A "Marginal" Triangle in Flemish Brabant?

Leuven is widely known to be the main city of the Flemish Brabant province. It has a century-old university campus - perhaps it is the Belgian "Oxford"? - and many wealthy youngsters come from all over Flanders and the world to study there. Yet, an Eastern part of the same province, between Tienen, Diest and Aarschot, is colloqually named "de Marginale Driehoek" or "the Marginal Triangle" in English. A legend says that Napoleon gave the name to the region. According to it, before the Battle of Waterloo, the emperor left a number of soldiers there when they were not "capable" of doing much.

"Marginal Triangle" on a map next to Leuven

Nowadays people still associate the "triangle" with the word "marginaal", which does not translate only literally into "marginal". Rather it is used for tasteless and stupid people, who often severly lack culture, education and a job... Stereotypes depicts them as football and car "pimping" fans, who love loud techno music and showing off clothes of a famous brand (basically the equivalent of "chavs" in England).

As a result, people in Leuven and others regularly make fun of the region, being considered as low class, which is often untrue! According to statistics (source), people in the region are not necessarily less well educated or employed, but some would argue that "marginality" has more to do with culture and lifestyle than income or education...

Flemish tv-show De Ideale Wereld (VIER) has recently made fun of these people through parody videos. In one of them, the comedian Luc Haekens pretended to be a journalist broadcasting the visit of the Chinese President in Tienen. A big limo arrived on the city centre and a black guy wearing a Chinese hat and a wig was playing the Chinese President! Although this all didn't really make sense, people still acted as if it was normal!... It didn't surprise anyone either that the "Chinese President" had a perfect Flemish accent while speaking Dutch! Watch the video.

In another parody, the same comedian publically apologised to all people in Tienen about what he did last time. He used the occasion to make people claim their pride in the city of Tienen... but not in the best way! Haekens basically pushed people to say silly sentences while innocently doing strange things. A woman put her feet in a public fountain, a cyclist got filmed upside down with his bottom facing the camera, etc. Not the best way to bring some dignity back to the so-called "Marginal Triangle"! Watch the video.

Special thanks to Rien for the good idea! ;-)