claim?


The atomium (for all you who never heard about this famous Belgian landmark)

[RusskiSoldat]

Why does the country even exist?
If one half is clearly French and the other clearly Dutch, wouldn't it make sense to integrate the two into their respective homelands?

[LSJ]

Heh, thats like saying we should just let Mexico annex the southern US in a few years. Or at least Florida. Then us Canadians can go to Disneyland for a much cheaper cost!!!

But I wouldn't mind. As long as the people choose it then its fine by me. Until I reconquer Belgium in my great conquest of Europe and the Americas, in which case my word is law.

[Erik]

Why does the country even exist?
If one half is clearly French and the other clearly Dutch, wouldn't it make sense to integrate the two into their respective homelands?

It would be more logical for Belgium to have remained part of the Netherlands with Dutch, Frisian and French as the official languages.
But the Walloons wanted to have French and only French as the official language, and that's why they split off in 1830 dragging the Flemish with them.
Religion also had something to do with it because Belgium was almost exclusively catholic while the Netherlands was partly protestant.

Note that the Flemish were supposed to have very few rights in Belgium, and certainly not have their language officially recognized.
I'm not sure when the Flemish got equal rights in Belgium, but I know it wasn't before WWI.
The equal rights thing did create a very strange situation because now all power has to be split exactly down the middle and both sides are constantly weary that the other side takes too much power.

[Dionysios II The Great]

The equal rights thing did create a very strange situation because now all power has to be split exactly down the middle and both sides are constantly weary that the other side takes too much power.

And that's why alot of people want to get rid of Belgium. Politics are getting really ridicilous here too.

[Shadius]

*Gets out of his lurk-box*

To Russkisoldat: What you're suggesting would be like giving Quebec back to France and making the rest of Canada part of the US or the UK. After all; they speak the same language, so the culture and people must be completely identical, right?


Quite frankly, though, I'm surprised so many Wallons fell for this. I understand that they might not exactly be up to date when it comes to Flemish politics - heck, I only know slightly more about Wallon politcs than I do about Dutch or English politics - but common sense would dictate that a country can't just fall apart overnight. Well, unless extremists suddenly assaulted all the major city halls or something - and I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the program.

And besides; most Flemish parties don't actually support seperatism... They support further federalization, for the most part, which they at least claim is a world of difference. Personally, I think that a completely federalized Flanders and Wallony would practically be two independant nations anywho, but at least the Belgicists will get to keep their boring tricolour ripoff and tax-draining royal family.

I'm generally not one for taking strong stances, but Belgium is a nation that probably should never have been born in the first place. Rediculous politics indeed.

*Gets back to his lurk-box*

[Dionysios II The Great]

And besides; most Flemish parties don't actually support seperatism...

Listen, some do, others don't...
Here's a list of the major ones:

CD&V = Confederalist
NVA = Seperatist
Vlaams Belang = Separatist
Spirit = Confederalist
Groen = Federalist
VLD = Federalist
Spa = Federalist

Confederalist CD&V have a cartle with NVA, Vlaams Belang with several other smaller parties (both seperatist and confederalist)
Together, CD&V, NVA, VB and Spirit make up 70% of the public opinion.

So they are a majority, Confederalist and federalist being very popular...
Seperatist and Confederalist doing better, and federalism being less and less popular...