QueenAl - forgive me my ignorance, but… what is a “Traveller”? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before!
I don’t think it’s an age thing either. The same thing has happenned with my sister, growing up she was a decent, open minded person- now she uses the N word, and screams racial epithets at people who cut her off in traffic. She claims it’s a “southern thing” since she now lives in Louisiana, but she’s full of shit because I know southerners, people from her town, who aren’t racist.
A Traveller is another name for Gypsy.
A Traveller is like a Gypsy, yes, but Travellers don’t like to be called Gypsies and vice-versa. Racially, Travellers aren’t necessarily Romany (there are a lot of Irish Travellers), and they have their own history and traditions. ‘Carnies’ over here are usually Travellers. I don’t really know that much about them though, to be honest. My brother-in-law and most of his family are settled travellers, not moving on any more, but still identifying as Travellers.
If you read the link in my reply you’ll see that it’s titled “Gypsy Council For Education , Culture, Welfare And Civil Rights” and subtitled, “Cambridgeshire Travellers Research Project.” In addition, it uses the terms Traveller and Gypsy interchangeably – hence, my reply. Perhaps it’s different in the U.S. vs Europe? Anyway, I didn’t mean to generalize, confuse or offend – just went with the terminology as presented to me on what appeared to be a respectable site.
Yes, sorry Shayna, I wasn’t disagreeing with you. I’m just going on what Travellers over here have told me: that although they are similar, the terms are not interchanagable.
This was the best cite I could find at this time of night: (it’s talking about the links on its pages):
An education site also lists ‘Traveller of Irish Heritage’ and ‘Gypsy/Roma’ as separate ethnic groups. That’s the rub, really - although there may be intermarriages between the groups, and they have similar slifestyles and common interests, Travellers are usually of Irish Descent, and Gypsies are Romany.
Thank you!
Just curious, but was the Brad Pitt character in Snatch supposed to be a Traveller?
Yes, Brad Pitt was supposed to be a Traveller in Snatch. I have some relatives who live in Ireland, and when I saw them a few years ago, some Travellers were passing through town. You should have heard the racism flying. But then, Ireland (the Republic, that is) is a fairly homogeneous society, and so a certain level of ‘indoctrinated’ racism is pretty common, at least in my experience. I talked with my cousin about this, and he basically told me that while he knows it’s ridiculous to judge another human based solely on their race/religion/etc., he was raised that way and he sort of can’t help but revert to that mode of thinking when he’s angry or upset. BTW, did the Irish Traveller community take offense at the portrayal of Travellers in Snatch?
On the other hand, I was raised by extremely intolerant people. My parents were publicly very liberal and tolerant, but at home, all of that ended fast. I was brought up to believe many things that are ridiculously, self-defeatingly evil and untrue. For instance, to this day my mother tells me that while she’s not religious, and doesn’t think being gay is morally wrong, people who are gay “must have something wrong with them” and their sexual practices are “gross”. (These are her exact words.) I have a bit of a problem with keeping my mouth shut and shaking my head sadly at other peoples’ ignorance, so we’ve had many screaming matches over this and related topics. Her feelings about gay men have changed slightly since she’s worked with a few and got to be friends with one, but her feelings on lesbians are altogether different. To this day, I think her bizarre disgust with the female reproductive system has led to my struggle with self-esteem and persistent feelings of ugliness and abnormality.
My father was the same- he openly mocked homosexuals and people of other races. Yet he was otherwise an intelligent man. So how did I turn out to be so different? I think in part because I was fortunate to grow up in a different world than they did, a more heterogeneous one. And from a young age, I felt ashamed of my parents’ viewpoints and beliefs, and actively tried to counteract their effects on my own belief system. I get along well with my mother now, but there are things I cannot talk about in front of her, and will not listen to her say. It’s an act of sheer will for me to not start slapping her whenever the news is on. So I just accept her for who she is, and lament privately her ignorance. I also vow that I will be different, and I will do whatever I can to never become what she has.
I like to think my own personal disappointment in the human race as a whole has sort of broad-sided any racism that may be fomenting in my psyche- if you don’t trust any of your fellow men, well, at least you’re being fair.