Tuesday, November 13, 2007

¿Por qué no se callan?

OK, a controversial post that I wanted to write for some time, but recent incidents triggered my final decision. For some time, I am thinking about the immigration issues. I've started to have an impression that many Latinos have some unreasonable feeling that Spain has to let them stay because Spain did something horrible to them in the past and that they have rights to make comments about the Spanish politics (or European one, in general). Spain is a member of the EU, thus it has to coordinate its immigration politics with the rest of Europe. I know that these people won't probably move to Germany or France, as they don't (and won't) speak the language, and that's why the other European countries keep quiet about this influx. If I hadn't faced some arrogance towards people from the north of Europe, who have a real right to live here because of all the treaties that Spain signed as the EU member, I wouldn't write this. But because we are just guiris for you, read something about the European law and shut up.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For me, that I like history, such use of it is so pathetic. You can also hear Spaniards moaning about France and the invasion by Napoleon in 1808, or Americans saying that Europe should support their wars of conquest because of WWII... it's all the same thing. Most European countries have been at war with all the rest of countries, most have invaded countless countries from around the world. We'd end up in WWIII and WWIV and WWV in a row if we didn't forget about the past.

As for the word guiri, I really really hate that one. It really comes with the mentality of "our food is better" (when modern food is rubbish everywhere. 3/4 of the food eaten in Spain comes from abroad anyway, and is usually chep and genetically modified and all the things they do to it), "our weather is better", and everything is better, while guiris are typically portrayed as unbelievable naive and stupid.

Usually, that stereotype involves them stupidly confusing things in Spain, like thinking there are bulls roaming the streets or confusing monuments or not realizing something which is obvious to everyone else, while the smart Spaniard makes fools of them, using some words in English and the rest in Spanish, the Spanish bit being some derogative comment for the rest of Spaniards present to hear.