“A tree is for Christmas and Christians but now there are a lot of Muslims here in Brussels. So to avoid discussions they have just replaced a tree with a couple of cubes! I am more traditional, I prefer the usual tree. That’s better for the Belgian people.” A recent estimate in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir suggested Muslims made up 22% of the population of Brussels and its region as of 2010.
Parts of the Belgian press have been keen to suggest that the tree is an example of “political correctness”, designed to be more appealing to non-Christian religious groups than a traditional fir tree, our correspondent says. However it seems likely that the media storm is influencing public opinion rather than reflecting it.
BRUSSELS: That was then (Christmas tree), this is now (Politically Correct avant garde tree)
No comments:
Post a Comment