What the hell is going on with these Spanish people getting their panties in a wad over some silly (very mild) criticisms about Spain?
I really am trying to make sense of this. It may take me awhile to write something coherent. There is a HUGE inferiority complex running rampant in these people.
And talk about a disproportionate response! The commenters go for the juggler on the Brits calling them pigs, drunks, dirty…. etc. They even dragged the Americans into it because they can’t tell the difference between Brits and Americans. I thought only Americans can't distinguish nationalities? Yeahh, right.
And my favorite foil 20minutos.com completely adds to the fire by mischaracterizing Ben’s site as one whose main point is to criticize Spain – what A-Holes!
Again I say, the Spanish have no idea what it means to take criticism on a daily basis about your country... with aplomb.
12 comments:
If some foreigner in America was saying how crappy things are there, I would have to ask them why they choose to stay. I agree that the Spanish can be a bit thin-skinned on this matter. What they need to remember is that all of the English-speaking folks who live in Spain do so by choice and aren’t economic refugees. This means that we like it here. With that said, I hardly feel it is my place to criticize Spain. When I criticize my own country I am often accused by far-right morons of hating America. Hate the present administration and its misguided war on terror, love the country.
Hey Leftbanker, how many far-right morons are there in Seattle? Find me five to rub together and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.
My point is would you get personally offended if a foreigner started complaining about America, or the administration, or how in Seattle it is so stupid that children aren’t allowed in a bar that sells alcohol? Would you start insulting that foreigner? No, you wouldn’t. It would not be a big deal – because you do not have low self-esteem about being an American or about being from Seattle.
You're right about there being very few neo-cons in Seattle; that's why it's such a great place to live. Name a cool place to live in the US and almost 100% of the time it is very liberal. The reaction of many Spanish commentors on Ben's post was pretty lame. They even said the whole purpose of his blog was to point out Spain's bad points.
Here's an example of what I was talking about. Years ago I was in a discussion on a Greek island with people from all over Europe. A gal from Austria started going off on America because we had elected an actor as president (Reagan). I hated Reagan but I hated more the fact that an Austrian had dared to criticize us for electing a former actor as president when they had elected a Nazi (Kurt Waldheim), and not only a Nazi but SS.
Thanks for the essay on the whole American-estadounidense thing. I hate it when people try to give me shit for calling myself American.
Yes, this is the thing that always strikes me whenever I see the Spanish media and Spaniards get so bent out of shape by the most mild, sometimes even tongue-in-cheek, type of observations made by foreigners about their society. The reaction of some Spaniards is totally out of proportion with the perceived insult. The inferiority complex is not only alive and well but it is also deeply ingrained. And there's also this deep air of fatalism, that nothing is going to change so why bother do anything about it. Sad really.
I'm Spanish, I can take criticism and I don't suffer from any inferiority complex (why should I?, I wonder) and really think you are generalizing...(Ironic mode on: Americans love simple categories and love to put a label on everything don't they? Ironic mode Off)
20 minutos readers are....20minutos readers, come on!, there are similar media in UK and the USA. Their reader's the and the intellectual level is similar or even worse, so...
On the other hand, in my opinion, Ben got exactly what he wanted....some notoriety always helps
By the way, nice blog, it's very interesting.
Who doesn't like simple categories? I think we all do this.
Lived in Madrid for 6 years. I totally agree the Spanish can't take national criticism. There is an invisible wall that confronts the speaker who slightly criticizes anything anti-Spanish. E.g Tortilla is a poor man's dish/Madrid lacks internationalism/the Spanish don't travel much...
I bag off New Zealand all the time - small and bloody boring/people who can't communicate except for saying 'yeah' on an hourly basis/isolation inferiority/we think we know how to do things better/people lack emotional depth.
Queenstown sucks, but so does Valladolid. Don't take it personally, just travel!
Amy Nye
It is true, and I know it because I'm spaniard, we spanish are the first to critisize our own country but when someone else dare to say anything against us, then people drive crazy, just as an example, recently France made an insinuation about spanish dopping, and everybody started talking and worrying about it, considering that we have right now more things to worry about (our economy) that makes me think a lot about my fellow countrypeople....
The reason of the spanish self-conciousness and inferior complex is due to many reasons, first we are located between Europe and Africa, we try to be European but we can't be as european as the northern one, then it comes the famous phrase "Europe starts in the Pyrinees", to this you have to add that Spain was a country politically occupied by Moors for 8 centuries and the fact that Spain is a VERY racist country, people try to deny this 800 years of occupation by saying that we were repopulated with other European people, but the fact is that the arabic presence still remains in architecture, culture, food, spanish words, and even people features, despite the close minded refusal of many spaniards.
Other reason is the economy and political power, we have lost territories and we have not the same relationship with the former colonies as the anglo speaking countries have, maybe due to our mediterranean or latin character, the pride and conceit is over the possibility of making good agreements and obteining a benefit of it, some spaniards also try to feel less inferior by attacking latin american people, with obvious bad consequences, there is still resentment for Spanish conquer, some of my country people feel very VERY offended when american have confusions between spaniards and mexicans, this is because, obviously many of them think that we are much better than anyone outside Europe.
As you can see, if you want to make angry an spaniard just tell him/her that is half moorish, and if you are american, say that we are the same as mexican LOOL
Some good points Anonymous.
Don't think I will be calling Spanish people same as Mexicans any time soon though..
As a Spaniard I have to tell you that you're absolutely right. Spain suffers from a huge inferiority complex but it's even more complicated and disgusting.
Spain wants to be a rich northern european country but at the same time it despises the northern european countries. Spain hates not being german and hates germans at the same time.
Spain is very racist and yes, you can see that when someone reminds us that we have slightly darker hair and skin because we're closer to Africa and that left a genetic trait. You can also see that in the vitriolic response of a Spaniard if you point to him their similarities with a peruvian and in his ridiculous pride if you remind him of his similarities with a german (which are both true).
Spain is like a narcissistic ugly and despicable person who hates the pretty for being pretty and despises himself and the ugly for being ugly. Spaniards say that envy is a very Spanish thing and they're absolutely right, Spaniards are full of envy and scared of the world and change.
Envy is the sin of the mediocre and I can not think of any country more mediocre than Spain.
Why do Brits have such a deep inferiority complex?
Why do Americans have such a deep inferiority complex?
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