- Michael M.: Too much going on. Life in flux, etc..
- Sunshine: Wow, I was soooo happy to see a new post in my rss reader. I was hopping this is already the comeback! :(...
- gandalf: Did you only get caffeine through Dr.p or did you drink coffee as well? I’m interested, since...
- neeka: nine kilos… wow… :) happy holidays to you, michael, and to all your loved ones! veronica
- m: It was a bargain. No strings attached.
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
• AlienMelon
• Burger.si
• Heck
• Izklop
• si.blogs
• Sloblogi
• Blogorola
• Natalija Verboten
A headline from Slovenske Novice, October 26, 2004.
Here’s a headline you’ll never see in the United States:
"Black like the devil, they butchered lambs"
It’s from a story that recently ran in Slovenia’s biggest daily newspaper, Slovenske Novice, about two black dogs that went berserk on a farm and killed some lambs. The fact that this was the top story in the country is already interesting enough. The choice of words, though, is even more so.
It’s safe to say that no professional news organization in America (or elsewhere in the west) would ever use the phrase "black like the devil" — not even to describe dogs. Slovenia is a different story. For one thing, the population is 102% white. For another, the concept of "political correctness" hasn’t been established here.
Case in point: Mladina, the popular left-leaning magazine. A few years ago, it published a photoshopped image of the American ambassador to Slovenia (who was black) wearing a star-spangled condom over a titanic schlong. (NSFW picture) The U.S. embassy protested and the ambassador later told the newspaper VeÄ?er:
I think that if an American magazine
had done the same thing, it would not be done with such distaste and
racism. The fact that some magazine publishes a caricature of me
does not bother me, but if it is racist, then it bothers me very much. (via)
Of course, I can’t think of a single mainstream American magazine that would ever run that picture. Time magazine caused a big stir just by darkening O.J. Simpson on one of its covers — I can’t even imagine what would happen if they photoshopped him inside with a huge wang. Pandemonium, probably.
Also: the blue word in the headline ("kri") means "blood." I find it extremely funny that they included it.
Comments
Comments for this post are closed.
It’s refreshing to see newspapers not constrained by political correctness which in the west has become so out of control and ridiculous that in some countries you can’t even mention the word “christmas” because it may offend some non-christian minority or even report on the ethnicity of a criminal suspect because it may offend a particullar ethnic group.
I agree that there is no place for rascist comments in our society, however excessive political correctness of the type seen in the west can have the opposite effect by actually creating more suspicion and hatred of a particullar minority or group and even leading to a public backlash.
As far as I’m concerned, “political correctness” is nothing more but a synonym for:
A. hypocrisy;
B. (self-)censorship;
C. Newspeak.
Whatever happened to the so-called freedom of expression?? This world is obviously getting sicker and sicker every day.
People usually have to (or should I say “had to”…) learn to live with the opinions of others, no matter how much they dislike them.
I once saw a saying somewhere… can’t remember it precisely, but it goes like:
“I may not agree with your opinion, but I am willing to sacrifice my life for protecting your right to have that opinion.”
Says pretty much everything, doesn’t it?
First of all, “slovenske novice” is as close to a real newspaper as I am to a sexual intercourse with madonna. Very, very …veeery far away. Not even in the same universe.
Second, Slovenske novice violates every rule imaginable in the ethic section (go check www.razsodisce.org/razsodisce/kodeks_ns_txt.php and compare it with the stuff “slovenske novice” publishes. You`ll see that they even manage to fuck up the weather report).
Third, “Slovenske novice” is always looking for sex, drugs or blood. You will not find anything else in there. I`m surprised they did not include a sexual point of view in the sport section.
Fourth, I don`t know if any of the employees in Slovenske novice is a professional journalist or has a degree in it. Fact is that once your article appears in “Slovenske novice” you are done. You can`t get a job at any other newspaper.
Check this site www.delo.si/WebOther/stik/index.php?pub=novice
and notice who reads this crap. www.delo.si/WebOther/stik/index.php?pub=novice&podstran=struktura
this is a newspaper for retired people who like big screaming titles and huge pictures with little or no text at all. This is a children`s book. Lots of colors. Yey.
I would not count “slovenske novice” under a newspaper section. Try under double-layered toilet paper. Does not give you a rash.
Cookies’ description of Novice is quite correct. 94% of the readers do not have college education. It’s the National Enquirer of Slovenia.
1. I don’t think one can expect that a Slovenske novice kind of paper would ever open any relevent theme.
The allusion to …you know what - is not intentional.
2. Slovenians are not aware of any problems in relation black - white. We still use the words for blacks innocently, more or less.
Only an American can see a problem in the sintagma “black devil”, not a Slovenian! It would not come to mind to any Slovenian to associate it with black men.
3. In our caves a small animal lives (proteus) which we call “human fish” (because of its white human like skin). Would its name be a problem for Americans?
As for the picture…
I don’t think the Mladina’s intention was to personaly hurt Mr. Young.
They just wanted to show their hatred for America. The anti-Americanism of Mladina is overwhelming.
Read Marcel and see how obsessed he is with American imperialism.
A.
Gosh, I just thought it was a pretty catchy headline…
I once saw a saying somewhere
Dr. Kruegell: I think you’re thinking of: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” I always thought that famous line was by Voltaire. Turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong.
cookie: Thanks for the sobering links. The izobrazba (education) category was a real eye opener/heart attack. I’d be very curious to see how those figures compare with Germany’s biggest daily, Bild, which is very similar in style and content. (Also: Congrats on the new blog. May it have more readers than Madonna has had sexual partners, i.e. very many.)
crni: Out of curiousity, I looked up the circulation figures for the National Enquirer and it turns out that, with 2.7 million, they’re comfortably ahead of the Sunday New York Times. (1.7 million) I think I need to go lie down and rest for a bit.
A.: I definitely agree with you that it was all unintentional. Slovenia’s total lack of concern about possibly offending anyone is what currently distinguishes it from western countries that are, as Robert notes, “out of control” w/r/t language. As for proteus, maybe his name is indeed a problem. I’m glad you mentioned it. I suggest a new campaign to have “human fish” renamed to: “melanin-impoverished albino fish.”
pest: As soon as the “human fish” campaign is over, it might be time to do something about the Hungarian saying: “Good coffee should be black like the devil, hot like hell, and sweet like a kiss.” Perhaps some EU sanctions or what-not…
If anyone thinks “Slovenske Novice” is controversial, they should take a look at some of the British newpapers like the “Daily Mirror” which regularly refers to French people as “Frogs”, Germans as “Krauts” and has headlines dealing with sex, sleaze, drugs and character assasination of famous individuals. The editors of these papers will tell you that its all just abit of fun and not to be taken too seriously.
These newspapers also have some of the highest readership figures in the UK.
Why? Well because controversy sells newspapers!
Democracy is not Anarchy and
Freedom of Speech is not about being allowed to make monkey sounds whenever black players have possession of the ball (like Italian fans did recently at a football match).
Nobody has the right to “express themselves” through the act of verbally threatening others with violence or stirring up hatred.
I usually get fever whenever I see the term “political correctness” around, so I completely missed the well-known fact about Slovenske Novice being the yellowest of the yellow press in Slovenia. And as such, they will probably never ever be “politically correct”.
Come to think of it… if the concept of “political correctness” were established here, you probably wouldn’t be able to write much about the Yugoslavia period of Slovenia. It would most likely be politically incorrect to write too much about it, let alone to refer to the Slovenians as a “South Slavic” nation.
How would you comment this story?
(It’s in Slovenian text books for secondary schools.)
When Primož Trubar (1508-1586) was still a Catholic priest (later he converted to Protestantism) he spent a few years in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu.
At that time an elderly woman from nearby village kept saying that two saints were appearing to her: St. Sebastian and St. Rok. According to her they were demanding that a church on a hill above Loka be built. (You’ve probably noticed that there’s a little church on top of almost every Slovenian hill, each with its own legend…) If not, great misfortunes would befall villagers: deseases, hail…People belived her and started to gather material for a church…
Trubar tried to bring people to their senses in his preachings. He was almost beaten because of that.
So he sent his vicar to that woman. The vicar asked her to tell what colour had been the saints. She said: Black. To which he said: Don’t say that. Saints are white, devils are black. And she said: Well, I meant to say they were white…
A.
*yawn*
i think its great that the biggest
thing that happened that day was
some dogs killed sheep.We had a
11 year old girl shot in the head
on the bus the other day.
We did?? Yikes…
I have to start paying a little less attention to what’s happening in Slovenia and more to the local news. Off to read about this story in the online Globe and Mail.
“Slovenske novice” ARE NOT a point of reference for normal people. Using it looks like quoting donald duck and thinking he`s a famous book character similar to hamlet. The only thing they are good for is wipping …well..you get the point.
And nobody is saying “Slovenske Novice” are controversial. They the exact opposite. And being politically correct is a loose term. Compare the amount of photos depicting naked women and naked men in “Slovenske novice” and you`ll soon discover that naked men are non-existent. Also, look for any kind of deviations that do not “blend in” with out cultural background. No homosexuals, no lesbians, drugs are coming into focus but only on a smaller scale… It`s boring retro-crap.
Trust me if you want tabloid news there is
the Toronto Sun.I guess Delo is like the
Globe and Mail. What I found so sweet about
the crime section over there was how they
gave an initial instead of the persons last
name. But that was a few years back and
maybe its changed.
I wonder which serious papers do all these experts in tabloids read…
David
I wonder which serious papers do all these experts in tabloids read…
David
delo, vecer, dnevnik, nytimes.com
and if you happen to stroll by the faculty of social science, feel free to drop in on “ethics of journalism”. maybe u`ll learn something
I have my opinion about the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. You need just look at the names of the teachers there and everything is clear.
David
you are generalising. I was specific about the subject of journalism, which has country`s finest professors. And if names tell you everything, then I really feel sorry for you.
my last comment on the subject.
The Faculty of Social Sciences was established in 1961 as College of Political Studies - i.e. school for Party cadres - on Stane Dolanc’s initiative.
It has had a bad reputation as Red College from the begining.
Among its lecturers was Stane Dolanc, who was also the school’s headmaster from 1964 to 1967.In 1981 Dolanc was elected professor for political system.
The school also produced teachers for the secondary school compulsory subject(in 1970s and 1980s) Self-management with Bases of Marxism. Today these teachers indoctrinated in Marxism teach Sociology - a subject compulsory in all secondary schools.
Some of the teachers there are among the most influential leftists in Slovenia today.
A.