My trip to Western Europe

[Vaskez]

Well I personally have a map of greater Hungary on my wall And dplax, I'm surprised you know/care so much about Hungary, after all you are only half-hungarian if I recall? Or did you live there as well until you moved to France?

[dplax]

My dad moved to hungary in the seventies and I lived there until starting to study in France last year.

ADD: so basically I finished primary and secondary school there, which should give me a good ase for knowing Hungary well, especially with living there and reading newspapers each day.

[ 04-07-2004, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: dplax ]

[Vaskez]

Oh ok, so you lived there much longer than me then.

[dplax]

You seem to know enough about Hungary though.

[TheCrimsomBlade]

God needs to come back to earth and Nuc the whole planet and start over and make every human purple and green stripped and everyone should only know only one language. That is the only way the stupid Human race will ever be able to live with each other. Then he should make it that when ever someone picked on another person the one that did the picking would burst into flames and be sent directly to Hell to Burn forever. This is the only way this Race (Human) will ever get along with each other. MAYBE!!
More than likely we'll blow ourselfs up and save him the trouble!!

[Vaskez]

dplax - yeah I try - however long I have lived abroad, szivben mindig Magyar leszek [img]smile.gif[/img]

CrimsonBlade - that's bollocks and you know it. The whole point in the world is the diversity, without which it'd be boring. All people need to do is follow a few simple rules: "do unto others what you wish done unto yourself" and "love thy neighbour" spring to mind for a start.

[wellard]

Originally posted by Vaskez: dplax - yeah I try - however long I have lived abroad, szivben mindig Magyar leszek [img]smile.gif[/img] CrimsonBlade - that's bollocks and you know it. The whole point in the world is the diversity, without which it'd be boring. All people need to do is follow a few simple rules: "do unto others what you wish done unto yourself" and "love thy neighbour" spring to mind for a start.

Unless of course it's the Gypsies eh Vaskez, still at least they are good for making nasty jokes about

"We’d get back 2 million Hungarians or so but 1.5 million extra gypsies as well! Plus a load of Romanians."

I was going to make a post about you’re Gypsy jokes the other month but I thought it just might be a translation/culture/poor humour thing. Why do people dislike the Gypsies so much? Where I grew up there was so much hatred and racism against them also. I guess its better now for them than when the Germans where gassing them

The politics and nature of the former 'eastern' Europe is beyond my limited knowledge so if anyone can enlighten me on the current plight of Gypsy communities and the politics of there oppression feel free to teach me.

[wellard]

Just for those who missed the Vaskez jokes

Originally posted by Vaskez: In Hungary, there are 3 main types of jokes that are popular: dumb cop jokes, gypsy jokes and specific character jokes by which I mean jokes that always have one particular stupid character doing stupid things. The gypsy jokes always involve some humourous jab at the fact that the hungarian gypsies don't like to work or keep clean. And this stereotype is true! Example: The cop pays a visit to a gypsy household. He knocks on the door and one of the kids opens it. - Hey there son, is your father in? - Yeah, come in officer. The cop goes in and finds the gypsy peeping through the bathroom keyhole at his wife who is taking a bath. The cop exclaims: - Aren't you ashamed of yourself Gazsi!? You have 8 children, haven't you seen your wife naked enough times? - Naked, sure, but I've never seen her taking a bath before. Another one: The gyspsy woman tells her son to go and get a bath since he hasn't had one for a year. The boy gets scrubbing then exclaims: - Mum! Mum! I've washed last week's dirt off! - That's great son, keep scrubbing. - Mum, mum! I've washed last month's dirt off! - Good, just keep scrubbing. - Mum, mum! I found my red jumper!! there's plenty more where that came from...any takers?

[uss]

Originally posted by wellard: The politics and nature of the former 'eastern' Europe is beyond my limited knowledge so if anyone can enlighten me on the current plight of Gypsy communities and the politics of there oppression feel free to teach me.

I think it's all about immigration. There are many, many places on earth, where larger immigrated minorities are spoken badly of.

I have to admit that while I do sometimes enjoy a nationalistic or slightly racist joke(provided it's intelligent or wacky enough), I certainly do not bear any hate towards them. If I read from a newspaper that an Estonian beats up a Russian just for being Russian, I would think he's as much an idiot as a Russian who would do the same to an Estonian.

It is sad that some of the Russians in Estonia are quite.. damaging to the society. This comes from the cycle: Can't speak Estonian -> Can't get a decent job -> Starts dealing with drugs/stealing. In any case, some of them are quite hostile, and there are many crimes being done by Russian 'gangs' that live in (the outskirts of) Tallinn. A crowd of 100+ Russians beat up the US embassy and destroyed their van, a while after declaring War on Iraq.

However, I shouldn't let that change my opinion towards Russia. It is as my Russian teacher said:"You probably won't get a good impression of the Russians in Estonia, but if you would go to Russia and see how intelligent a true Russian could be, only then could you be able to truly judge the Russian people."


Crimsomblade, just the exact opposite, people should learn as many other languages as possible! I think everybody should learn at least 2 languages! For me, it'll be Estonian, English, Russian, French, Japanese, and possibly a bit on Finnish and German.

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by wellard: quote: Originally posted by Vaskez: dplax - yeah I try - however long I have lived abroad, szivben mindig Magyar leszek [img]smile.gif[/img] CrimsonBlade - that's bollocks and you know it. The whole point in the world is the diversity, without which it'd be boring. All people need to do is follow a few simple rules: "do unto others what you wish done unto yourself" and "love thy neighbour" spring to mind for a start.

Unless of course it's the Gypsies eh Vaskez, still at least they are good for making nasty jokes about

"We?d get back 2 million Hungarians or so but 1.5 million extra gypsies as well! Plus a load of Romanians."

I was going to make a post about you?re Gypsy jokes the other month but I thought it just might be a translation/culture/poor humour thing. Why do people dislike the Gypsies so much? Where I grew up there was so much hatred and racism against them also. I guess its better now for them than when the Germans where gassing them

The politics and nature of the former 'eastern' Europe is beyond my limited knowledge so if anyone can enlighten me on the current plight of Gypsy communities and the politics of there oppression feel free to teach me.

[/QUOTE]Hey come on, those were only jokes about the gypsies. You don't know the situation there, so I will explain. Yes, there is a lot of racial tension with gypsies and hungarians. However, there are reasons. Whether it's genetic or not, I don't know but the fact remains that the TREND is for gypsies to dislike work and for them to be seen dirty and unwashed and that is why there are jokes about that. Hungarians are worried because their population is declining while the gypsy population is growing: it is not uncommon for gypsy families to have 8 children - they often LIVE off the child benefits as the father is in many cases too lazy to work or more likely is unqualified because his father before him didn't make him go to school. Truancy is also a huge problem with gypsies - the parents often do not send their children to school and this locks them into the viscious circle. They do not fit in with the hungarian majority despite having been there for generations. Action is required on both parts.

However, until major changes occur, the stereotype for gypsies will remain that they are lazy and dirty and sadly this is true for a large percentage of them. Often not working because they are not qualified also leads them to thievery and doing illegal trade and this makes them even more unpopular. Often when I have been in an underground station, I've seen a police patrol approaching and like 10 gypsy salesmen and women hurredly gather their goods and run away. One can't help but feel sorry for them. While they are not treated like 2nd class citizens, their situation and often living conditions due to lack of work makes them that. I think things are improving though and many political groups are making efforts to change the image of the Romany (as they like to be called) and help them fit in better.

I don't hear good things from my cousins though - they have been mugged and picked on by gangs of gypsies before - and events like this just increase the racial tension.

To know even more about the situation I'd have to be there longer than 1 month per year.

As a general reason for why gypsies tend to be unpopular everywhere: they don't try and fit in at all, wherever they are. Of course they shouldn't have to in our modern democratic societies but if they did try and fit in they would have fewer problems. And the poor hygiene seems to be a common trait whatever country they're in.

[ 04-10-2004, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]