Shahab Shiri

2IBM03
Assignment 7: Belgium
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The author wrote a sentence that Belgians are hard working, and I can
acknowledge that. Belgians tend to work hard, especially in the labour
(blue collar) departments. (Justlanded, 2016) (R. Lewis, Nicholas Brealey,
2006)

He also writes that Belgians do not like to discuss politics. I do not agree
with that. Throughout my years in Gent, I have studied in a lot of different
study programs in schools and high schools/universities. I have also
worked in quite a few different jobs, with different types of people. They all
did not say no to a nice discussion about politics (in Belgium, or anywhere
else for the matter). Even with young people that are the same age as me
always liked to talk to me about politics. This is my personal experience.
(R. Lewis, Nicholas Brealey, 2006)

A crucial aspect that is not in the article, is certainly the fact that according
to me, Belgians are very unsocial to people they do not know. For example,
an Australian friend of mine said that the bus drivers barely reply to his
greetings. I have experienced this myself as well that I have the feeling
that Belgians do not like to greet each other a lot. Especially people that
they have only met once, they do to not put in a lot of effort to say a
simple hi. While on the other hand, my Asian friends which I have only
seen once or so, would always take a moment to have some small talk with
me. This is also biased on personal experience. (R. Lewis, Nicholas Brealey,
2006)

The author is merely talking about Belgiums historical facts. I am not sure
whether the author is really biased or not, but you have the feeling that he
is quite positive about Belgiums cultures and traditions. He knows what he
is talking about and he definitely knows the difference between Flanders
and Wallonia. (R. Lewis, Nicholas Brealey, 2006)