I got a comment to my last post from a Gypsy accusing me of racism!
Surely the most overused accusation in the world today! I'm sure the commenter wants me to repent and seek forgiveness of them, for what, I'm not really sure?
They state:
'The hight of ignorance comes out in this appauling article by Tory Irish. A man who also turned into cheap savage dog, like the uneducated Italian savage dogs in Napels who lost their minds. If only they woke up and realised what they are doing to a divine rich and beautiful culture with Asian roots, deep tradtions, beautiful music, loving families and innocent kids. A culture that has been stereotyped by outsiders for over 200 years. So you, Tory Irish will be on the Romani media watch black list if you don't read the links below learn about Romanies and apologise to the Romani people for your absolutely discriminative racist article. Yvonne Slee (Sinti Romani)'
Now, why they would want to put me on some 'watch list', baffles me, since January less then two thousand people have bothered to visit this blog, the only thing putting me on a watch list can do is attract more people!
I never knew there was a 'Romani media watch list', sounds a bit Stalinist to me.
About having 'turned into cheap savage dog', was that article so out of sync with the rest of this blog? I don't really think so, perhaps Gypsies loved this site until the last article? Hence the word 'turned'?
About the Roma having a rich culture and history, I would never dare disagree, I'm sure they do indeed have a unique rich culture, however it is one, I don't particularly like, and it is one that turns a lot of people off.
I have witnessed gangs of Gypsy women with unconscious children begging in the streets of London, I have seen gangs of similar looking Gypsy women in Rome, Florence, Palermo and Athens. This is fact, not conjecture, I don't like beggars, especially women who drug their children to keep them quiet, especially when they are begging on top of getting welfare payments form my taxes!
I am sure, that not all Gypsies are like this, however when talking or writing it is inevitable that one will generalise, we all do it, however even if it is true that there are some stand up Gypsies, it is also true that there are criminal Gypsies and Gypsies who take advantage.
As for the Neapolitans running the local Gypsies out of town, well, surely Gypsies are by definition, itinerant people, they are not Neapolitans, they are foreign to that town and if the locals want them gone, it is there choice? Hospitality can not be forced from anyone, it must be given freely, if that hospitality is abused, it is completely within the rights of the host, to withdraw that hospitality!
That is what is happening in Italy, perhaps the anger goes too far? Perhaps the allegation of attempted child abduction is false or exaggerated, but it is also true that the Neapolitans patience and tolerance of the Gypsies is gone, surely the only sensible and decent thing to do is to move on?
Whether I am a racist, or hold racist views is completely irrelevant to this issue.
Some links the commenter sent.
Romani Life Society of Australia
Romani Connection Website
Saturday, 24 May 2008
I is a racist, apparently!
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9 comments:
Hi there, Irish Tory. I'm another blogger whom has met the aquaintance of Yvonne Slee, and her group. This is my post, and there reply. http://libertariansocialist.blogspot.com/2008/05/romani-face-difficulty-in.html As you can see, though our politics are quite different, we both got under the "NRADO" radar. I'm not going to worry about it too much. While I do not try to intentionly offend people. If I do get on some blacklist, it will only serve to increase my publicity.
First of all, thanks to things like GOOGLE ALERTS you will find that using certain terms will drive more traffic to your blog when you make comments like you did. Can you not see how your comments are considered racist? I mean if I were to say, "Haven't you all noticed that when the Irish around, our stock of alchohol and potatoes are seriously depleted!" It is ok for you to not like the guy who plays guitar badly on the corner or to hate beggers in general, but to lump the whole race into it is going to cause you trouble. Would you have made the same comment against African Americans? You wouldn't because there are too many organizations that would come crashing down on you for it. The Gypsies, to you, are an easy target, understandabley as there hasn't been a lot of groups out there to defend them in the past. But now there is, and I don't think you should be all that suprised that you were called you on your comment. A black list is a great idea, as it uses blogs like yours as an example. We have to start somewhere here. Another thing you need to consider is that the Gypsies have been a scape goat for hundreds of years, anytime something has gone wrong, it was easy and convenient to accuse them. These accusations and things like your stereotyping, further lend to the oppression the Romani are facing. A certain understanding should be given for the circumstances that minorities face that cause them to have to do what they have to so they can feed their families. In the US, more than 75% of the prisoners are minority prisoners. This doesn't mean that we should sterotype that all minorities are criminals, it means that society needs to come together and work on making sure these groups get the same opportunities and education that caucasions do so they are not forced into crime. I would like to know what you would be willing to do to feed your family of you were not allowed to go to school, get jobs, or even walk on the street? I am also suprised at yout lack of compassion and understanding, being that you are Irish, and am also suprised at how quick you are to judge and accuse. BTW-The "Gypsy" you refer is Yvonne Slee and she is a well known Sinti Author and activist. She has written some very good books and her sites are very informative. It is good that you listed the sites she referenced, I hope that readers of your blog will take the time to visit them. I hope you also, take the time to learn more about the culture, and not stereotype us all by these few people you have seen around your neighborhood who may or may not even be Romani.
There are also Irish people who are criminals and take advantage. There are hispanics, African Americans, and on and on. The human race is capable of all kinds of horrible things. IT isn't fair to say that just Gypsies are doing this. And I am baffled that you don't see a need to apologize for your comments. There are so many things politically and morally wrong with your comments, I don't even know where to start and quite frankly, don't even think it is worth my time to explain it to you as I don't think you sound like the kind of person who is ever going to get it. The only reason I am responding now is so that others understand what you said is wrong and that other bloggers know that comments like that will not be as easy to make without being held accountable for it. You are going to find the Romani community making quite a stir here in the next couple of years as there is now a strong, educated group of leaders in charge, who are taking a pro-active approach against discrimination and violence against Rroma. Please educate yourself about the culture before stereotyping them.
Oh and rednight: I can believe you would use this to increase your publicity. Using an opressed and already abused group of people to further yourself is just wrong. If you want to be publicly know as benefiting from peoples misery to better yourself, by all means, ride that train as far as it will take you. Not sure if you will like where it takes you though. But if you can live with it, all aboard...
Paddy,
It is about tightening your argument on your blog. Of course when the Pikeys come to town there is an element of thievery. But not all are so self-preoccupied into their identity not to care and respect other people outside their clan.
A man like Jesus is universal, because he thought universal.
You can do the same and judge individually by their conduct. When people are without funds they find desperate measures to legally out-fox the ignorant. Fortune telling is one, selling heather another.
Granted this is their choice to travel nomadically, and many have luxury caravans, but they pay a high price among the growing sprawl of urban dwellers, those who just by spreading their legs get a property. What they have observed in their journeys is the bludgeoning stupid masses, thru taxing the employed-slaves, and then the petty resentment of travellers taking their pennies. They are not the ones sitting drunk with a dog by the cash point.
Slow-wits hate what is different. The epidemic of your destruction is behind you.
Sir,
You had better watch out or my might get a Gypsy Curse for your troubles.
You should realise by now that Truth is not a defence to an offended Professional Ethnic.
Gypsies have such a "divine rich and beautiful culture" that they have to go to another country, beg in the streets, pickpocket and live in shantytowns on the town's outskirts.
Plus it seems somewhat hypocritical for Yvonne Slee to call anyone "uneducated" in a passage which manages to misspell "hight", "Napels", "tradtion", "appauling".
Here is another story about the rich culture of the gypsies this time from Australia -
"At least 11 members of the Smith family were involved in the showdown, which was sparked by an earlier drunken argument about Smith's niece marrying a Scotsman – an insult in Romany gypsy culture."
"Oh and rednight: I can believe you would use this to increase your publicity. Using an opressed and already abused group of people to further yourself is just wrong. If you want to be publicly know as benefiting from peoples misery to better yourself, by all means, ride that train as far as it will take you. Not sure if you will like where it takes you though. But if you can live with it, all aboard.." Of course I use an oppressed and/or abused group to help further my blog. We all do. If there were no problems in the world, there would be nothing to post about. And I'd just be conversing about celebrity gossip. I really do not see what is so offensive about my blog posts, regarding the Roma Travelers. Most other socialists take a much dimmer view of gypsies, which we classify as being a part of the Lumpen-Proletariat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpenproletariat The only post which some might take offense to is on the topic of "gypsy moths". But if you all wish to blacklist me for this, go ahead. You'll only be making yourself seem ridicoulously petty, and silly. Note I use the term "gypsy" socially, not racialy. Vagrants do potentionaly cause problems for all classes of society. Rich and poor alike. There activities must be regulated, for the wellbeing of society.
Watch out or they'll make you skinny.
What a laugh. If you say something OPC you automatically become a racist, of homophobe, or male supremist. It is just crisis management, in other words they are managing to make a crisis.
de Brantigny
"Granted this is their choice to travel nomadically, and many have luxury caravans"
Please know that the true Romani people did not choose to travel. They were forced to. These travellers with luxury caravans are a different type of people.
The rest of you who feel this is overreacting... whatever. When you have enough people attacking you all day long you get defensive. Those of you who made those comments have obviously never experienced discrimination which means you really have no right to even comment on it when you can't know what it is like.
"Gypsies have such a "divine rich and beautiful culture" that they have to go to another country, beg in the streets, pickpocket and live in shantytowns on the town's outskirts."
First, there are alot of these people who do these acts who call themselves Gypsies but are not. Second, when you have no way to earn your bread, are not aloud to walk the streets, get a job, go in a store, or school, what would you do to provide for your family??
"Plus it seems somewhat hypocritical for Yvonne Slee to call anyone "uneducated" in a passage which manages to misspell "hight", "Napels", "tradtion", "appauling"."
When all else fails, lets point out spelling errors! I love it when people do this. What a waste of time and a good point. Who cares, you are missing the point entirely. Get over it.
"Of course I use an oppressed and/or abused group to help further my blog. We all do. (NO WE ALL DON'T) If there were no problems in the world, there would be nothing to post about."
Good point, but rather post negative unproductive things, why not use that time and power to do something meaningful. Something that makes life better for everyone. How do you want to be remembereD????
"Good point, but rather post negative unproductive things, why not use that time and power to do something meaningful. Something that makes life better for everyone. How do you want to be remembereD????" I'd like for me and my blog to be remembered for making a strong impact, and making a difference. I try to defend the interests of all of humankind. The lumpen class is a plague upon all of society. They should either be made to integrate into our civilization, or be voluntarily repatriated back to wherever they originally came from. But what has Yvonne Slee ever done to improve the condition of the Romany Travelers? As far as I've noticed, she just tries to pressure and/or race bait other people. I've even read where she faults christians for there evangelism of the Romany people. As far as race relations go, she bad mouths both christians as well as Celts, like the Irish/Scottish Travelers, and blames them for the troubles of the Romany. Neither I or Irish Tory have ever deliberately tried to personally offend anyone generaly. While he may have come across somewhat harsh, in some people's opinion, Irish Tory was just trying to illustrate, in his own way, the problems which Travelers sometimes cause for others. I think that Yvonne Slee is just upset that her buisness failed. But it is the right of the consumer to decide how and where to spend money. If they don't, for whatever reason, want to try out "Gypsy" food, then you can either offer them food that they might like, or invest in something else. But if your going to be nasty and/or bitter with the public, it's no wonder that your reputation will suffer. I will not be intimidated. My blog will contine to be hard hitting, with no holds barred. I do not care about political correctness. The Romany, like all other peoples, must take responsibility for there own lives, and stop blaming others for there problems.
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