# 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:** 5
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/82 "2009-01-27T14:58:59Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> You’re right. You’ve uncovered the dreadful secret of this message board: we’re all secretly in favor of stabbing dead babies. Except for **featherlou** , but that’s only because she’s Canadian, and therefore, better than all us dreadful Americans.
>
> Seriously, can anyone shed some light on this attitude? An indesrcibably terrible crime has been committed. Some people react to it with humor. So what? If we put on sackcloth and smear ourselves with ashes, does it make the victims less dead? Is there a fear that someone might read this thread, and get the idea that shiving a toddler is a good way to make friends and influence people? How is making jokes out of subject like this in anyway a morally or ethically inferior reaction than standing around with serious looks on our faces? Because as near as I can tell, neither reaction harms anyone, anywhere in the world, nor does either reaction help anyone. So what’s with the high hat, bub?
As others in the thread have said (and I agree with, from seeing many RO threads in the past), if this had happened to US Americans on US soil, there wouldn’t be any jokes, it would just be outrage and beating of breasts. I’ve seen this attitude here before, more than once - anything that happens to US Americans is much worse than anything happening anywhere else in the world. That doesn’t make the rest of the world (including Canadians) better than you guys, but in this particular trait, your Insular American really does tend to show.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/83 "2009-01-27T15:38:54Z")
> [@featherlou](#):
>
> That doesn’t make the rest of the world (including Canadians) better than you guys, but in this particular trait, your Insular American really does tend to show.
Really?
Over the years I’ve heard a bunch of dead baby jokes, and living in America, I always assumed they were American babies.
Maybe I wasnt listening hard enough.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/84 "2009-01-27T23:09:19Z")
Dead baby jokes in the generic are quite different to jokes about actual incidents.
You can’t (or at least couldn’t, not sure about now, haven’t tried recently) joke about 9/11 here for example. Verboten. Not funny at all.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/85 "2009-01-28T00:05:29Z")
> [@featherlou](#):
>
> As others in the thread have said (and I agree with, from seeing many RO threads in the past), if this had happened to US Americans on US soil, there wouldn’t be any jokes, it would just be outrage and beating of breasts. I’ve seen this attitude here before, more than once - anything that happens to US Americans is much worse than anything happening anywhere else in the world. That doesn’t make the rest of the world (including Canadians) better than you guys, but in this particular trait, your Insular American really does tend to show.
Of course, never mind that the thread (and tone thereof) was started by a Frenchman, or that one of the more frequent contributors to the levity was English, or that the majority of posters in this thread don’t even have a location listed. This is all about what a bunch of pricks we insular Americans are.
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> You can’t (or at least couldn’t, not sure about now, haven’t tried recently) joke about 9/11 here for example. Verboten. Not funny at all.
This is sarcasm, right?
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/86 "2009-01-28T00:11:46Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> Really, you read the news articles, and your response was to laugh?
One of them, yes, because the nature of the attack was so surreal. It is, in fact, possible to have more than one emotional reaction to a particular trigger at once. A person can find a given event to be horrible and hilarious at the same time. This doesn’t make them less compassionate or less empathetic.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/87 "2009-01-28T00:13:18Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> **Why do Belgians kill babies? [RO]**
To save them from a life of existential uncertainty as to whether they are French or Dutch.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/88 "2009-01-28T02:06:03Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> This is sarcasm, right?
No. I can’t think that I’ve heard a single 9/11 joke. Actually I think maybe one, but I don’t think it was on these boards.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/89 "2009-01-28T04:09:21Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> No. I can’t think that I’ve heard a single 9/11 joke. Actually I think maybe one, but I don’t think it was on these boards.
> **[Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&fkt=6186&fsdt=25762&q=9-11+jokes&btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=9-11+jok)**
12 Million results.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/90 "2009-01-28T04:51:08Z")
Your search is too wide to be meaningful. It is illustrative though that of the first few hits, most are talking about whether it’s too soon for 9/11 jokes, and about the dearth of 9/11 jokes.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/91 "2009-01-28T05:13:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Your search is too wide to be meaningful. It is illustrative though that of the first few hits, most are talking about whether it’s too soon for 9/11 jokes, and about the dearth of 9/11 jokes.
True. Not only that but perusing the results I came across the realization that there seem to be no Pearl Harbor jokes either. Hm, maybe there are things you don’t joke about.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/92 "2009-01-28T05:18:46Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> One of them, yes, because the nature of the attack was so surreal. It is, in fact, possible to have more than one emotional reaction to a particular trigger at once. A person can find a given event to be horrible and hilarious at the same time. This doesn’t make them less compassionate or less empathetic.
It wasn’t that surreal, though. 😕 He had white make-up on. Is that all it takes to be surreal?
In any case, if you post _only_ the jokes, on a thread started specifically to use murders as a vehicle for jokes, and nearly all other posters on that thread post _only_ jokes and then deride other people for taking the killings seriously, you’re judged by what you post. Am I supposed to think ‘hey - the only response I’ve seen from them was to laugh about kids being killed, and then have a go at anyone who doesn’t laugh. They must be really compassionate!’
If people had posted serious, compassionate comments, and raised other questions, alongside comments about what they see as the funny side of it, I’d understand that. But no. It was just ‘babies die = funny!’
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### Author:  [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/93 "2009-01-28T12:32:24Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> No. I can’t think that I’ve heard a single 9/11 joke. Actually I think maybe one, but I don’t think it was on these boards.
I vaguely recall someone getting pitted awhile ago along these lines. I think she said that she’d found the sight of people jumping from the tower somewhat comical. I remember the black humour defense was used but I can’t remember how the thread went (IIRC there was a lot of outrage but also some people defending the poster). Perhaps someone with better search skills can find it.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/94 "2009-01-28T18:26:26Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> It wasn’t that surreal, though. 😕 He had white make-up on. Is that all it takes to be surreal?
A guy in clown makeup murdering babies? Yeah, that’s pretty fucking surreal.
> [@](#):
>
> In any case, if you post _only_ the jokes, on a thread started specifically to use murders as a vehicle for jokes, and nearly all other posters on that thread post _only_ jokes and then deride other people for taking the killings seriously…
Sorry, where did that part happen? I haven’t seen anyone derided for taking the killings seriously. I have seen some people derided for climbing up on their moral high horse and lecturing other people about how crappy they are for making joke about it, but I haven’t seen anyone get attacked just for _not_ making jokes about it.
> [@](#):
>
> If people had posted serious, compassionate comments, and raised other questions, alongside comments about what they see as the funny side of it, I’d understand that. But no. It was just ‘babies die = funny!’
In threads like this, I generally take the outrage to be a given. Because, you know - dead babies. It’s sort of understood to be a bad thing. Sorry this wasn’t made sufficiently clear for you.
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Your search is too wide to be meaningful. It is illustrative though that of the first few hits, most are talking about whether it’s too soon for 9/11 jokes, and about the dearth of 9/11 jokes.
[Eight pages of 9/11 jokes,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=87707) started less than a week after the attacks.
[The Onion](http://www.theonion.com/content/index/3734), about two weeks later.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/95 "2009-01-29T02:04:13Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Dead baby jokes in the generic are quite different to jokes about actual incidents.
>
> You can’t (or at least couldn’t, not sure about now, haven’t tried recently) joke about 9/11 here for example. Verboten. Not funny at all.
One of the funniest threads I ever read here was started not long after 9/11. People tried to guess the next Onion headline, and it was darn hilarious.
Just saying.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/96 "2009-01-29T02:44:55Z")
Psst, **Mighty\_Girl**. Look up.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/97 "2009-01-29T07:09:31Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> A guy in clown makeup murdering babies? Yeah, that’s pretty fucking surreal.
We must have been reading different reports, then, because I ever saw clown make-up mentioned at all. ‘May have been wearing white make-up’ was in one, that’s all, and, to me, that’s not clown make-up. (Though it’s not like I’ve been trawling the web for lots of different version of the story, so it could have been reported differently).
> [@](#):
>
> Sorry, where did that part happen? I haven’t seen anyone derided for taking the killings seriously. I have seen some people derided for climbing up on their moral high horse and lecturing other people about how crappy they are for making joke about it, but I haven’t seen anyone get attacked just for _not_ making jokes about it.
True, people haven’t actually said ‘you’re stupid for taking these killings seriously.’ However, atomicbadgerterrace posted about people climbing on their moral high horse _before anyone had even said anything critical of all the humourous posts_. That’s really quite similar.
BTW, I’ve said that I was really disappointed because I’d wanted to see a serious thread about this topic and this was all I’d found, and I’ve said that I really don’t understand why people would read this story and immediately go hahaha - they seem to be showing a lack of compassion. If you think that’s me being on a moral high horse, then you must be riding around on a shetland pony with growth problems.
> [@](#):
>
> In threads like this, I generally take the outrage to be a given. Because, you know - dead babies. It’s sort of understood to be a bad thing. Sorry this wasn’t made sufficiently clear for you.
I guess I should read people’s minds, then. I guess, if I were to go on a thread about any recent killing in the US, and make jokes about it, I have the right to claim that the other posters should have read my mind rather than the words I put on the page. In fact, we can do that for any topic at all - don’t pay any attention to the words on the page, just make assumptions about the poster’s intentions, all the time. When people do that, it usually leads to flame wars and total misunderstandings, but hey, that’s the way it should be!
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/98 "2009-01-31T03:18:54Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#):
>
> True, people haven’t actually said ‘you’re stupid for taking these killings seriously.’ However, atomicbadgerterrace posted about people climbing on their moral high horse _before anyone had even said anything critical of all the humourous posts_. That’s really quite similar.
Really? I’d say those are two entirely dissimilar things, myself.
> [@](#):
>
> BTW, I’ve said that I was really disappointed because I’d wanted to see a serious thread about this topic and this was all I’d found…
Does your “Create New Thread” button not work or something?
That aside, what exactly did you want out of a thread on this topic? I mean, what’s there to say about it? This guy committed just about the most chillingly evil act possible. It’s not like there’s going to be any sort of genuine discussion over it. If everyone takes the topic seriously, all you’re going to get is a couple of pages of everyone saying, “Oh my God, that’s terrible!” What’s the point in that? Is there anyone out there who doesn’t already know that?
> [@](#):
>
> …and I’ve said that I really don’t understand why people would read this story and immediately go hahaha - they seem to be showing a lack of compassion.
If you still don’t get it, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not like this is some rare and mysterious phenomenon that only occurs in the darkest corners of the internets. Black humor’s actually pretty common. Odd that this is your first encounter with it.
> [@](#):
>
> I guess I should read people’s minds, then. I guess, if I were to go on a thread about any recent killing in the US, and make jokes about it, I have the right to claim that the other posters should have read my mind rather than the words I put on the page. In fact, we can do that for any topic at all - don’t pay any attention to the words on the page, just make assumptions about the poster’s intentions, all the time. When people do that, it usually leads to flame wars and total misunderstandings, but hey, that’s the way it should be!
There’s reading people’s minds, and there’s giving people the benefit of the doubt. If more people did the latter, there’d be significantly _less_ flame wars and total misunderstandings. When you see people making jokes about something this terrible, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable stretch to assume that they do, in fact, recognize that it’s a terrible thing that happened. Unless you’re operating under the assumption that this board is populated mainly by sociopaths. Which raises the question of why the hell you’d stay around here in the first place.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/99 "2009-01-31T05:35:32Z")
OK, now there are two things I don’t get:
Why people would immediately laugh upon reading this story
Why people would take offence when questioned about their jokes.
If you’re going to look at a serious story and post up a load of jokes in a public place, don’t be terribly suprised if some people think you’re being out of order. The ‘public place’ thing is important to remember. Posting off-colour jokes on here is pretty much the equivalent of standing up in a shopping mall and shouting these jokes out loud so that everyone who happens to be using that mall can hear. It’s not like telling those jokes to a couple of friends in private whose reactions you can judge straight away.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/100 "2009-01-31T05:51:43Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Because fuck knows we all have 20/20 hindsight goggles available freely at any major office supply store, and if the person who opened the door wasn’t wearing them they deserve everything they get.
I think you misunderstand me; I think this is what most people in that situation would feel - that’s human.
And yes, personally, I would rather be stabbed in the heart than survive opening the door to a heavily armed, clown make-up- and armour- wearing psycho who immediately stabbed a bunch of babies. Even if, at the time, “I couldn’t understand what he was saying” _was_ a perfectly reasonable reason to open the door.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-belgians-kill-babies-ro/482690/101 "2009-01-31T11:21:40Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> If everyone takes the topic seriously, all you’re going to get is a couple of pages of everyone saying, “Oh my God, that’s terrible!” What’s the point in that? Is there anyone out there who doesn’t already know that?
Yes, there is a uniformity in this board that makes it boring and predictable. That is why I like to enjoy other boards where people are able to recognise how evil and dangerous babies truly are. Hitler was once a baby. It is a little know fact but here is a cite:
> [@](#):
>
> [http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Baby](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Baby)
>
> The Problem With Babies
> It has been proven many times that babies lead to psychotic dictatorships, mass murders and centralized government propaganda. There is a correlation of 1.0 (one to one) between doing illegal, immoral, or just plain wrong things, and having been a baby at one point in life, this clearly makes babies the gravest threat to National Security, society, and everything American
>
> 100% of criminals were once babies
> **Hitler was once a baby**
> Jesus was a baby, but his birth defies the laws of, uh, birth.
> Joseph Stalin was once a baby
> Sarah Palin was once a baby
> [@Miller](#):
>
> When you see people making jokes about something this terrible, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable stretch to assume that they do, in fact, recognize that it’s a terrible thing that happened. Unless you’re operating under the assumption that this board is populated mainly by sociopaths. Which raises the question of why the hell you’d stay around here in the first place.
Well, you never know who is going to be the first uptight jerk without a sense of humor to show up nor how many might follow. A few years ago, with anti-French sentiment running very high in Bushland, there was an accident where some French tourists were run over by an SUV on a Florida beach and I made a joke about it only to have quite a few people bashing me for my insensitivity etc. What makes even less sense is that I was highly critical of all the anti-French rhetoric at the time. I suppose some of those who were anti-French might have felt exposed by my joke which implied the act was deliberate and in defense of Bush and Country.
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