# Why do Belgians kill babies? \[RO\]
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 23, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690 "2009-01-23T19:20:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/42 "2009-01-24T12:10:49Z")
> [@sailor](#):
>
> If only the babies had been armed!
>
> .
You mean the babies had no arms!? Now that is fucking sick, picking on disabled defenceless babies!
---
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/43 "2009-01-24T15:38:20Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> A man, his face painted white and his hair dyed in red, entered a Belgian nursery and began stabbing the babies. Two babies and one adult were stabbed to death, and many severely wounded. He then left on a bike. See [here](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090123/wl_afp/belgiumcrimechildrenknife).
> His religious beliefs or lack thereof are yet unknown.
If his face is painted white, shouldn’t his hair be dyed red, rather than dyed _in_ red?
Or conversely, shouldn’t his face be painted _in_ white?
---
### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/44 "2009-01-24T16:00:01Z")
> [@sailor](#):
>
> Me cago en la madre que le parió.
> Suelto de vientre.
Alright, is this your new signoff? I say that first line at least 237 times a day. The second one confuses me.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/45 "2009-01-24T16:04:56Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Lah](#):
>
> Pot, meet kettle.
>
> Fucking yank.
Don’t yell at **me** , I borrowed it from the [English](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fcN3VaXs4). It’s what one often refers to as a “joke.”
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### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/46 "2009-01-24T16:15:44Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Perhaps because the OP started this in a parody format, that it has degenerated into farce. I don’t know.
To be perfectly honest, sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a parody of recreational outrage, a spoof thread (witness the title), and the real thing.
If everybody on the board were always to react with maximum compassion and sensitivity to every [del]waffle[/del] awful thing that happens in the world, we’d be burned out by now.
A few years ago I did a play set above the 110th floor in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. That is, the play was _about_ the people who were there, it wasn’t actually _staged_ there. There was a tremendous amount of gallows humor behind the scenes, because you simply _had_ to respond in that way backstage lest you become overwhelmed by the drama onstage. Example during rehearsal: someone shouted “Save us, Superman!” and I responded with “Look, up in the sky! It’s a plane! It’s _another_ plane!”
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/47 "2009-01-24T17:55:38Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Let it be me then.
>
> The nursery was caring for thirteen toddlers at the time of the incident. Two toddlers were stabbed to death. TEN OTHER TODDLERS are in hospital, with MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS, some in critical condition. One of the children remained unhospitalised, albeit hurt.
>
> That means that every child in the nursery was stabbed.
>
> Stricken parents were given photographs of the stabbed children and the bodies, to find out if it was theirs that had been killed.
>
> An adult was killed, and two others were injured, as they put themselves between the killer and the children.
>
> Perhaps because the OP started this in a parody format, that it has degenerated into farce. I don’t know.
>
> I do know that this story is absolutely horrific, and I don’t recall ever having seen other mass murders treated with such levity on this board.
>
> I’m fairly unimpressed.
The newsworthiness of death in the US media:
1,000,000 massacred Congolese \< 100,000 drowned Bangladeshis \< 10,000 Chinese earthquake victims \< 1,000 HIV-infected Russians \< 100 stabbed infant Belgians \< 10 British war casualties \< 1 snipered American.
Shamelessly appropriated from America: The Book.
---
### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/48 "2009-01-24T19:04:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> If his face is painted white, shouldn’t his hair be dyed red, rather than dyed _in_ red?
>
> Or conversely, shouldn’t his face be painted _in_ white?
I don’t know, obviously. Tell me, you’re the native English speaker, here. Languages aren’t that consistent, so it didn’t strike me as obviously wrong.
By the way, of course, the thread title and content wasn’t a smear at Belgians or believers, but a reference to the current “Why don’t Christian kill babies?” and similar threads
---
### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/49 "2009-01-24T19:41:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> The newsworthiness of death in the US media:
>
> 1,000,000 massacred Congolese \< 100,000 drowned Bangladeshis \< 10,000 Chinese earthquake victims \< 1,000 HIV-infected Russians \< 100 stabbed infant Belgians \< 10 British war casualties \< 1 snipered American.
>
> Shamelessly appropriated from America: The Book.
\<1 footwear attacked POTUS
---
### Author:  [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/50 "2009-01-24T20:36:44Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> Oh my God, after all those billions and billions served, Ronald has finally flipped.
I’m stab’en it
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/51 "2009-01-25T00:22:05Z")
> [@Sapo](#):
>
> \<1 footwear attacked POTUS
Surely that’s filed under “comedy”, not “tragedy”.
---
### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/52 "2009-01-25T03:07:46Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Let it be me then.
>
> The nursery was caring for thirteen toddlers at the time of the incident. Two toddlers were stabbed to death. TEN OTHER TODDLERS are in hospital, with MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS, some in critical condition. One of the children remained unhospitalised, albeit hurt.
>
> That means that every child in the nursery was stabbed.
>
> Stricken parents were given photographs of the stabbed children and the bodies, to find out if it was theirs that had been killed.
>
> An adult was killed, and two others were injured, as they put themselves between the killer and the children.
>
> Perhaps because the OP started this in a parody format, that it has degenerated into farce. I don’t know.
>
> I do know that this story is absolutely horrific, and I don’t recall ever having seen other mass murders treated with such levity on this board.
>
> I’m fairly unimpressed.
I looked for a thread about this on here because I just read this story and find it really hard to process. It’s a horrific story. What thread do I find? A thread full almost entirely of jokes. ‘Gallows humour’ is a pathetic excuse.
---
### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/53 "2009-01-25T03:30:15Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> Oh shit-I’m so glad she’s okay.
> Back on topic:
>
> First we had the guy dressed as Santa going on a killing spree at a kindergarten (or was a hospital pediatric ward?) and now this. WTF? What next-the Easter Bunny starts handing out grenades instead of painted eggs?
Well that 13th egg we found hidden one year was a pretty serious bomb. Seriously.
---
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/54 "2009-01-25T05:14:55Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> I looked for a thread about this on here because I just read this story and find it really hard to process. It’s a horrific story. What thread do I find? A thread full almost entirely of jokes. ‘Gallows humour’ is a pathetic excuse.
It’s not an excuse. It’s the real reason.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/55 "2009-01-25T21:33:37Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> I looked for a thread about this on here because I just read this story and find it really hard to process. It’s a horrific story. What thread do I find? A thread full almost entirely of jokes. ‘Gallows humour’ is a pathetic excuse.
And what did you contribute beyond whining about it?
---
### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/56 "2009-01-25T22:50:13Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> It’s not an excuse. It’s the real reason.
Gallows humour is the jokes made by people like ER doctors, to cope with the traumas they have to face. People on a messageboard aren’t facing ‘trauma.’
> [@Cluricaun](#):
>
> And what did you contribute beyond whining about it?
What else am I supposed to contribute on a thread that’s taking the piss out of a killer and his victims? Make up more jokes about dead babies?
---
### Author:  [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/57 "2009-01-26T12:24:49Z")
If this had happened in the US I sincerely doubt this thread would be filled with jokes. But then we all know that American babies are worth at least 20 Belgian babies.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/58 "2009-01-26T15:09:32Z")
> [@Hrududu](#):
>
> If this had happened in the US I sincerely doubt this thread would be filled with jokes. But then we all know that American babies are worth at least 20 Belgian babies.
No, no. Please get your exchange rates right. It’s one American baby for _five_ West European babies and _twenty_ Palestinian, Iraqi or other Muslim babies. There is no official exchage rate for Chinese babies because they are not freely traded in the open market but if they were I guess they would go for just a bit less than European babies. Maybe even less if you take into account their abundance.
---
### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/59 "2009-01-26T16:03:02Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> What else am I supposed to contribute on a thread that’s taking the piss out of a killer and his victims? Make up more jokes about dead babies?
Here’s the wheel, feel free to steer this thread in whatever direction you feel is better.
---
### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/60 "2009-01-26T19:28:28Z")
The culprit (who by the way is a 20 something with the face of an angel) is now also charged with the murder of a 73 yo woman (also stabbed to death) one week before. He was also planning to attack two other creches.
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/61 "2009-01-26T19:44:34Z")
> [@Hrududu](#):
>
> If this had happened in the US I sincerely doubt this thread would be filled with jokes. \.
Agreed. This isn’t gallows humour, this is not caring because it didn’t happen in your country.
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