How do people in the Balkans know who to hate?

[RealityChuck]

zgystardst – Glad someone finally caught the reference.

[Olentzero]

*Originally posted by Beruang *
This part of the world has been having these kinds of problems since the 14th or 15th century, at least.

Can you back that up? I mean, specifically, can you give sources that detail the recurrent incidence of systematic elimination of entire minority sections of the populace dating from the 1300s?

Originally posted by Sofa King
The conflict inherent in the Balkans is age-old, going back at least to the um, Magyars, was it? Geographically, according to John Keegan, the terrain of the Balkans has acted as a sort of flypaper for invading or migrating peoples. It consists largely of very defensible valleys which a relatively small number of people can control.

There’s a large leap between guarding against outsiders, basically a defensive action, and rounding up people of a minority on your own territory and putting in place a program of terror and elimination. The one does not necessarily lead to the other.

[ignatiusjreilly]

We don’t see ethnic differences in the US because they’re not important. All we see is white and we marry that way and further wash out the differentiations between ethnicities. Europeans can see the differences because they really are there. Same thing in Kosovo. We might not be able to tell the difference, but there is a difference between the facial features of a Slav and of an Albanian. American’s just don’t have experience teling the difference.

[Olentzero]

Why would you want to? What importance is there in being able to tell a Slovene from an Albanian?

I don’t like the idea anyway; assertions like that remind me of the illustration I saw once in an old Nazi propaganda tract that said you could tell a Jew because their nose looked like the number 6.

There are no defining physical characteristics that separate an Albanian from a Serb, or a Dutchman from a Swede, or a German from an Englishman. I’d love to hear Coldfire’s opinion on this, but I believe most Europeans wouldn’t know who’s from where unless they heard them speaking their native tongue.

[Crusoe]

As a Briton, I can tell people best by the language they speak, followed by the way they dress and the mannerisms they employ (obviously this isn’t foolproof, but there are little things like styles of facial hair or hair colour that are veryrough indicators).

As to “pure” physical differences, though, you’re dead right, Olentzero. There’s no way I can think of.

[Olentzero]

Cheers, mattk. tipping his pint glass in your direction

[Konrad]

It’s really not that hard. I can usually tell the difference between someone of Slavic or Germanic or Italian descent. Of course, you can’t always tell but there’s certain typical “looks” where you can tell right away.

I’ve learned this because I know a lot of Poles (I’m Polish) lot of Germans (used to live there) and a lot of Italians (live in Montreal).

My family in Poland lives close to the German/Polish border and they seem to be pretty good at guessing whether someone’s German or Polish.

[Primaflora]

*Originally posted by ignatiusjreilly *
**We don’t see ethnic differences in the US because they’re not important. All we see is white and we marry that way and further wash out the differentiations between ethnicities. Europeans can see the differences because they really are there. Same thing in Kosovo. We might not be able to tell the difference, but there is a difference between the facial features of a Slav and of an Albanian. American’s just don’t have experience teling the difference. **

Interesting - so you all don’t have any people of colour over there in the US? You all just get along like little birdies in the nest with no racial tensions at all?

BTW I am Croat/ethnic Hungarian with a Serb grandmother and I can say that I cannot tell the difference between the physical types. It does come down IMO the language used and the places where people lived.

Can anyone back up this assertion that there are visible physical differences between the different groups? I also managed to get myself without any of the racial hatred stuff. geez I hope it is not genetic and I can confidently hope my children are not be crazed killers :rolls eyes:

There are centuries of warfare and internecine hatred behind the situation we have today in the former Yugoslavia.

primaflora getting a tad crabby

[Guinastasia]

Well, my family’s part slav. And all of our relatives that came from that part of the world had the really large, sunken, deepset eyes with drooping eyelids. And I’m not saying this in a nasty way-that’s what my mom’s eyes look like, as she’s about 3/4 Slav, 1/4 Magyar. (My grandfather’s father came from Hungary, and my grandfather’s skin was rather dark)…
Plus, certain regions have different dialects and accents, mannerisms, etc…like how we can tell someone’s from Boston, or Brooklyn, or even here, in Pittsburgh! You should HEAR a Pittsburgh accent.

[Crusoe]

Guinastasia, I think the question was whether you could tell someone’s origin without hearing their accent. You’re certainly right about accents, but could you tell someone’s origin from their physical characteristics (i.e. not their clothes, their voice, their mannerisms)?

[galen]

They wait for the CIA and other Imperialist intelligence services to tell them who to hate. Seriously.

[Guinastasia]

*Originally posted by mattk *
**Guinastasia, I think the question was whether you could tell someone’s origin without hearing their accent. You’re certainly right about accents, but could you tell someone’s origin from their physical characteristics (i.e. not their clothes, their voice, their mannerisms)? **

Read the first part of my post about the so-called Slavic eyes…