We talked about cultural offenses the other day.
Here's the thing, and I've been meaning to say something about this for some time, but it's just so intimidating going up against powerful special interests and popular sentiment...
Many of you may not know my heritage is Romanian, and more specifically, pure-blooded Transylvanian. I can't tell you the number of times I've disclosed that to people only to have them respond with bad Bela Lugosi (a Hunky, for goodness sake!) impersonations and remarks about vampires.
I am so sick and tired of being disparaged as a people with such negative stereotyping. It's demeaning. It makes me feel bad.
And then to see an evil corporation taking the stereotype to the next level and turning it into a cartoon... Meanwhile, my poor kids have it twice as bad, being half Irish (Thanks "Lucky." And what the hell is this? "Fighting Irish"? No wonder those people drink!)
2 comments:
Sorry, I must have missed the Romanian info David.
Buna zuia. Ce faci?
I have a good friend in Bucharest that I have visited a few times. He took me to Bran but on the way explained the real history. So no jokes from me but I do have a story you might be interested in reading.
On my second trip over there, about 7 years ago, he took me to an outdoor cafe on Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse.
Being that I do not speak Romanian my friend and I conversed in English. This brought the attention of the people around us. I spent about 3 hours conversing with many people. Most were students but one gentleman was much older and lived through the oppression of Ceausescu. He told me something that I did not grasp right away.
"Voi mergeti acolo unde noi am fost deja."
It took me a few months before I truly understood what he said and what he meant.
"You are going where we have been".
It is sad that a man half way around the world can see things that people here can not.
Noapte buna prietene şi vise plãcute!
I don't remember if you mentioned that or not when I was up there. It sounds familiar, so maybe you did. Well, next time I'll make reference to vampires and whatnot.
You also need to go after Sesame Street.
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