To our stupid Slovenian netizens
And I mean only to those, not to the rest of us, who are normal
I was Googling some more information about the upcoming game between Slovenia and USA and came across few websites and blogs. I was curious what American bloggers write about Slovenia, their nation's next competitor at the World Cup. I came across a random blog from Seattle and saw this:
So I thought: Ok, again someone mistook Slovenia for Slovakia. Is it a big deal? No. Not for me. I've written about it and hopefully those who don't know the difference will come to my blog and learn about it. Simple as that, right? Well, it should be, but I guess not for everyone. I scrolled down and saw this comment:
What the f...??? Obviously it was one of those stupid Slovenian netizens, who go around the web and comment on every post ever written about Slovenia and complain about it, if they find a mistake or attack the author for no apparent reason. How stupid is that?
Generally Slovenians don't hate Americans, bet there are people like this one, who are a disgrace for my home country Slovenia. In the blog above, the author did not intend to ridicule our country, it was probably just a typo. As I already said in my post on the issue, it's not easy to distinguish Slovenia and Slovakia, because we are historically and linguistically related. I wonder how many Slovenians distinguish Latvia and Litva or Paraguay and Uruguay? Or the Democratic Republic of Kongo and Republic of Kongo? Or Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan? I guess not too many... So what's the big deal?
I don't understand, why there's so much hate against USA among Slovenian netizens. Comments on news websites, blogs and forums and under you-tube videos are full of Slovenian morons who attack USA for no apparent reason.
Check Letterman's funny joke about Slovenia. This video is all over the Slovenian blogosphere. I first saw it on Had's blog. If you read the comments of Slovenian netizens recently, the joke makes total sense. Some of us Slovenians are EXACTLY like that. It's sad...
People, we're playing a friggin football game today, not starting a war or having a debate on imperialism, dammit! Football should unite people, not divide them!
Now, I must say, some American netizens don't behave any better, they provoke and verbally attack Slovenia and Slovenians, but it looks more like fun to them, because they see how seriously Slovenians react and get all riled up. Don't play into their game, it's pathetic. It's like: Where the f... is Slovenia argument vs. Stupid arrogant Americans argument. And in both cases, people who start with these provocations are not real football fans.
The real American football fan will find information about Slovenia online and find out where Slovenia is and respect our team, because they rightfully qualified for the World cup. The real Slovenian fan will respect the US soccer team and focus on the game and not on whatever USA might have done or is doing wrong in the world. Don't forget, it's a football game, not war!
Slovenians and Americans, stop attacking each other on the web, that's not the spirit of the World Cup. May the best one win and I hope it will be a great game to watch. I'm sure, if we play fair and well, many Americans will get to know our country and I hope that in exchange, more Slovenians will learn to respect the US soccer team. Thank god, these noisy morons on each side are in a minority. I hope the vuvuzelas will silence them today.
14 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
It's not just Americans, most people other than Slovenians/Slovakians would be confused with the two countries. I bet lots of the people don't even realise that it's two different places to begin with.
With the ease of internet these days, it would be nice if people are taking the chance to learn more about each other instead of picking a (word) fight.
June 18, 2010 8:21 PM
YeinJee: Exactly. Most people don't know and the least you can do is google it. It's so easy these days.
June 18, 2010 8:29 PM
You forgot Taiwan and Thailand plus Peoples Republic of China and Republic Of China and the fact that most people either haven't heard of Taiwan or thinks it's just an island and not also a country.
Anyway, we all know that Americans ARE stupid. Take this American I met a few times for an example: he can only speak English, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Swedish and a little bit of... Oh wait. That's more languages than me! Damn. American are NOT stupid. Americans are insane. Yeah. That must be it.
June 18, 2010 11:41 PM
Europe loves to hate the US these days... it's disgusting really.
June 19, 2010 12:00 AM
@Sander: Yes, true. Even a while ago I posted on my FB some photos from Taiwan and a Slovenian friend said: Wow, I'd also love to be in Thailand now. I said sorry, I'm in Taiwan. She replied: Taiwan, Thailand, it's all the same to me.. well, that is annoying, but what to do, understandable. There will always be people who don't care to learn about these things, better I accept that, than get upset about it. I think every country has it's share of smart and stupid people.
@Carina: I know.. it's silly. It lumps all Americans together, I mean, it's like 300 million people. It's ridiculous.
June 19, 2010 12:42 AM
Thanks so much for having this conversation. Too many Americans are too isolated to realize the inter-connectedness of the global neighborhood to which they (we) belong.
Hopefully your refreshing honesty can inspire all of us netizens to respect and appreciate our differences while holding true to our uniqueness.
This is my favorite planet. We're all in this together.
June 19, 2010 1:09 AM
well said and i hope that having drawn today both sides will respect the other far more in future.
Slovenia did well today and it could've been even better but i think all eyes were on Serbia, who had a brilliant result! :)
June 19, 2010 1:14 AM
And thanks for the Letterman clip. It's really got me to thinking: who was the bigger ass - the idiot who mockingly didn't know where Slovenia is or the idiot who over-reacted to his ignorance? They both deserve ridicule - or at least pity, served with education.
June 19, 2010 1:14 AM
You will find such ignorant stupid people in every nation... Italy is full of them... :/
June 19, 2010 1:23 AM
@William: Thanks for your kind words. And you really observed the clip well, it's funny, but it's very intelligently made.
@adamantixx: I guess all the rage was diverted to the referee. Looks like Americans will forget Slovenia pretty fast, but they won't do so with the referee, hehe.
@Daisy: I know, it's sad, but true.
June 19, 2010 2:54 AM
I admire you for this post.
Even though I am biased against team USA when it comes to athletics, you are right...and my Dad reminds me of this as well - the focus should be on the game and may the best team win.
It's just interesting how many times Slovenia and Slovakia are mixed up.
And even though the supposed Slovenian blogger replied back in a mean way, it still made me chuckle.
But I know what you mean about someone from Slovenia acting stupid and that you feel embarassed/disgraced. I feel the same way when some Chinese or Asian person does something stupid and it seems to happen very often!! I was one of the first people to move into my condo so I didn't realize this condo would be full of Asians mostly from over seas (Hong Kong & China) and around my age (20s). I moved from an affluent condo prior to this and mostly filled with Caucasians that were very friendly and courteous. 98% of the Asians in my building are soooo damn rude! They close the elevator doors by pressing the "close" button if they see you coming to the elevator (so you don't get into the elevator) and they also press the close button before you even get out onto your floor for example. Just sooooo rude. It makes me feel shameful because people look at them, look and me and assume we are all rude. But I'm not. And it's sad that when people immigrate to another country they don't take the initiative to learn the ways of the country they moved to!!! Sorry for the rant but this post is so interesting and I could totally relate to you :)
June 19, 2010 6:33 AM
@Karen: Good points. Guess what, in Taiwan I need to prove everyone wrong, because so many Canadians (sorry to say) and Americans, mostly English teachers, get drunk, party, disrespect the local girls and end up in news. Sure, the news are biased and totally exaggerate, but what can I do? I am always respectful and mindful of the culture, where I decide to reside. I think everyone should do that. It's funny, just today there were 2 Chinese people killed in Slovenia by Chinese. They come here, open up restaurants, but they don't mix with locals. So they're kinda mysterious and people are always suspicious of them. I just think, if you move to another country, try your best to mix with locals and show interest in their way of life. I don't like, when foreigners, be it in Asia or Europe, make a kind of "ghettos", where they mix only among themselves. There's places like that in Taiwan and same goes for many European countries. My philosophy is to mix with locals first. If you get something from the country of your choice, you need to return something. And don't say I pay taxes. That's not enough. Gotta be more. :)
June 19, 2010 6:49 AM
Hear hear! Well Said! Let's have a FIFA Spirit!
Than again, people being people... we will still have this unique group of people.
Take it easy bro :)
June 23, 2010 9:39 AM
@Netster: I'm fine, but just wanted to blog about this, because it annoyed me.
June 23, 2010 6:27 PM
Post a Kafkaesque comment!