Racism

How do we go from this:



to this:


Different as they are, they both deal with some form of racism. Real life racism vs. racism in art. The Golden Yawn rep (new term courtesy of my good friend WL) attacked people, women, live on air. He is a neo-nazi fascist, racist to the bone, of the people who go around terrorising immigrants in Greece everyday. I even saw they attacked an israeli journalist, and they they don't like the term 'neo-nazi'



I am in two minds about these people, do we need to see them in TV or not? Norway, France seem to think not. In some countries it is a crime to be a holocaust denier. Some years ago I thought we didn't need to go down this road, I like Voltaire too much "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." But these days, seeing elected representatives hitting women on live TV, I am not so sure anymore. Perhaps freedom of speech should be somehow restrained and when you are a criminal and speak and behave in a way that society has deemed as criminal and disgusting, then you have no more right to speak. 


You do however have every right to fuck off out of my face. 

The slow win

I hate Facebook, this much I am sure you know. Foolishly I thought I hated all social media (obviously forgetting I am a blogger). I guess I think blogging is not a silly social medium, or something like this.
Last week though I succumbed to the charms of instagram (those filters!). And today I joined twitter... There is no hope for me now, is there?

Missed being Greek

I've been living outside Greece for 10 years now. Seems too much sometimes if you ask me. When I first left I never thought whether that was for ever, or when I would come back. Now of course, my return seems more and more unlikely and doubtful. I live here, I work here, my fiancé is from here. Most probably I will never be able to get a job in Greece anyway.

Financial crisis aside, I often feel out of place when I go back to Greece. People shout a lot. They drive like mad. They smoke everywhere. People put too ugh oil when they cook (whereas I have to count it...) Nothing works properly. And so on and so forth.  These, of course, are stupid generalisations, but I am Greek myself so I can make them, and entirely unapologetically so. My father jokes with me often when I complain, sometimes with a hidden bitterness in his voice "why are you complaining, are you not Greek yourself?"

Sure, I am, I think. but not a real Greek surely, at least not anymore. I have been too bastardised by living in these western lands for so long.

Sometimes however, I miss my Greekness. I want to sing again, I want to dance trashy eurovison songs (Paparizou - my number one, anyone?) and go to μπουζούκια. I want to eat σουβλάκια for dinner in the warm summer outdoors. I want to stroll in the heat. I want to eat καρπούζι till I feel entirely bloated. I want to sweat so much from the heat, that I cannot put any make up on whatsoever. I want to listen to my favourite radio shows in real time. I want to watch trashy and not so trashy TV (Το νησί rules! I found it so late...) I want to know who is big in Greece these days, which songs do kids like. I want to buy Korres stuff from my local pharmacy. I want to go to my local bar and have a beer. I want to feel Greek again, I want to feel myself.

People change. Our lives change. I think I've written it before here in this blog: am I the same person I was when I was 19, living in Crete, listening to stereo nova and reading 01? Maybe. Partly. Maybe not. Yesterday I was dancing to Greek trash in my oh so proper office and it felt so out of place really, it was comical. But I felt myself again, and it was fucking fun.

Can't wait for the summer. 

Gay or European?

God bless Scott Mills. He and Sara Cox are doing Eurovision semi-finals and they're playing the game: gay or just european? You just need to see some of finalists and say whether they are gay, or just... european :-) I love this game, coming from Greece we have a lot of these ambivalent creatures there too.

What do you think about this guy then? He is the guy from Georgia.

And him, the Norwegian effort?

Pictures don't do them justice, look them up on youtube.

My point is that I love political incorrectness. I laugh like a mad do with Timmy from Southpark, and unashamedly so...

Anyway, I am sorry for this brief and largely incoherent effort. I have to return to the semi-finals. A crazy Wham! relic is singing blind-folded 'love is blind'... I will finish my important point about the usefulness of political incorrectness at some other point...

Stuff from the web

Protagon is by far my favourite new discovery, although I'm not even sure it's new. With all the things happening in Greece at the moment, when you live abroad you need a good, thoughtful, interesting and balanced site to see how things really are. Protagon is all that and much more. It is eclectic, it is pluralistic, it is interesting, it has Varoufaki's Modest Proposal for overcoming the Eurozone crisis, it even has my old linguistics professor from the University of Crete. Along with LiFO, it is my main portal of information on the Greek crisis.

On a more personal note, welcome to blogosphere diasoil, aka d/a! May your days be creative and plenty.

And finally, a new Greek magazine Ough, with interesting alternative stuff and a translation facility.

Life is continuously hard but being well-informed is crucial.

PS. Have a look at Tsipras's Guardian and NYT interviews. As a friend says, clearly people abroad take him more seriously than people within. But isn't this the Greek curse from the times of Socrates and Aristeides anyway (no comparison intended of course)? 

To hope or not to hope?

To hope or not to hope?
That is the question...

Excellent photoshopping courtesy of my friend, the ginger elephant. 

(Πηγή αποτελεσμάτων in.gr)

Πάρτε νά'χετε ολοι σας.

Πάρτε και δεύτερες εκλογές τον Ιούνιο και δώστε στον Τσίπρα την εξουσία να δούμε αν μπορεί να put his money where his mouth is, που λέμε κι εδώ στα εξωτερικά.

Άντε και να δούμε, λέτε να ξυπνήσει η χώρα από τους εφιάλτες του Πασοκ και της ΝΔ.