The fact is that there are massive problems of corruption and government incompetence that are unrivalled in the EU (15) countries.

Ok, but why can’t you talk about these problems in a respectful and constructive way instead of using offensive generalisations such as Greece has a peasant culture, Greeks are inherently homophobic, Greeks are natural beggars, Greeks are lazy, Greeks are paranoid, Greeks are keen on corruption etc (These are quite mild in comparison to the other vile things you’ve said about Greeks on this blog – perhaps DD can recover your vile posts that she’s had to delete so we can all see the level of your hatred and racism..).

I do not need DD’s blog to publish my professional opinions, which are widely disseminated and quoted across the world.

Why don’t you name just ONE of these “widely disseminated” publications? Are your “professional opinions” published in Stormfront or the latest British National Party manifesto?
Having your money stolen by some Greeks does not necessarily make you an authority on Greece. You are an internet nobody who’s had his money stolen by a few Greeks and whose only means of retribution is to spout anti-Greek propaganda on the internet. You are pathetic.

And if you “don’t need DD’s blog to publish professional opinions”, why don’t you just f**k off outta here (to use your vocabulary).

Just mind your own business

You mind your own, you hypocrite. You’re a Brit just like me – we’re both ex-pats living in southern Europe, I have as much right to speak about southern European cultures as you. My business is making pseudo-intellectual racists like you squirm. And business is very good

Why don’t you heed the wonderfully-worded plea from DD above? Just be respectful and talk constructively about the issues raised on this blog – i’m sure you have alot to offer on many subjects if only you’d refrain from the outright bigotry and offensive stereotyping but you can’t seem to help it.
I’m sure most Greeks on this blog were brought up in “Greek culture” and they are not homophobic, anti-Semitic or keen on corruption etc. How do you think it makes these ordianry Greeks feel when you lump them in the same boat as the minority of Greeks who are corrupt?
It is incredibly offensive to make generalisations like Greek culture is “peasant culture” and you say it with so much hate behind it.
Seriously, get some help, it can’t be doing you much good spiritually or psuchologically to be so bitter about a whole nation. Better yet, if you hate Greece and Greeks so much, why don’t you do yourself and everyone else a favour and just f**k off out of the country? (to use your vocabulary).

Yes, accuse me of being too PC. Fine. I do not think of Greeks as being peasants or of a peasant mentality even though I critisise the country over and over on this blog. If I thought they were peasants perhaps I wouldn’t even bother to have a blog right? The fact is that most of the people who write here are Greek (unlike the two or three of us!) and I simply have more respect for the country I live in than you do? Sure, I’m frustrated by things that go on here. Angry and annoyed and frustrated. But I cannot and will not lump people together in a blanket statement like ” “they are peasants!”

Ugh! PC is always used as an insult but I’d rather be too PC than just plain wrong. We’ve survived many many phases from “liberal” to “commie” to who knows what? I’ve been a geek, to a loon to a terrorist to an enemy of the state just on this blog! Being too PC is minor!

I’m closing down comments on these threads in a while so please feel free to fight for the last word!

And then we’ll get back to the issues?

The idea that I use this blog to vent my “frustrations” is just ludicrous. Everyone who lives in Greece is frustrated with the chaos and mess that currently pertain. The fact is that there are massive problems of corruption and government incompetence that are unrivalled in the EU (15) countries. I am not prepared to discuss this with idiots who do not even live in Greece, simply because it doesn’t suit their political opinions. I do not need DD’s blog to publish my professional opinions, which are widely disseminated and quoted across the world. Nor do I need the approval of a sanctimonious idiot, to be allowed to engage in serious discussions of contemporary issues.

And no, I will not give my personal opinions about Greece, Scowscroft. Who the fu*k do you think you are? Just mind your own business, for once, and leave alone things that you cannot understand.

It’s not libellous if no-one knows your name so shut up and stop being such a drama queen. I told you what to do, give us me real name and i’ll call you a racist and bigot to your face. Then you can sue me.

The fact that DD tolerates their abusive remarks to me (and others) I also take as a personal insult from her

When you stop hurling abusive remarks and highly offensive stereotypes against southern European people then people will stop calling you a bigot. Instead of making threats against DD, you should be thanking her for providing this platform to discuss human rights issues.
Unfortunately, you’ve used this blog as a personal vehicle to vent your frustrations on the nationality of people who stole your money. You’ve used this blog since 2005 to attack a whole nation and to make offensive blanket statements about Greek people just because a few Greeks stole your money. I was mugged by a black guy while going home after school, should i hate all blacks because of it? Yes, according to your logic.
Instead of criticisng DD, you should be thanking your lucky stars that she has allowed you to get away with your bigotry on this blog for so long.

Tell us three things you actually like about Greeks and their culture.

“a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image”

I am surprised (maybe even shocked) that you should bring up the idea of lawsuits etc because of your problems with a particular reader. Lots of people here have examined their own particular wrongdoings and have often apologised for them (myself included). You are the only person (at the moment…there have been many in the past) who seems unable to see that some of you comments are out of line, offensive to many and do not move forward with any type of dialogue! Why can’t you see that saying “Greeks are peasants” (or have a peasant mentality) is deeply insulting to Greeks. And please don’t trot out the academic versus the rest of us argument. Just try and look at that statement as a human being writing on a blog for other human beings.

Just for the record, I have welcomed opinions from people from all over the world since the beginning of this blog. I have welcomed insights from people who have NO knowledge of Greece and have never even been for a holiday here! I am not about to start discriminating against people who have no knowledge of this country. I actually like and encourage people to send me links to “related” human rights issues and that will continue.

I am also impressed at the amount of time people have put in to researching and digging up links etc. In this day and age (with the 5 sec attention spans) this is a rare thing and I am actually proud of my strong and dedicated community of readers.

Let’s please, once and for all, leave aside these personal arguments and start discussing the issues. Let’s also try and understand that our words have the power to really hurt people and try and avoid doing so.

Thank you

DeviousDiva est domina. Vox domina, Vox Dei.

I have lived and travelled throughout southern Europe for many years and i know the culture pretty well – i also know my fellow Brits pretty well, especially those who go abroad and start preaching the Gospel of St. George of Blighty – as if everything is hunky-dory in the land of Albion.
These ex-pats think that we’re fundamentally superior to southern European “savages” and think we need to teach them to follow our example to become “civilised”.
In fact, it’s us Brits who have alot to learn from you. Southern Europeans should civilise us.
We Brits neglect our elderly (putting old folk into homes and seldom visiting them), we have a booze culture (weekends in any British city is like a war zone), we have the highest teenage pregnancies (in the world), we have the individualistic society and fragmented communities (who do not integrate with each other and have become ghettoised), we have the xenophobic and monolingual mindset (we despise immigration, even legal immigrants are hated, and we are allergic to learning a second language). We have an awful lot to learn from Southern European culture, not so much the other way round.
At the end of the day, i think we can all learn from each other and sharing our thoughts and opinions on DD’s blog will facilitate that. I just hope some people would avoid unnecessary stereotyping and offensive generalisations.

Xen,

I don’t hate anyone

You don’t hate Greeks – you absolutely despise them. That’s crystal clear.

I have a very low opinion of certain people (e.g. Greeks who stole money from me).

I think we’re getting to the crux of your hateful obssession with Greeks. If some Greeks stole your money Xen, why don’t you take those specific people to court or inform the police about the theft? Why do you come onto blogs and spout your hateful generalisations against all Greeks just because some Greeks “stole your money”.
I knew there was a reason for your vitriol…it must’ve been alot of money..

In particular, UK unis have propagated this species, which believes in political correctness over the
truth.

And who says what you spout is the “truth”? Everyone has an opinion and should be able to express themselves without being told what constitutes the “truth” by bigotted, pseudo-intellectual, clap-trap merchants like you.
You’ve threatened to take people to court for challenging your opinion, you tried to get your detractors banned, you attempted psychological manipulation on DD with childish guilt trips, you claimed support from non-existant “academic friends” who also wanted me banned, you’ve continuously made offensive remarks against southern European people which if you made against blacks or Asians you’d be up on charges of inciting racial hatred in the UK….you should be careful, you threatened people with legal action for pathetic reasons, but at the rate you’re going with your ethnic slurs, you’ll be the one who ends up in nick.

In terms of comparative research, this is my own specialisation

Your specialisation is making offensive generalisations and sniping at all Greeks on internet blogs just because some Greeks stole your dinner money….

Tell us three things you actually like about Greeks and their culture.

It is this ignorant and mindless obsession with “moral right” that is slowly destroying the UK and resulting in a generation of people who cannot think. Greece has its own sort of propaganda,of course, although with similar outcomes.

In terms of comparative research, this is my own specialisation and I do not accept arrogant criticism from uninformed amateurs. The comparisons that Scowcroft makes are, for the most part, naive and childish. They take us nowhere at all, and inhibit any intelligent discussion of the problems in Greece.

I think that Mike’s comments can sometimes be irritating, but other times offer a good contextualization. As long as people don’t take the fact that other states are just as bad as Greece, as an excuse to not take action in Greece, then I personally am indifferent to mildly interested in what goes on in the UK, and for making comparisons. But ultimately Greece is Greece and the UK UK, let the Brits worry about their country. You will say, but this is a blog about Greece? Well yes, but contextualization can be useful in putting things in perspective and combating panic or over-exaggeration. In service of level-headed analysis it can be good. Otherwise it may be useless. Mike some times crosses into one or the other. But you know what. DD is domina in her blog and her’s is the power:)

he is the person who has no business commenting here since he knows nothing about, and has no relation with, Greece.

I know southern European people very well – and I know a lot about British bigots and sanctimonious ex-pats living abroad, and i know they don’t like their cage being rattled.

I’m sure there are a great many people who read this blog who don’t agree with me and who find my opinions abrasive and tiresome, but they’ve never called for my banning because at the end of the day, most people value free speech.

I’ve told you before, in the interests of forum harmony and to avoid DD having to act like a baby-sitter for adults: let’s just agree to disagree. You can skip past my posts if you don’t like reading them but don’t expect me to ignore your racism-ridden remarks and offensive generalisations. If you continue to make offensive remarks, don’t expect people on a human rights blog to ignore them, there are plenty of white supremacist sites which entertain views like yours and who’ll be quite happy to listen to you express how southern European savages have a “peasant mentality” and are lazy and prone to bribes etc etc, you’ll find a captive audience in those sites. This is a human rights blog so don’t expect to make comments like that and get away with it. And you cannot prevent people from calling you the bigot that you are, just because you threaten them with legal action, you pathetic imbecile.