Racism

[CaptainRaiden]

The girl was joking but I'm afraid foreigners can't understand our humour. I reckon it's a bit unusual for you but it used to help us during tough times.

Oh come on. It's not something so complicated to understand. How come the guy didn't find that funny, since he was Romanian too? Not only did she make a completely stupid and inappropriate joke, but it shows her upbringing and really blatant racism which is there and so obvious to see. Would you talk like this about another human being? Classless.

And by the way, this is not the first time I've come across a racist incident here. Many more to tell you if you're interested. But this is not saying the country is full of them, I have met some genuinely good, decent human beings as well, some of them amazing people, kind and only with good intentions.

It's the same story with every country really, you'll run into both types of people everywhere, but the divide seems to be more in Eastern European countries.

[gadjo_dilo]

Oh come on. It's not something so complicated to understand. How come the guy didn't find that funny, since he was Romanian too? . .

Easy answer: The guy was studying in UK. That's a good excuse for losing the authentic balkanic sense of humour.

Would you talk like this about another human being? Classless. .

We take this things light hearted. We like to make such jokes but don't really hate people ( well, except for gipsies... ). I belong to an ethnic minority and even my friends and colleagues use to tease me about it. I really don't care and I use to have a good laugh.

And by the way, this is not the first time I've come across a racist incident here. .

In case you haven't noticed yet the main targets of our jokes are ourselves. On the other hand romanians are themselves the target of (real) racist incidents abroad. And they aren' t bothered too much...

You might say we have thick skin, I'd rather think you're too sensitive...
Once again, it's a matter of humour.
In this part of the world even the dramas have comical accents. ( And of course our comedies have a tragical note ).

[CaptainRaiden]

In case you haven't noticed yet the main targets of our jokes are ourselves. On the other hand romanians are themselves the target of (real) racist incidents abroad. And they aren' t bothered too much...

You might say we have thick skin, I'd rather think you're too sensitive...
Once again, it's a matter of humour.
In this part of the world even the dramas have comical accents. ( And of course our comedies have a tragical note ).

Humor, really? Okay, well let me tell you some of the things I have gone through in the past year or so here. I'm from the southern part of India, so I have naturally tanned dark skin, darker than let's say an average Indian.

1. The moment I got down at the Otopeni airport at Bucharest and went to the Gara de Nord train station, I was treated with a nice "Wassup nig***" by some taxi drivers, followed by some more slur words in Romanian. Now, if that's supposed to be funny, then I really don't get the sense of humor here. For some reason, people think I'm American. Been asked that on more than one occasion.

2. My wife, who's a Romanian, her brother fainted on the street and was admitted to the hospital, where the chief "doctor" instead of running tests on the poor guy was too concerned with who I am and where I come from. Called my wife in his office and interrogated her about me. Then, sent him to the "contagious diseases" unit, where his condition worsened.

He was then sent back to a bigger, better hospital where they FINALLY ran some proper tests, and it turned out that he had a blood clot in his veins, because of too much smoking, drinking and sitting too long, which with further delay could have gotten to his heart and proved deadly. How amazed are you at the idiot doctor's "diagnosis"?

3. Went to the Transylvania region to do some sightseeing, to see the famous castle, and also some smaller towns etc. and it seems I'm a walking freakshow on the street. EVERY single person looking at me with a WTF? stamped on their forehead. And the evening was topped off with some more "Wassup nigg**" thrown at my way.

And to top all of this, I've heard people making classless, tasteless jokes about African guys for no sane reason, which aren't funny in the least bit, and have nothing to do with Romania's history, communism or Ceaucescu.

Then one of my friends went to Poland, and was given a banana on the street, followed by of course some more slur words, and hence my comment about Eastern Europe. And then you have things like these:

[youtube]W-iRLmaZf4A[/youtube]

And it's not really funny anymore. Like I said before, I've also met genuinely good human beings who have been nothing but been extremely nice to me, and that seems to balance it out, but that's not to say I haven't had bad experiences.

[CaptainRaiden]

The girl was joking but I'm afraid foreigners can't understand our humour. I reckon it's a bit unusual for you but it used to help us during tough times.

And also man, I'm not really bombarding these accusations against your country, so no need to be on the defensive. It was just a ridiculous thing that I heard, and so posted it. I would have done the same thing if I'd heard such crap in any other country on the planet.

And I understand that almost every country has racism in one form or another. India itself has a lot of racism in so many ways, it's mind boggling. Some of the things I've heard about and seen, sometimes makes me feel ashamed to be an Indian.

[Mark in Oshawa]

X...the sad reality of it is, Europeans used to ridicule the Americans for their views on blacks and their place in America. Yet, most of the openly rude racism is in Europe....towards blacks, Indians, Arabs, Turks, Gypsy's or Jews. Not to say everyone in Europe is racist, but racism and bigotry is alive in well everywhere in the civilized world. The thing is, sometimes it is institutionalized and not what it appears to be.....

[CaptainRaiden]

X...the sad reality of it is, Europeans used to ridicule the Americans for their views on blacks and their place in America. Yet, most of the openly rude racism is in Europe....towards blacks, Indians, Arabs, Turks, Gypsy's or Jews. Not to say everyone in Europe is racist, but racism and bigotry is alive in well everywhere in the civilized world. The thing is, sometimes it is institutionalized and not what it appears to be.....

I pretty much agree with that. Sadly this is how it is, and probably will remain this way for years to come. It seems people assume things about a certain group based upon what they see in the movies, not news, but movies and some exaggerated documentaries. Then these assumptions are passed onto newer generations, who of course take it to another level. You don't even have to go farther than Youtube to see some of the most blatant racism. Uneducated kids with a keyboard.

What I don't understand is why people can't just shut the F up on the streets. What compels these morons to say SOME thing? It's like it's impossible for them to just get on with their business. It beats me, because I for one wouldn't go around calling names if I saw some foreigners in my city.

[Eki]

For some reason, people think I'm American. Been asked that on more than one occasion.

Times change. In the days of Columbus, people thought Americans were Indians. Now it's the other way around. But still people haven't learnt much.

[airshifter]

What I don't understand is why people can't just shut the F up on the streets. What compels these morons to say SOME thing? It's like it's impossible for them to just get on with their business. It beats me, because I for one wouldn't go around calling names if I saw some foreigners in my city.

Sadly racism (and many other non race based stereotypes) are often used as a way to somehow make an idiot feel superior. It's often those morons who excel at nothing that use it as a way to make themselves feel better.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I pretty much agree with that. Sadly this is how it is, and probably will remain this way for years to come. It seems people assume things about a certain group based upon what they see in the movies, not news, but movies and some exaggerated documentaries. Then these assumptions are passed onto newer generations, who of course take it to another level. You don't even have to go farther than Youtube to see some of the most blatant racism. Uneducated kids with a keyboard.

What I don't understand is why people can't just shut the F up on the streets. What compels these morons to say SOME thing? It's like it's impossible for them to just get on with their business. It beats me, because I for one wouldn't go around calling names if I saw some foreigners in my city.

It is troubling....I don't get that. You don't see that in Canada, and very very rarely maybe in the US....maybe being in a nation full of immigrants teaches you that there is no way you can justify that crap!

[gadjo_dilo]

1. The moment I got down at the Otopeni airport at Bucharest and went to the Gara de Nord train station, I was treated with a nice "Wassup nig***" by some taxi drivers, followed by some more slur words in Romanian. Now, if that's supposed to be funny, then I really don't get the sense of humor here. For some reason, people think I'm American. Been asked that on more than one occasion..

That's really weird. Speaking about dark skinned people romanians don't use the term "nig***" but the more trivial "crow" .

2. My wife, who's a Romanian, her brother fainted on the street and was admitted to the hospital, where the chief "doctor" instead of running tests on the poor guy was too concerned with who I am and where I come from. Called my wife in his office and interrogated her about me. Then, sent him to the "contagious diseases" unit, where his condition worsened...

Ha! This happens to everybody regardless colour of the skin, nationality, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Actually " the death of mr. Lazarescu " - if you know what I mean- is a fact.
I think they "smelled" you're a foreigner and hoped to get "something" more.

How amazed are you at the idiot doctor's "diagnosis"?

Not amazed at all.
But I'm sure the diagnosis has nothing to do with the fact you're indian

3. Went to the Transylvania region to do some sightseeing, to see the famous castle, and also some smaller towns etc. and it seems I'm a walking freakshow on the street. EVERY single person looking at me with a WTF? stamped on their forehead. And the evening was topped off with some more "Wassup nigg**" thrown at my way."

So what? At the same time there are foreigners who still think that transylvanians are vampires.
Now seriously, Transylvania is usually considered the civilised part of the country and the region you visited ( Bran-Brasov-Rasnov? ) was under a strong german influence. A dark skinned person on the street is not a curiosity and I'm sure you have an obsession with people staring at you.

And it's not really funny anymore. Like I said before, I've also met genuinely good human beings who have been nothing but been extremely nice to me, and that seems to balance it out, but that's not to say I haven't had bad experiences.

But I have such bad experiences myself despite being white skinned and " one of them". There are always some rude guys who make trivial comments. What I'm trying to underline is that they do these not because of hatred but because they're generally uneducated..[/QUOTE]

And also man, I'm not really bombarding these accusations against your country, so no need to be on the defensive. It was just a ridiculous thing that I heard, and so posted it. I would have done the same thing if I'd heard such crap in any other country on the planet. .

I'm not defensive at all. I'm aware I'm not living in the best place of the world and I admit its low points . I'm just trying to make you understand our mentality. And we might be thiefs, unloyal, hypocrites, uneducated but not racists.


P.S. Coming back to the case in the restaurant. You just reproduced a conversation. Unfortunately I can't associate it with the voices of the characters which in most of the cases has a serious contribution in understanding their real feelings. More than that you seem to don't know romanian language and the text was translated to you afterwards. That makes me again think that your association was wrong.