My trip to Western Europe

[Vaskez]

The bottom line is that races will always be different and there will always be tension. I am personally very much against racism and have friends from many different ethnic backgrounds so I don't agree with the disliking of gypsies, but it's hard to like them when they beat up your cousins, steal from them and just generally are anti-social towards those not of their kind ( I know this is everyone's fault for not doing something about it). Having said that, a lot of them are of course nice people and some people I know have many Romany friends.

And about the stereotypes, well some stereotypes are based on statistical truths. Just like there are more obese Americans, than say, chinese. It might not be a nice thing to say but AFAIK it's true.

[dplax]

What Vaskez said is all true, I would just add that the situation with gypsies in Hungary can be compared to the situation of the arabs in France as neither group tries to fit in to the country they live in.

[johnny]

Gypsies just don't seem to care about rules and stuff. We had a job once over at a house where a gypsie family lives. Narurally i thought it had something to do with cleaning or washing windows, but when we arrived he gave me a chainsaw and told me to bring down a big tree in his backyard. You gotta have a permit for that, but he didn't seem to mind, and the money was good, so we didn't mind either. But his neighbour thought otherwise, and told him that the city wouldn't be happy with it. He just smiled and said: well, i'm not happy with it either, but you can have it if you want. Just say the word and i dump it in your backyard. She didn't bother us any further. When we were done he told us to mind the car when cleaning up the branches and other junk, because he didn't have insurance.

Rules don't apply to them i guess. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[Vaskez]

LOL sounds very familiar Johnny. Just like the "going to school" rule doesn't apply to them, eh?

[johnny]

Originally posted by Vaskez: LOL sounds very familiar Johnny. Just like the "going to school" rule doesn't apply to them, eh?

I wouldn't know about that, but i suppose you're right. At times when kids should be in school, they are always playing in the streets. I know you can learn stuff outside too, but that's not how it's supposed to be.

[Vaskez]

I was referring to my post above, but nevermind.

[wellard]

Originally posted by Vaskez: The bottom line is that races will always be different and there will always be tension. I am personally very much against racism and have friends from many different ethnic backgrounds so I don't agree with the disliking of gypsies, but it's hard to like them when they beat up your cousins, steal from them and just generally are anti-social towards those not of their kind ( I know this is everyone's fault for not doing something about it). Having said that, a lot of them are of course nice people and some people I know have many Romany friends. And about the stereotypes, well some stereotypes are based on statistical truths. Just like there are more obese Americans, than say, chinese. It might not be a nice thing to say but AFAIK it's true.

And this is why i hesitated to comment when you made the jokes before Vaskez. You have never struck me as a racist and I would dare to suggest that you have a track record of being very tolerant of all other races like near everyone on this forum, yet of course able to make gentle jokes about other nations in a way that is healthy (like the Aussies and the British pull each others leg).

Yet all that said, your post makes me feel uncomfortable and sad. It does seem that the international persicution of the Gypsys is still the same as I remember from my childhood. It struck me as wrong then as it does now.

*Sigh* [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img]

[The Hierophant]

Just out of curiosity, how do people here define and identify 'gypsies'?
Here in Southern New Zealand there are a few tiny gypsy nomadic communities. They travel from town to town, stay for a week or so, sell a few odds and ends, peddle a few fortune readings etc etc.

It's easy for people to look at their camp and say 'Ah, there go the gypsies', but at the same time they are indentified by their lifestyle, not their ethnicity, because for the most part their 'race' is not uniform. For instance, it would be absurd to think of a gypsy here as having a house, being settled, sending their children to school etc. By NZ law, schooling is mandatory, but most gypsies get around this by state-sanctioned home-schooling.

The gypsy identity doesn't really have much to do with race, more with lifestyle. At least that's how it is here, I'm just curious as to how gypsies are identified in other parts of the world.

[johnny]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: Just out of curiosity, how do people here define and identify 'gypsies'? Here in Southern New Zealand there are a few tiny gypsy nomadic communities. They travel from town to town, stay for a week or so, sell a few odds and ends, peddle a few fortune readings etc etc. It's easy for people to look at their camp and say 'Ah, there go the gypsies', but at the same time they are indentified by their lifestyle, not their ethnicity, because for the most part their 'race' is not uniform. For instance, it would be absurd to think of a gypsy here as having a house, being settled, sending their children to school etc. By NZ law, schooling is mandatory, but most gypsies get around this by state-sanctioned home-schooling. The gypsy identity doesn't really have much to do with race, more with lifestyle. At least that's how it is here, I'm just curious as to how gypsies are identified in other parts of the world.

Well, the ones i was refering to, are Roma and Sinti, they have a southern European look, which means you can't really tell where they're from, unless they tell you. My first impression was that they look kinda Spanish. When the man started talking to his wife, it sounded Spanish to me as well. Perhaps he actually has a Spanish background, but it's hard to tell, since these people move around all the time.

[dplax]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: The gypsy identity doesn't really have much to do with race, more with lifestyle. At least that's how it is here, I'm just curious as to how gypsies are identified in other parts of the world.

In Hungary it is mostly their appearance which differentiates them. They all look much more tanned than the average hungarian.