Belgian blogger got fired from NY job for writing about Belgian secretary of defence
A few days ago a belgian young woman working as a bartender in NY got a visit from the belgian secretary of defense. The secretary had stumbled into her bar oviously very drunk and confided to her his visit to NY and the UN was useless since anybody that matterd to his bussines at the UN was in Switserland. When asked by her why he then was in NY and not in switserland or back home in Brussels he replied: "We knew nobody whould be in NY but brussels is so boring this time off year and i don't care for Switserland so i thought what the heck roll out the jet for a week in NY city!" He preoceded to fill the rest of the evening with agrevating his already drunken state and trash talking belgium (and sharing the adresses of the best brothels Antwerp has to offer) to anybody in his delegation that would listen.
The original post is here (warning its in Dutch...)
The young woman who writes a blog about her live in NY (mostly for a core group of friends and followers nothing big). But since it made some waves back home in Belgium the Belgian SecDef desided to ring her employer in NY and actually got her fired! (as you can read here but again thats in dutch..). Above all he did not get her fired herself but used the ministry of defense and it resources to track down her employer and let their spokesperson sort it out using, again, Belgian goverment resources.
She is pretty ok with the situation, or in her own words: "Well so much for free speech, but i am a big girl i will find a new job and hold no grudge against my former employer who was put under considerable preassure by ther Belgian Sec Defand his staf...". Bloggers might be very free and powerfull in the US, but in Europe they are cospired against by both goverment and the "old media" who see in them a threat to their audience.
BTW, The Belgian old media shows no sign of backing this woman up and doing some reporting on this...
The Belgian SecDef had to face his parliament wher he received... A STANDING OVATION AFTER WARNING THEM OF THE DANGER OF BLOGS! Freakin unbelevable!
I am very lucky not to live in Belgium but just north of their in the Netherlands...
cherish your freedom in the US because it is not universal or respected in the same way, not even in the western world!
The original post is here (warning its in Dutch...)
The young woman who writes a blog about her live in NY (mostly for a core group of friends and followers nothing big). But since it made some waves back home in Belgium the Belgian SecDef desided to ring her employer in NY and actually got her fired! (as you can read here but again thats in dutch..). Above all he did not get her fired herself but used the ministry of defense and it resources to track down her employer and let their spokesperson sort it out using, again, Belgian goverment resources.
She is pretty ok with the situation, or in her own words: "Well so much for free speech, but i am a big girl i will find a new job and hold no grudge against my former employer who was put under considerable preassure by ther Belgian Sec Defand his staf...". Bloggers might be very free and powerfull in the US, but in Europe they are cospired against by both goverment and the "old media" who see in them a threat to their audience.
BTW, The Belgian old media shows no sign of backing this woman up and doing some reporting on this...
The Belgian SecDef had to face his parliament wher he received... A STANDING OVATION AFTER WARNING THEM OF THE DANGER OF BLOGS! Freakin unbelevable!
I am very lucky not to live in Belgium but just north of their in the Netherlands...
cherish your freedom in the US because it is not universal or respected in the same way, not even in the western world!
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Ummm Switserland?
November 30, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spellings vary in different languages. I wonder how you would do on a blog in Dutch.
I am disturbed that a bar in New York would feel the need to fire someone -- anyone -- from governmental pressure. Somehow I doubt that the pressure was applied from Brussels. Most likely this was our government putting pressure on at the behest of another government. I would love to see if this gets followed up.
Thanks for the information, and I apologize for the rude comment above.
November 30, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
The barkeep acted unprofessionally. Information you come in contact of through your job should be kept discreet, and definitely not blabbed about on blogs.
November 30, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can see that if the barkeep was a nurse or a psychologist. I doubt that they have a disclosure agreement to work in a bar. People should be aware that if they say stuff when they are in a public place it could get out.
I'm on the side of the barkeep!
December 1, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink