Instead of that weak ending, “A Tale of Flanders” could have ended with a rich new identity

Wonderful country, where “nationalist propaganda” proverb Flanders story described, and ends with the message that only super-diversity remains an identity. The expert told us that everyone can now be who they want to be thanks to social media. A common language, common institutions, values ​​and norms, compatibility in lifestyles… All this is no longer necessary. After all, the purebred Fleming no longer exists, according to a second expert. The viewer got it in the final minutes of Flanders story Everywhere. Purebred Fleming! Authentic Fleming! You don’t think that’s possible.

When it comes to identity, confusion reigns. Next, bias is ahead of judgment. So it became Flanders story Condemned before it even began. This is why Canon Flanders was banned, even before it was there. That’s why you get stuck Flanders story On his feet when the subject of identity can no longer be avoided.

Identity means privacy to stand out. Is the diversity of languages, ways of thinking, ways of life, values ​​and points of view in Flanders so diverse now that there is no longer a difference between living in Flanders and living in China, Somalia or Iran? Perhaps in each of these places there are a number of people who are so disconnected from their environment that it does not matter where they live. Should this become the norm?

Some things that we assume (or assume) are universal, are the same everywhere. Science, for example, generally assumes that the truths and truths it decides are always provisional, but valid regardless of the scientist’s national identity or the civilization to which they belong. However, N-VA President Bart de Wever points out that the Center for Development Cooperation of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (UCOS) has a different view on this matter: “The university as a space and as an institute relies on heterogeneous male and female foundations. In continuation of colonialism, it is necessary Thus dismantling the so-called Eurocentric universalism of knowledge.

A sentence that makes you dizzy, but fortunately this view of science is not widely shared. If it spreads in a super-diverse society, many nations are likely to make an effort to preserve European knowledge. After all, compared to other methods of knowledge, it contributes greatly to prosperity, well-being, and technological ability.

Romantic paradox

Contrary to popular understanding of science, it is generally assumed that ethical and aesthetic standards are culturally related. Romanticism placed great emphasis on this in the early nineteenth century. Art, philosophy, and law were seen as ways in which a civilization or people would express themselves. In this spirit, France became the land of Molière, Russia became the land of Pushkin, Germany the land of Goethe… Writers who believed in giving voice to the national spirit were immortalized everywhere in bronze and stone.

In this way the paradox of Romanticism becomes apparent. Romantic thinking originated in Germany, but because inspiration crossed borders, it spread to the rest of Europe. Art and morality are always to some extent supranational, which does not prevent the reader, viewer and sensitive listener from recognizing local and national color and individuality in truly great works.

Identity building is dealing with that romantic paradox: creating individuality, building community with the materials provided by the past and the inspiration that reaches us.

Inspiration can come in the form of a book or a painting, but also from immigrants who carry their own identity on a journey that sometimes lasts for generations, long after they have arrived in their country. This is part of our story now. This is not the “old emigration” of all time, but the exceptional exodus from the end of the eighties of the last century. You changed our lives. What is remarkable today is that the description of Flanders’ identity as very diverse, as well as the call for the restoration of our country, are hopelessly outdated. We now see people of colour, Muslims and immigrant children helping to shape Flemish identity and doing so in a way that in no way denies our vision of our past, but rather complements and enriches it.

Mass migration is a potentially devastating process, but if we stop illegal migration unchecked, there are more reasons for hope than despair. Many immigrant children transcend the mundane void of superdiversity. Those who look without prejudice see how the best of our past bears fruit in their souls.

Rather than end up with this unsavory portrait of a purebred Fleming drowning in a super-variety mush, Flanders story We can conclude by noting that uniqueness and new rich identity. Look around you. It is growing exponentially. More and more people want to form a community. They want to go home, not live as if “here” has so little individuality that it could easily be “elsewhere”.