The Economist wrote in an article:
When a French-language television programme was interrupted last December with a spoof news flash announcing that the Flemish parliament had declared independence, the king had fled and Belgium had dissolved, it was widely believed.
Being a Flemish Belgian myself I’d like to correct the “it was widely believed” part of the article: this is absolutely not true. The vast majority of Flemish people immediately recognized it as a spoof. Not only was it not being reported by the Flemish television stations, radio nor news papers most Belgians understood that this would take months of (pointless) discussing at our government resulting in a “let’s not do it” conclusion.
Most Flemish people in stead of widely believing this, thought something in the lines of “No way, that’s too good to be true!”. But in a cynical or joking way rather than using a serious tone. We laughed with it the day after, when the Flemish media started reporting the spoof. Some Walloons might have been a bit scared, but I don’t think they actually widely believed this either.
They know it’s not that easy to get rid of them :-)
According to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Belgium is a swear word anyway.
Being an European from Belgium myself, I’d like to correct the “the vast majority of Flemish people immediately recognized it as a spoof” part of your post: this is absolutely not true. Because, as you said, this program was not broadcasted in Flemish media but only reported one day later in these media. So more than half of the Belgian population recognized it as a spoof not because they are smarter but just because media showed that program as a spoof (and not as a real live event as it was broadcasted in Wallonia).
And I wonder who are considered as “them” in your last sentence …
@jepoirrier: It might surprise you, but a lot of Flemish people do speak and understand French very well. A lot of those people also follow the Walloon media.
Long before the Flemish media channels started reporting this as a spoof, had the rumors that this had been on the Walloon media reached quite a lot of Flemish villages, companies and cities. I remember some of the radio stations mentioning it, although I also remember the radio host mentioning that it’s probably a joke.
The overall reaction was, indeed, along the lines of: “yea yeah, and the next thing they’ll tell us is that aliens have landed in Brussels”.
pvanhoof, your criticisms are not entirely right.
(1) There are very few Flemish people watching Walloon television these days. I, too, rarely watch Walloon television, although I do (unlike most Flemish compatriots) read from time to time the written Walloon press.
(2) In Wallonia and the those speaking French in Brussels, around 504500 people watched the news, i.e. around 27% of those watching television. A survey indicated that 89% believed it was real in the beginning and 5% still believed it was real until the end, even though after half an hour “Ceci est une fiction” was written at the bottom of the screen. The next morning I actually met people (in Brussels) who still believed Flanders had become independant.
(3) You are right, however, among more educated French-speaking people, the degree of disbelief from the start was a bit higher.
I do agree, however, that Flemish independance would not be such a bad idea. It would definitely be an improvement over current mis-organisation of our political institutions.
well, that tv fake was interesting to watch (as far as i can say). and it was a nice exaggeration to force people to discuss the state of the nation. belgium did not succeed to form a government within the last three months…
see you next week, if all works out well here.