Belgium is a country loaded with virtues, but among them is not addressing emotional needs in an open and healthy way. It is a closed country, where everything is kept. In the bosom of the family, in the personal sphere or in the attics. Problems, fears, doubts, fears do not surface, and when they do it is in a superficial, insufficient, or overflowing way, when it is too late. It is not something particular to here, they will think, and it is true. But in a small place, where family tends to be few and far between, where many friendships have an expiration date from day one, where professional ambition is so high, and where relationships with parents begin to dilute as soon as they reach the age of majority, it becomes even harder. At home they learn that silence is the norm and in the European institutions it is consolidated, and this lesson is passed from generation to generation, causing chain traumas.
And paper A couple of years ago on the negative psychological and social consequences of the suppression of emotional needs yielded interesting results. The thesis is that while the above is true, in some other cultural contexts the effects are different. The researchers postulated that variants in repression “are less pronounced for socially engaged emotions (eg, guilt) than for socially disengaged emotions (eg, anger), because the former foster relatedness, while the latter emphasize individual goals.” Surprise: Belgium, the quintessential individual country, registers problems in the skills necessary for conflict resolution. Especially mental.
This framework may serve to better understand the case of David Baerten. It is a clear sign when you call yourself that, you are from Liège but you make yourself known as Ragnar the Mad (Crazy). This man, tiktoker e influencerbecame famous when faked his own death to appear at his funeral, by helicopter and surrounded by cameras. So that? due to narcissism, followers, for money, for not having a filter, or for few neurons. But the excuse is that he wanted to teach those close to him a lesson about the ephemeral nature of life. Reproach those who are not there on a day-to-day basis and then shed crocodile tears when there is nothing to do. For more inri and Freud’s delight, everything had to happen on Father’s Day.
It was not a spur-of-the-moment occurrence, but the streamer (who as a good Belgian has a house with little architectural taste near Torrevieja) spent a year preparing it, hired a production company and he only notified his wife and children, whom he fully involved. People, in fact, found out about her death through a heartfelt message from her daughter on her social media. “Rest in peace, daddy. Why is life so unfair? Why you? You were going to be a grandfather, and you still had your life ahead of you. We love you! We will never forget you,” she wrote.
Obviously, the gentleman has been showered with criticism, but since he feeds on attention, mentions and there is no bad publicity, he is delighted. “I only keep the positive,” he said after torturing family and friends. “You have to shock people to make them realize things.” As a critic of Maeterlinck’s theater, a Belgian who did manage to be universal, said, these graces are “purely and simply chapel literature, which is addressed to a few initiates through the symbolism of the dark”