Life the Dog

2014-06-22

◎俞智敏

Dutch media hit out on after authorities in a southern city took part in an elaborate hoax announcing the construction of a ’gay only’ village.

在荷蘭南部城市政府參與一項複雜的騙局，宣稱將在當地興建一座「同志專屬」社區後，荷蘭媒體提出猛烈批評。

State broadcaster NOS and respected national daily NRC reacted with fury after publishing stories about the plan for a community specifically for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents outside Tilburg. The hoax also caught out several international news outlets.

國營廣播電台NOS和廣受敬重的日報NRC在刊登了有關這項替男女同性戀者、雙性戀者和跨性別居民在提堡郊外打造專屬社區的新聞後都發表了憤怒回應。這個騙局也害得數家國際媒體上當。

The plan for the so-called "Gay Village", complete with a slick website and promotional videos, was cooked up by the Pink Monday Foundation, which organises a gay festival with the same name during Tilburg’s annual summer festival.

這項所謂「同志村」計畫不但架設了設計精美的網站，還拍攝了宣傳影片，但整個計畫其實都是由「粉紅星期一基金會」所捏造，該基金會也負責在提堡年度夏日節慶期間以同樣的名稱籌辦同志節活動。

The "plan" unleashed a wave of protest in the rights-sensitive Netherlands with people taking to Twitter to denounce a "gay ghetto", saying everybody should feel safe on the country’s streets, irrespective of sexual orientation.

這項「計畫」在對人權議題向來敏感的荷蘭引發抗議浪潮，許多人在推特上發文譴責興建「同志隔離區」，並表示所有人不分性傾向都應在荷蘭街頭感到安全。

Pink Monday later announced the whole idea was "an elaborate hoax, sure, but one to make a statement against intolerance of the gay community in the Netherlands." "The negative reactions we got are positive for Pink Monday. We are happy that people think a gay village is a crazy idea," it said.

「粉紅星期一」後來宣布計畫是「一場精心設計的騙局，但目的是要對針對荷蘭同志社群的褊狹觀念表態。」「我們所接獲的所有負面反應，對粉紅星期一而言其實都是正面的。我們很高興大家認為同志村是瘋狂的主意。」該組織表示。

新聞辭典

hoax：名詞，指惡作劇、騙局，如：The bomb threat is probably a hoax, but we should still evacuate the building.（炸彈威脅有可能是惡作劇，但我們還是應該清空整棟大樓。）

catch someone out：片語，指發現某人受騙、顯示某人無知、犯錯或露出馬腳，如：The investigator tried to catch me out, but I stuck to my story.（調查人員試圖抓出我的破綻，但我堅持說法毫不鬆口。）

cook up：動詞片語，指捏造、編造，如：They cooked up a scheme to fool their neighbor.（他們掰出了一項愚弄鄰居的計畫。）