We're Romanians, We Don't Give a Fuck

Every so often I wonder about human nature: if it is human nature to be greedy, or selfish, or evil; if it is human nature to envy, to lack compassion or mercy; or on the contrary, if we're all good by default, but somehow the environment (our family, the way we're brought up, the society we live in and its shortcomings) makes us greedy, or evil.

The fact that Madonna was booed in Bucharest after she sent a short, simple message of tolerance has already made the headlines around the world. In the past, I'd blame this kind of behaviour on the stupidity of Romanians; I used to say - yeah, we're a medieval nation of people that don't understand today's world, that are generally dumb and that are more concerned with their bellies than anything else. Quite narrow-minded of me, really.

How wrong I was. What this people lacks, on a gargantuan scale, is not intelligence, but rather compassion. We aren't compassionate - we're Romanians, we don't give a fuck! We complain that our roads are bad, but an SMB-owner avoids paying taxes. We cheat the system at every turn, and that only means we cheat everyone else around us.

In Romania, everybody steals from everybody. Yes - I mean actual stealing. Our tax money are controlled by a gang of douche-bags that are upset now because there's hardly anything left to steal, that's why their arguing so much (back in the day, when there was enough for everyone, nobody complained). That construction company that doesn't declare the right amount of money it pays its workers is stealing money right now from you and me.

And so does that other company that deals business with the Romanian state and charges three or four times the price for its goods or services. Technically, they may not be breaking any law (yes, we have stupid laws), but that doesn't make it moral.

This is a no man's land (cheers, Ada Milea - how right you got it!), where you will be ripped off if you give people the chance to do so.

And we come to the problem of tolerance. Romanians don't really hate gypsies, or gays, or jews for that matter. We hate everybody. Of course, everybody keeps a lid on it - being perceived as a hater is still a no no (we're a nation of hypocrites, in case you were wondering). But in the case of gypsies, or gays - well, it's ok to hate them. The gypsies - damn thieves, they are going to multiply so much in 30 years there will be too little of us good Romanians to defend ourselves. The gays - well.. they wanna fuck our asses, and they dress like women, fucking abominations.. Everybody hates gypsies and gays in this country, so that's acceptable. The hate spills out on gypsies, gays, hungarians. On anybody that's not "us" (which is just another way of saying anybody that's not "me"), pretty much.

And we come to Madonna. Poor thing.. she made the mistake of pointing out to Romanians that they should stop hating. Well, stop hating gays and gypsies, but that was just the afterthought for many people there. Somebody had the nerve to tell them to stop being haters. Somebody they were paying (in Romanian society now, money talks, bullshit walks; in our newly discovered capitalism, money is all that matters; money and clout) to entertain them.

So naturally, they're bashing on the organizational aspects of the concert now. That there was too much dust, that there was always a cue at the bar, that the toilets were this way or the other, that they couldn't see Madonna (because she wasn't tall enough), that they couldn't hear her, that the security people were sitting down, that the security people were standing, that the weather was too warm, or too cold, that some people were sitting on the ground and that the sun was not shining anymore. I haven't been to that concert, however I happen to have attended quite a few other concerts organized by Emagic, the team that organized the Madonna gig. And unless they went crazy in the head in the meantime (which I seriously doubt), I'm sure the concert had the best organization possible.

But aah... we're Romanians, we don't give a fuck; we love Jesus and fuck our spouses. HATE FTW!