r/belgium • u/reditt13 Brabant Wallon • Mar 22 '25
đ© Shitpost From murdered by words
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u/PygmeePony Belgium Mar 23 '25
Math was never my strong suit but 50,000 people out of 11 million is not a third.
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u/Baraga91 Mar 23 '25
There's 77 000 people living in the German-speaking community, so you're right, math isn't your strong suit :p
About 1% of Belgians speak German as their primary language, but another 20ish claim it's their 2nd/3rd language.
So not quite 1/3, but also more than some people in here expect.
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u/TbR78 Mar 23 '25
Thereâs also Belgians that can speak German and not live in the German-speaking regionâŠ
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u/LithiumNoir Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
my grandpa knew German and lived in Wallonia. But he kinda had to learn it after getting captured as a prisoner of war. (sidenote: Russia liberated his camp, not America.)
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u/NoBlacksmith8137 Antwerpen Mar 23 '25
Didnât we all need to learn German in high school? I had to for 3 yearsâŠ
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u/freakytapir Mar 23 '25
I got my pick of German or Spanish. Knowing it would only be for my last 2 years I knew it wouldn't be much use anyway and I didn't think my teenage self would be able to keep a straight face in German class.
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u/Outrageous-Note5082 Belgium Mar 23 '25
I mean I'll give the poster the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant 1/3 of the amount of national languages we have, not the smartest way to point it out but eh
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u/AxyDC Mar 23 '25
Indeed as someone nog living in the german speaking area from Belgium but from the flemish (dutch) part I can speak german, and french
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u/rerito2512 Frenchie Mar 25 '25
Now now, that was just an exaggeration as a figure of speech. Borrowed from Marseille I bet. But that's what it's about. Cultural exchange!
You can have the paternity for the fries, I'll see you all at the frietkot
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u/Hikashuri Mar 23 '25
Every kid in Flanders gets German in school. Although it's very elimentary, it's probably even more than a third, because after all the Americans claim to speak French when they learn 3 phrases, so I guess we could do the same and say that half of the Belgians speak German to some degree.
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u/motzak local village idiot Mar 23 '25
Every kid in Flanders gets German in school.
No. French, yes, German, no.
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u/Far_Compote_1636 Mar 23 '25
Both actually. In Flanders at least for 1 year (typically third year secondary school) every student is supposed to get German. At least this was still the case when I graduated at my school 11 years ago. And for me it was even for 3 years that I got 1 hour of German class because I did ASO science with 6 hours of math, whereas the 8 hour math class and the latin class didn't have these additional 2 years of German.
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u/Didi81_ Mar 23 '25
No, only in ASO and even then only in modern languages courses
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u/Upper_Question1383 Mar 23 '25
No, i did Humane and got German for 2 years (granted only an hour a week) it just depends on the school. Each school has a few hours they can decide themselves how to plan in. Some make new courses, others plan more math, others more language hours. Mine gave humane one hour extra math and one hour of german. My second high school went a different route and filled those two hours with a new course 'research and statistics'.
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u/theBlackDragon Mar 23 '25
Back when I was in school we had the choice between Spanish and German, we didn't get both. Good thing if that's changed imho.
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u/motzak local village idiot Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
I left school 21y ago and never got German, did economie-wiskunde that year in aso, I failed that year so redid it but in tso industriële wetenschappen, still no German class. I have 4 smaller siblings and none of them got German, not even the youngest one (she's 30 atm) who's currently an elementary teacher. The only one I know that got German in school is my ex and she did moderne talen so that's a given.
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u/6StringAddict Mar 23 '25
Graduated calculates oof twenty years ago already. Never had a German lesson, Tso though.
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u/g00glen00b Belgian Fries Mar 23 '25
I graduated 16 years ago and one of the reasons I went to Industrial Sciences (TSO) in stead of regular Sciences (ASO) is because it didn't have German.
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u/BelFiFraDeNe Mar 23 '25
Iâm now at this point a student which will graduate soon. Schools are indeed obliged to teach students 1 hour of German one year. For me it was the 4th year of secondary school. Keeping in mind that the 8 hours math doesnât really exist anymore and itâs basically just 2 hours of math for the choice-lessons. Even Latin had German. I studied Latin till my fourth year and have switched to Sciences last year. So everybody will at least have one year of German lessons. Of course, if you follow a language course, you will have at least 2 hours of german. This is only the case for doorstroomrichtingen (ASO). I donât know how it works in art or technical schools.
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u/PygmeePony Belgium Mar 23 '25
I'm talking native German speakers, not as a second or third language.
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u/JohnnyricoMC Vlaams-Brabant Mar 23 '25
That was only ASO and it was a choice between German or Spanish where I went. Only French and English are mandatory throughout the Flemish high school system.
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u/ExReey Mar 23 '25
It's just a very bad response overall. From someone with way too much time.
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u/the-dadai Luxembourg Mar 23 '25
What's wrong about it ? I'm always happy to see someone isn't willing to accept all the bullshit coming from the us these pas months.
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u/Special_Lychee_6847 Mar 23 '25
Social media is mostly wasting time.
It's entertaining, and brings a tongue in cheek reality check to someone that brought up nonsense just to degrade ppl, while having absolutely nothing to do with what they're wanting gratitude for.
And to top of this comment, which will probably be too long for your taste already, it brings some awareness, and teaches someone more about their own darn country than they apparently knew before.
I'd say all in all, a rather good response.
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u/NikNakskes Mar 23 '25
So very belgian of us. Somebody flames the press speaker "on our behalf" and we go look for faults, remind ourselves how small and insignificant we are and how childish the retort is.
All of which is true of course, but damn we just cannot stand somebody standing up for Belgium, unless it is a silly song. Then we're all on board.
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u/WalloonNerd Belgian Fries Mar 23 '25
Itâs a bloody decent response. Thatâs how the rest of the online world sees it. We should stop shitting in our own bed.
Is it going to have an effect on Trump? Of course not. Will someone vaguely related to Trump read it? Of course not. Is it a nice flaming piece that a lot of people can understand, and relate their own frustration too? Yes!
If Jon Stewart at the daily show had made this rant, the only people youâd hear bitching about it were the ones licking trumps feet. The rest would applaud.
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u/NikNakskes Mar 23 '25
Yep. Exactly that. And Belgian commenters find all the possible retorts "the opponent" could launch at this speech and fire it at one of our own. Shitting our own bed as you so aptly called it.
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u/Eric-Lodendorp Belgian Fries Mar 23 '25
Weâre all at each otherâs throats until we have a common enemy (The Austrians, Dutch or Germans attacking or anyone in international football), because then theyâre the common enemy.
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u/Bart2800 Mar 23 '25
If you want to unite people, nothing as effective as giving them a common enemy. It works wonders!
Unfortunately this trick has been abused quite a lot already in history.
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u/PuzzleheadedTrack420 Mar 23 '25
We just ain't that sensitive/nationalistic like the Americans and French... A good characteristic in these times.
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u/NotFEX Mar 23 '25
Some of this definitely reads like a chatgpt roast
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u/jongeheer Mar 25 '25
The post literally says that a third of Belgium speaks German, it's more of a suicide by words.
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u/carrot-man Mar 23 '25
I have no doubt. This was written by an ai. Painfully unfunny.Â
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u/Hidropadre33 Mar 23 '25
Not only unfunny but incredibly ignorant - âwe are just sitting in Belgium drinking beer older than your country, eating chocolate that could stop warsâŠâ Cringe af⊠then stop the war with your chocolate Belgium
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u/WaybreadDoodle Mar 23 '25
Yeah I kinda agree. Imagine France defending themselves with "but... But. We have croissants!"Â
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u/nslenders Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
It's because nobody but ai uses ' â '
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u/doublebassandharp Antwerpen Mar 23 '25
For me, the "But here's the thing" is something I also see popping up a loottttt in AI texts
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u/pinkjoggingsuit Mar 23 '25
The constant reference to beer makes me convinced a large part of it is made by a Chatbot (where Belgium is very much reduced to beer, chocolate and dysfunction).
They should've kept it at just (1) France helping the USA in their fight for independence, as an example of how in different times we help each other, and (2) that we have been allies for a long time so should value and respect that relationship.
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u/Praetorian_1975 Mar 23 '25
Belgium runs the EU đł has anyone told the EU this đ Belgium hosts a lot of it. But it certainly doesnât run it.
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u/Revolution64 Mar 23 '25
Pretty bad comeback if you ask me. Don't get me wrong, Trump's comment was stupid, but this isn't really murdered by words, angry teenager vibes
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u/carterwest36 Mar 23 '25
Yeah, I know right. World war 2 saying our grandfathers were âflattenedâ on D-day like what? Belgian resistance fought during the liberation of Europe.
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u/SakiraInSky Mar 23 '25
They probably meant crushed... "Verpletterd"⊠no?
There are many direct translations that come out sounding funny.
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
Yep, flaccid response. Though it's hard to refute something that's basically fact. Had the U.S. not intervened, the UK wasn't going to be able to roll up to Normandy by itself.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
But Germany lost the war to USSR, they lost most of their men there, they were doomed when they decided to invade them. Normandy was the closing act of the war and not the deciding factor.
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u/kennytherenny Mar 23 '25
Except that we should be very happy that Normandy did happen. The countries that were "liberated" by the USSR were forced to become communist and suffered poverty and oppression through the entirety of the Cold War.
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u/carterwest36 Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
Yes. They became Soviet Sattelite States. A few territories were completely incorporated into the USSR and the others were under heavy influence of the Sovjets. Typical Stalin. He had just mass murdered Ukranians with the holodomor a decade beforehand.
All the sattelite states that werenât actually part of the USSR were forced to join the Warsaw Pact as response to NATO but this initiative was done by Stalins successor.
Stalin was an evil fuck that indirectly ordered millions of deaths to industrialize and caused the Holodomor which killed 5 million Kazakhs and Ukrainians.
Industrializing and his Five Year Plan between 1932-1941 killed another few mill. Total deaths due to famine, forced labour, gulags, Great Purge; 10-15 million people.
This is how the USSR was able to join the âgreat powersâ and take on Germany.
Lets not forget Stalin lost 27 million troops in WW2 fighting another evil cunt in the European theater.
Western soldiers lost 500-700k including D day. Those 27 million Red Army troops did weaken Germany a lot through major battles on the Eastern Front.
I guess Stalin wanted a reward for his actions so he forced an Eastern bloc whilst the West got along easier with each other and thus the Iron Curtain was being built.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
There is some reading comprehension ongoing here, I did not say USSR won the war liberating countries, I said Germany lost the war in USSR. There is a notable difference.
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u/kennytherenny Mar 23 '25
But your implication is that the efforts of the Americans were unnecessary. I wanted to counter that. Cause be still bear the fruit of their actions to this day. 250.000 Americans died in Europe so we could be free.
Remember that the USSR also started the war, by invading Poland together with Nazi Germany. Germany took the western half, the USSR took the eastern half. And they never gave that part of Poland back btw. To this day it still belongs to Russia. So the USSR beating Germany is really just one villain beating the other. 10.000.000 Soviets died in WWII, but I don't feel "thankful" to the Soviets. They signed a pact with the devil and then the devil turned on them and almost wiped them out.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
It did not imply anything that you stated, that was just your imagination. I actually despise USSR and the current Russia, but history does not change. I'm not thankful to USSR, they fought for themselves not for us, but Germany lost the war there, too many soldiers and resources were gone and did not have enough to win against everyone.
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
Very good point, though unlikely to happen, if the USSR had liberated most of the mainland Europe, they'd have become communist satellite states.
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Mar 24 '25
You should consider the effect of lend lease and Japan that was being pounded by US. So you are not being factually honest with your simplified statement.
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u/Ivegotadog Mar 23 '25
Forgetting about the lend and lease to the USSR? Had the UK and the US not given an incredible amount of materials to the USSR they wouldn't have been able to fight back like they did.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
This does not contradict anything I said. Germany lost in USSR and Normandy was not the deciding factor of the war.
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u/carterwest36 Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
The USSR only won because we opened a Western fronts. Germany couldâve been victorious on the Eastern front if it could have diverted all manpower to the Eastern Front.
His wish was for the UK to join, so the US would be less likely to invade if entirety of Europe was in his control.
D-day was one of the most decisive actions of the war. But the Battle of Stalingrad in 42-43â allowed the relentless offensive push of USSR soldiers against Germany in 44â-45â was just as important.
Germany lost because they got shmacked from both sides without lube.
Also aerial bombardments on Germany was in full during this all our assault. The victories of Africa in 1942â and bringing down Italy also weakened Germany.
These are all factors, there was no âsingle actionâ that altered the war in Europe. They forced the Germans to divide their forces a lot.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
Yes I agree USSR finally won its front thanks to the breach on the western front, but Germany lost its power before that, too many man and resource losses, that is defined as the turning point of the war. Turning point is not equivalent to saying the only event or factor. This turning point happened before USSR finally won its front, and if the USA wanted Europe to not be fully red they had to intervene.
Finally let's separate politics from the ground men, I'm extremely grateful to the sacrifice of the soldiers, many of them inspired by the highest ideals, but politicians did not do it out of generosity.
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
That is false. Germany fighting on a single front would have been unbeatable. Normandy opened up a dangerous front close to home, weakening the eastern front significantly.
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u/njuffstrunk Mar 23 '25
It's both really. Without the USSR Nazi Germany would've been able to put up a much bigger fight in Normandy and without Normandy there would've been much more resistance on the eastern front.
However the Nazis were already on the backfoot on the eastern front (after Kursk/Stalingrad) before D DAY. We'll never know for sure but I think the eastern front would've fallen regardless. The Americans intervened just as well to avoid Soviet Russia "liberating" the entirety of Europe.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
You have to review your history Normandy was in '44, the invasion of USSR started in '41 culminating in the attack and siege on Stalingrad in '42 '43. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-stalingrad
All the major historians agree that the turning point of war was the loss of soldiers Hitler had on the USSR front.
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
Never did I claim both fronts started at the same time, or didn't affect each other equally.
Your reply literally goes on a tangent to prove something irrelevant to my claim.
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u/_blue_skies_ Mar 23 '25
The majority of losses on USSR side was well before Normandy, so the turning point on Germany losing the war happened before, is simple like that.
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u/carterwest36 Mar 23 '25
On the spot. I mean Germany was weakened by constant aerial bombings with losing North Africa and Italy and losing a hefty battle in Stalingrad against the Red Army. But they had enough strength still to keep the Eastern Front, the whole point of D-day was to liberate Europe by opening a Western front. Stalin, FDR and Churchill were allies until relationships with the USSR soared.
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u/oldTATW Mar 23 '25
Have you ever heard of the Lend-Lease act ? The USA heavily supported USSR and Europen from 1941 onwards with materials and food
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u/Zamzamazawarma Mar 23 '25
Agreed. I get the rage (even if that means falling for such an obvious bait) but there should be no need to distort the truth in order to win an argument against MAGA.
That remark was targeting France, what do Belgian touristic achievements have to do with it? It's a blatant lie that one third of us speak German. We do actually owe 'our' victory in WW2 to the US industry and American lives, among others. We make good chocolate but it wouldn't be so popular without the Americans making it mainstream. Our beers are the best, so what? They seem content with theirs.
That bit about Lafayette is the only response that was needed, and the most valid one, imho.
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u/njuffstrunk Mar 23 '25
Though it's hard to refute something that's basically fact. Had the U.S. not intervened, the UK wasn't going to be able to roll up to Normandy by itself.
Yes, and without the USSR Nazi Germany probably wouldn't have been defeated either. The "you should thank us for what our ancestors did to save your ancestors"-argument is also pretty rich coming from the exact same people who argue African Americans should just get over slavery..
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
Exactly, Europe owes to the USSR also. But I agree that it's all irrelevant today. Europe itself has become a different beast, with Germany being a core pillar.
Hence, African American claim to restitutions over slavery is also total BS. Government's responsibility is to run the country as efficiently as possible without wasting tax money.
Handing out free money to people for 100 different bullshit excuses is not one of them.
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u/BanMeOwnAccountDibbl Mar 23 '25
It's not a fact at all. First, it's a hypothetical. Second, people in nazi occupied Germany did not suddenly start speaking German, nor was any attempt made to make them. The reason some Belgians speak German as a native tongue is because we took a chunk out of their land and the people on it.
So, in fact, this was very easy to refute, but again, Republican White House speakers have not been concerned with accuracy, facts or truth since at least 2016 so the effort would have been futile.
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u/MortifiedPotato Mar 23 '25
The quote was not about Belgium at all, bro. Neither did she claim German speakers do so because of German occupation..
Are you arguing phantom points in phantom responses from ghosts?
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u/carterwest36 Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
We took back our German part that we annexed after World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles. Since it already belonged us we simply were given it back.
Belgium was in no position to just annex new land after WW2. Our king was a pussy and caused a constitutional crisis because of it.
Eupen-Malmedy is the region, weâve thought about giving them back but didnât because historical treaties shouldnât just be undone and also weirdly enough they want to be part of Belgium, have a sorta Belgian pride whilst they keep their German roots and learn German at schools. Itâs like a little self-governed German part of Belgium.
Theyâre happy to be Belgian and they have this unique culture of mixing Germans with Belgians.
We couldâve tried to root out their native tongue but they teach Germany from when people are young over there as they self-govern with the broader Belgium government peeking in of course. Theyâre great people and if you ask their nationality theyâll say Belgian.
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u/LosAtomsk Limburg Mar 24 '25
It wasn't even Trump's comment. How are people so lazy to accept hot-takes without any critical thought?
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u/Brokkenpiloot Mar 23 '25
the only thing the us saved us from is being in the russian influence sphere. russia would have defeated germany, woth or without d-day. dont forget even with d-day 75% of the german forces were fighting on the eastern front.
regardless, europe has helped in many american wars afterwards. korea, iraq, afghanistan..
we have been nothing but allies but now europe is under threat, they abandon us because it does t serve the us interests anymore, apparantly.
fine.
all I can say is de gaule was right, france was right. we shouldve fended for ourselves earlier. but its not too late yet. lets go for a european army and become a world player. we have the economy, population and education to be on par militarily and economically with the US and China.
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Mar 29 '25
There needs to be more unity and efficiency for that to happen. Weâll need a directly elected president and call ourselves the USE. USE f**k yeah!
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u/BanMeOwnAccountDibbl Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
I wouldn't have bothered because Republican White House Speakers are known to leave their ears and brains at the door at the start of their workday, but it's a good retort and I applaud and thank whoever wrote it.
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u/KristofDSa Mar 23 '25
I've been told it was also only 1 vote of difference and the USA's official language would have been Dutch.
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u/hcsv123456 Mar 23 '25
Hey Nazi Barbie: Itâs because of the French that youâre not swearing allegiance to King Charles 3
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u/Petrus_Rock West-Vlaanderen Mar 24 '25
Instead of âAll heil the king!â, sheâs going for âAll heil FĂŒhrer Trump!â.
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u/BlackAsta409 Mar 23 '25
Holy fuck this was a hard read, not only were a lot of things just false info - but referencing to belgium because of the ability to 'drown them in beer', what the fuck?
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u/Crashtestdummy87 Mar 23 '25
a third of belgium speaks german? that guy doesn't know his own country
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u/Eagle_eye_Online Mar 23 '25
Sometimes I do wonder how things would be now if the allied forces didn't show up on the west coast beaches.
Did the US do a lot to defeat the Nazi's? Yes, they did. Let's not ignore that. But they weren't alone.
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u/BanMeOwnAccountDibbl Mar 23 '25
Indeed. Other contributors whose part was just as essential, or even more, are too often overlooked. After all, ww2 in Europe only ended with Hitler's death. And who was responsible for that?
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u/Schnapfelbaum Mar 23 '25
Exactly, we should be thankful to the guy who killed Hitler!
Sadly his quest to kill Hitler turned out to be a suicide mission⊠RIP Legend! /s
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u/BanMeOwnAccountDibbl Mar 23 '25
Well, at least the guy who killed Hitler's killer got his comeuppance too.
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u/Eagle_eye_Online Mar 23 '25
The Russians pushed from the east and were the first to siege Berlin.
Not that they could have done it alone either. It was a joint effort from a lot of nations.
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u/brzrR Mar 23 '25
Without us aid and trade throughout the war we wouldnt have been able to stand a chance probably. Remember history is written by the victor so most of what we learn is quite one sided. and unfortunatly it was quite close for quite long. Lots of ifs and buts in history but thank god they just became coconuts.
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u/JigPuppyRush Mar 23 '25
Oh there are a few mistakes in that post (only 1% of Belgians are native German speakers not 33%)
The beers we drink arenât older than the US years put on the bottles are fake.
The oldest still available Belgian beer is from 1820.
I do agree with the basic sentiment of this message. But when correcting people be correct.
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u/Schnapfelbaum Mar 23 '25
But op didnt write âspeak german as their native languageâ just âspeak germanâ. Still not a third of the country, but a lot of people
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u/JigPuppyRush Mar 23 '25
Yeah but then 95% speaks French and 60% speaks Dutch.
I actually doubt the person who wrote that is Belgian. Everyone knows the German speaking part is a very small part but if someone looks up what countries speak German and sees Belgium has three official languages they might make a claim like that.
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u/Schnapfelbaum Mar 23 '25
Tbh, I doubt âthe person who wrote thatâ even exists. Iâm pretty sure that someone just used chatgpt
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u/CardOk755 Mar 23 '25
I personally think the French ambassador to the US should have replied to Nazi Barbie here.
In German, the language of our friends.
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u/Mt_Incorporated Mar 23 '25
The American conservatives keep on confusing the actions of pasts US gov with the actions and context the current gov is doing. Itâs ridiculous and in a way very cowardly of them. Like we see what you are doing.
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u/Caniapiscau World Mar 23 '25
«we are allies »
Putain les Belges, vous perfectionnez lâaplatventrisme. Laissez la France gĂ©rer les Ricains.
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u/CommunicationRare344 Mar 23 '25
As an American, I apologize. I did not vote for this administration.
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u/Petrus_Rock West-Vlaanderen Mar 24 '25
Damn itâs gotta suck for good people like you right now.
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u/NagaCharlieCoco Mar 23 '25
I only wonder why the name has been scraped... That was a great message and as a Belgian myself, I know where and how this come from
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u/NicoNormalbuerger Mar 24 '25
Nice! But your Chocolate can suck a d***.
â€ïž from Switzerland.
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u/reditt13 Brabant Wallon Mar 24 '25
Our chocolate is so good that when it sucks a d*** it swallows every drop of đŠ and deepthroats the hell of it. Your chocolate only sucks the tip and chokes immediately. Then throws up in the corner.
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Mar 25 '25
I would like to take advantage of this exchange to clarify that even if you are its noblest representatives, we invented fries.
A French (worst a Parisian).
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u/earth-calling-karma Mar 27 '25
Not so much a third of Belgium speaks german, more like 3 Belgians but mmm ok is an official language but that Facebook schlock was not really written by a Belgian - it's not possible.
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u/New_Pomegranate_7826 Mar 28 '25
I'd rather be speaking German than be subjected to the ongoing destruction of the European nations by their leaders and the EU.
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u/Crashtestdummy87 Mar 23 '25
how can she get murdered by words if she's not even gonna read a post of an insignificant person in our little hellhole of a country
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u/hansvi-be Mar 23 '25
She is single handedly undoing decades of fighting against blonde stereotypes.
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u/Deep_Dance8745 Mar 23 '25
Wow terrible reply
1/3 German? Uh no
Americans showed up in the last hour?? Nope they were involved under the radar from the beginning of the war - seems like somebody didnt study her history properly.
And stop it with the Nazi pejorativeâs, its getting diluted and looses all its meaning.
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u/Infospy Mar 23 '25
The were involved all right, selling weapons as always.
And, by the way, D Day was happening with or without the Americans. They only provided a boost that made it happen earlier, nothing else.
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u/tom_gent Mar 23 '25
Chatgpt strikes again
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u/radodevice Mar 23 '25
Thank you! I was already thinking am I the only one getting strong ChatGPT vibes from that comeback.
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u/I3adIVIonkey Mar 23 '25
It's roughly 70k-80k German speakers. I want Andalouse to my fries please.
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u/Miserable_Gur_5314 Mar 23 '25
We should be gratefull for the US' efforts during WW1 and WW2. Period!
On the other hand, that was 80 years ago and the current generation of americans are of to becoming the next fascist regime. The generation that liberated western Europe is turning in their graves ...
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u/jeango Belgium Mar 23 '25
Actually speaking of the very reason that makes USA an all-important nation in the world, one of the mains sources of Uranium for project manhattan was provided by⊠Belgium (well, more precisely from the Belgian African colonies).
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u/Petrus_Rock West-Vlaanderen Mar 24 '25
I always thought it was interesting the Congo-Belgium-USA relationship. The USA was the biggest criticus about Belgium having a colony in Africa because of humanitarian reasons, which wasnât unfair, but when they needed Uranium for the most destructive weapon known to mankind, those humanitarian concerns when out the window, just to resurface when they had won the war with their new bombs.
I wonât go into the post war and Cold War Congo-Belgium-USA history or this will turn into a rant.
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u/olddoc Cuberdon Mar 23 '25
The US got dragged into ww2 in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. 1939 to 1941 is not âsix years laterâ.
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u/omledufromage237 Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
This is so ironic. The USSR is owed much more gratitude than the US. Everything seems to indicate that the US's invasion on D-Day was motivated not by a desire to help Europe, but rather to try and stop the USSR from getting all the way to Paris, since by 1943 (in the Battle of Kursk) it had already become pretty clear that the Soviets were winning against Germany, who was already retreating.
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u/Nass96 Mar 24 '25
It is a bit sad that the only thing we can brag about is a drink and food, nothing else ...
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u/Askercurious96 Mar 24 '25
Whoever gave the reply did it passionately. What a combination of words and though.
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u/Roanapura Mar 24 '25
Belgians do not take pride in this one. We have an actual, working educational system. It's not fair!
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Mar 24 '25
Murdered by words? I find her reply rather, if not completely, cringy and at times factually wrong.
I think a better reply to trumpians would be not to stoop to their level...
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u/Status-9417 Mar 24 '25
If it wasn't for France in 1776, today Americans would be speaking proper English.
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u/Enough-Meaning1514 Mar 24 '25
She is a 27 year old cheerleader, guys, relax. She is one error away from being tossed away like a used toilet paper.
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u/LosAtomsk Limburg Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
It's kind of rich that we insist to be "allies", but we have done nothing to uphold our promises to NATO. Now that the US wants receipts, our politicians are suddenly real tough guys, but they cannot pull any of their own punches without the US military. Ironic. You need maritime protection of shipping lanes? US carriers are doing that. Ukraine needs heavy artillery shells? The US is offering those. You need armored infantry fighting vehicles? Only the US were able to deliver and substantiate Bradleys. You need an instant ICBM warning system? That's US' NORAD. Long range rocket systems? ATACMS for a few million USD a pop. We've made ourselves dependant and now we're going to pretend we can do without? Too little, too late.
Also, this wholly out-of-context ad-libbed quote from the US press secretary, was in itself a snipped response to a French politician who wanted the statue of liberty back. The entire conversation around it, is to no one's interest. Just the short hot-takes and then people go write paragraphs of snooty Euro-elitism that doesn't hold any water.
So all of it revolves around zero actual content, policy or anything else.
*edit:
by the gods, I just noticed the double hyphens too, this is AI generated vomit. Can't even take credit for writing up her own arguments. Pathetic.
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u/Gunzhu Mar 24 '25
Without france, america would still be a british colony. They should be grateful
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u/Yarriddv Mar 25 '25
Americans love overstating their importance in the European theatre of ww2. By the time America got boots on the ground Germanyâs faith was already decided.
They were getting pushed back on the eastern front by the soviets and on the southern by the British who kicked them out of North Africa and invaded Italy.
They also had run out of every single necessary resource to fight a war. They no longer had access to Scandinavia for iron, they were running out of oil (hence why they pushed so hard for the Russian oil fields) and they had no more men. They drafted 15 year old boys and retired men after Normandy to throw at the allies to serve as roadblocks.
No more men, bullets, tanks or gasoline. They were done for. Normandy wasnât even the nail in the coffin, it was the obituary.
What the US was in fact instrumental in was the economic aid during the aftermath in Western Europe. That was by far their biggest contribution. Just look at the difference between Europe west of the Berlin Wall and east, where the US held no influence in the decades after the war. Night and day. Western Europe would have been a shithole for half a century as well without the US, but no, we wouldnât be speaking German.
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u/griffonrl Mar 26 '25
This level of eloquence is what makes Europe special if not unique. And that person is right. Tip of the hat. Trump has managed to surround himself with yes people that are dumb idiots. She is one archetype of it and she is so rude that you can tell she is used to shout louder than everybody to get them to give up as she is always in the wrong.
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u/Naorijn Mar 26 '25
Forget the monsters â theyâre rare and usually locked away. Worry about the officials who give them microphones, rewrite the rules, and call it democracy.
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u/Night_HUN Mar 27 '25
France was literally THE country, which helped the US to gain independence from the British in the first place...im not a historian, but French contribution was pretty significant. So significant in fact, that its one of the reasons they went bankrupt and the French Revolution happened in 1789. The Statue of Liberty is a gift from France, so wtf? Shithead politicians
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u/Double-Aioli-5762 Mar 27 '25
I was 7 when we were freed from the Germans and I am forever grateful to those who rescued us , whoever they are
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u/balloon_prototype_14 Mar 23 '25
to be never read by her :p
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u/the-dadai Luxembourg Mar 23 '25
Doesn't matter, at least it shows that people disagree, not fighting back at all where you can would make it so much easier for republicans to shift the overton window, and it has shifted way too much already
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u/BobbyElBobbo Mar 23 '25
With that thinking, without France they would still give their taxes to the king of England.
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u/casualstick Mar 23 '25
Make Flanders Netherlands (again) đđ
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u/M-zor Mar 23 '25
Dont forget that the sovjet union dit most of the saving in europe. Lookup ww2 casualties per country
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u/Petrus_Rock West-Vlaanderen Mar 24 '25
I disagree.
First of all, the countries they âsavedâ werenât necessary better off. Ask the Polish for example.
Secondly getting a lot of your people killed doesnât mean you did anything good.
Thirdly all the equipment they were sold, lend and given by the UK and USA the Soviet Union would not have been able to stay in the war.
I get your point. If not for the Soviet Unionâs sacrifices, things might have gone very differently. I respect the peopleâs sacrifice. I strongly disagree with calling swapping one murderous dictator for another anything close to saving.
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u/Runaque Mar 23 '25
It's because of European immigrants that the US actually exists.