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You are right in saying there are provocateurs on the other sites trying to exploit the stereotypes of Macedonians in RoM and the diaspora but the funny thing about stereotypes is they are based in an element of truth.
No one wants to live a lower standard of living but most do due to their circumstances. In the west it is no different. Some people enjoy a very height standard of living. The things people do in a country gives you an idea where their standard of living is. In the western media lifestyle is portrayed. Doesnt everyone go skiing in winter and a sunny place overseas in summer with many weekends away in-between for a romantic getaway. They go to restaurants at least 3 times a week and doing it at the drop of the hat because they meat someone is no question at all. Alfresco dinning at a caf for lunch and stopping off at bars in the evening after work with friends or that person you meat today is a daily occurrence. They catch cabs most of the time at the drop of a hat because parking is difficult and when they drive its always some expensive car. A desirable lifestyle to many would you agree. How many people do you know who do this all the time.
The same media plays in Macedonia leaving a could it be impression. Then as the saying goes vujce od amerika goes back to Macedonia with his pockets stuffed with money every time people see him. He boasts of his lavish house and expensive care for himself and one for his wife and possibly the kids. Ofcourse the kids bought it themselves because they are such a success in their chosen career. He tells them of evenings at resuraronts and Macedonian dances where they have kebapi all night as meze. They dont go to the aussie or usa ect clubs after all why would you with their horrible music. Couple this information with the could it be lifestyle portrayed in western media and it all starts to sound real and believable. At this point they start to compare it to their own lives.
Sure they go out and maybe vacation in Ohrid but nothing even close to what you have described. The penny drops. If you have so much in excess couldnt you send some money their way. You havent or not as much compared to the excesses you have described so you must be a stingy prick.
Have they asked themselves why should you send any money let alone if its enough. I watch a documentary once on lotteries how they work and how the were developed and social impact they have had. It was the last part that was most interesting how kidnappings have occurred or how thousands of letters have been sent to lottery winners about the writers plight and seeking assistance. Lottery winners names have since been kept unannounced but usually close family friends and colleagues find out. The doco went on to describe what they called the sense of entitlement the im your brother ect or best friends or colleagues who are semi friends as you might have an annual outing from work or have drinks with once a week or so after work and how the winners win somehow becomes a kind of collective win and each of these people are waiting for their share and what they thought was appropriate.
Add to all of this the im such a success now even though we were once much the same the inference and you are now not the same and by inference a looser you have the enticement the sense of entitlement and a put down all rolled into one.
The loaded resentment is waiting to spring. If they discover the cracks in the story you have the comeback stereotype. You go to work before sunrise and leave work after sunset and you are lucky to see light on your lunch break if you go out to pay some bills or through distant windows like a caged prisoner. Your house car and probably this holiday to Macedonia are on your mortgage and you go out once or twice a week and then only on weekends. Your lack of socialising is evident in you wooden stance and your inability to communicate adequately like kids in Macedonia. Never mind your unaccustomed to their social norms or kissed on the cheek by the 200th stranger who is supposed to be your relative and your low vocabulary in Macedonians does not allow you to express yourself in anything but the simplest terms.
You are told that people in Macedonia do not have as much yet everyone has an up-to-date mobile including the older generation and even then you see people of the grandparent age with mobiles even though their homophones are not working because the bill hasnt been paid. You see adds to travel to Turkey Greece and Spain and even Phuket or Cuba. You find out even your relatives have been to some of these places frequently. You see the photos of the school excursion to France and the end of high school party they threw and the umpteen end of high school parties they attended. The cafes are their second home and their car is a relatively new Peugeot 206. Even in smaller towns like Prilep you go to centar and you see nice to expensive cars parked. At someones home they tell you the taxi driver will deliver the pizza but you will hear the endless whinge about bills and how hard it is to make it through the month with such precision that even though its coming from different peoples mouths its like they all learnt it from the same script with the not so subtle hint that someone in the neighbours has it easier because they have a relative overseas who sends them a few dollars every month to the outright hows about you leave me your watch or buy me a computer which would not only be so handy but we could even video chat.
I dont think the differences in feelings will change anytime soon but what the diaspora need to do via the campaigns is to remind them that our whole collective identity and the freedoms countless generations have struggled for is at stake. I can just imagine if Macedonia was to change her name the comiti standing in the clouds looking down and thinking we tried to hold it together with a gun and our blood and you gave it all away with a pen. Da ve pluknam.
Regardless of what we might think of the Macedonians in RoM or they of us we all need to keep reminding our selves and each other it is our collective identity at stake and certain peril for the Macedonians in the occupied parts. There will never be a Macedonia again except like looking at it through a glass window as our neighbours fart in it. We cannot let this happen.
Posting to many of Macedonian media has not availed much as it is mostly owned by contra interests but this should not deter people from posting or writing letters to the editor in all publications including those outside of Macedonia. They cannot ignore us forever. There is too much at stake.
No one wants to live a lower standard of living but most do due to their circumstances. In the west it is no different. Some people enjoy a very height standard of living. The things people do in a country gives you an idea where their standard of living is. In the western media lifestyle is portrayed. Doesnt everyone go skiing in winter and a sunny place overseas in summer with many weekends away in-between for a romantic getaway. They go to restaurants at least 3 times a week and doing it at the drop of the hat because they meat someone is no question at all. Alfresco dinning at a caf for lunch and stopping off at bars in the evening after work with friends or that person you meat today is a daily occurrence. They catch cabs most of the time at the drop of a hat because parking is difficult and when they drive its always some expensive car. A desirable lifestyle to many would you agree. How many people do you know who do this all the time.
The same media plays in Macedonia leaving a could it be impression. Then as the saying goes vujce od amerika goes back to Macedonia with his pockets stuffed with money every time people see him. He boasts of his lavish house and expensive care for himself and one for his wife and possibly the kids. Ofcourse the kids bought it themselves because they are such a success in their chosen career. He tells them of evenings at resuraronts and Macedonian dances where they have kebapi all night as meze. They dont go to the aussie or usa ect clubs after all why would you with their horrible music. Couple this information with the could it be lifestyle portrayed in western media and it all starts to sound real and believable. At this point they start to compare it to their own lives.
Sure they go out and maybe vacation in Ohrid but nothing even close to what you have described. The penny drops. If you have so much in excess couldnt you send some money their way. You havent or not as much compared to the excesses you have described so you must be a stingy prick.
Have they asked themselves why should you send any money let alone if its enough. I watch a documentary once on lotteries how they work and how the were developed and social impact they have had. It was the last part that was most interesting how kidnappings have occurred or how thousands of letters have been sent to lottery winners about the writers plight and seeking assistance. Lottery winners names have since been kept unannounced but usually close family friends and colleagues find out. The doco went on to describe what they called the sense of entitlement the im your brother ect or best friends or colleagues who are semi friends as you might have an annual outing from work or have drinks with once a week or so after work and how the winners win somehow becomes a kind of collective win and each of these people are waiting for their share and what they thought was appropriate.
Add to all of this the im such a success now even though we were once much the same the inference and you are now not the same and by inference a looser you have the enticement the sense of entitlement and a put down all rolled into one.
The loaded resentment is waiting to spring. If they discover the cracks in the story you have the comeback stereotype. You go to work before sunrise and leave work after sunset and you are lucky to see light on your lunch break if you go out to pay some bills or through distant windows like a caged prisoner. Your house car and probably this holiday to Macedonia are on your mortgage and you go out once or twice a week and then only on weekends. Your lack of socialising is evident in you wooden stance and your inability to communicate adequately like kids in Macedonia. Never mind your unaccustomed to their social norms or kissed on the cheek by the 200th stranger who is supposed to be your relative and your low vocabulary in Macedonians does not allow you to express yourself in anything but the simplest terms.
You are told that people in Macedonia do not have as much yet everyone has an up-to-date mobile including the older generation and even then you see people of the grandparent age with mobiles even though their homophones are not working because the bill hasnt been paid. You see adds to travel to Turkey Greece and Spain and even Phuket or Cuba. You find out even your relatives have been to some of these places frequently. You see the photos of the school excursion to France and the end of high school party they threw and the umpteen end of high school parties they attended. The cafes are their second home and their car is a relatively new Peugeot 206. Even in smaller towns like Prilep you go to centar and you see nice to expensive cars parked. At someones home they tell you the taxi driver will deliver the pizza but you will hear the endless whinge about bills and how hard it is to make it through the month with such precision that even though its coming from different peoples mouths its like they all learnt it from the same script with the not so subtle hint that someone in the neighbours has it easier because they have a relative overseas who sends them a few dollars every month to the outright hows about you leave me your watch or buy me a computer which would not only be so handy but we could even video chat.
I dont think the differences in feelings will change anytime soon but what the diaspora need to do via the campaigns is to remind them that our whole collective identity and the freedoms countless generations have struggled for is at stake. I can just imagine if Macedonia was to change her name the comiti standing in the clouds looking down and thinking we tried to hold it together with a gun and our blood and you gave it all away with a pen. Da ve pluknam.
Regardless of what we might think of the Macedonians in RoM or they of us we all need to keep reminding our selves and each other it is our collective identity at stake and certain peril for the Macedonians in the occupied parts. There will never be a Macedonia again except like looking at it through a glass window as our neighbours fart in it. We cannot let this happen.
Posting to many of Macedonian media has not availed much as it is mostly owned by contra interests but this should not deter people from posting or writing letters to the editor in all publications including those outside of Macedonia. They cannot ignore us forever. There is too much at stake.
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