wow.

ok. it’s an image that was meant to keep people reading. it’s meant to keep people reading. it’s pathetic and cheap.

or is it? maybe it’s indicative of the huge divides – between romania and much of europe and between romanians themselves.

so, for those who did read this article, what did they read?

mr. sullivan says joining the eu will change things – big and small – in romania. yep. it sure will.

you read more to hear oana gatu complain, “we’re too poor.” fair enough. besides, it’s the mantra of romania – “we’re too poor.” along with - “we got left behind after world war II.” “our government is corrupt.” “the roma are screwing up our town.” get over it. seriously.

what else?

mr. sullivan comments that romania has an almost eerie obsession with joining the eu. how many eu flags can one country possibly have? how many stores have to be called euro-ceva?

the digital clock in bucuresti. i was pleased to see in the video clip that the clock appears to be working. well, at least the two visible faces are telling the same time. whether it was the correct time is anyone’s guess. the countdown timer has always, strangely, worked. one can’t help but wonder – romania knows what time it is for joining europe but it can’t figure out what is going on within its own borders. talk about eerie.

no one mentioned “ulita spre europa.” if i’m not mistaken, this is produced by romanian state television. ok. this is going to be a poor argument now that i’ve said that but still… you want to complain about stereotypes, look no further than this monstrosity.

mr. ghemes and his family in tg. mures. his life isn’t an example of a pretty ordinary romanian? we’re not talking village here. this is a town of 160,000 or so people. his life is so ordinary and so typical, my eyes almost rolled back in my head reading about him.

aunt tamara? hello? i will say no more than - that scandal has been going on too long.

interesting that mr. basescu gets out of this article entirely unscathed. interesting indeed.

oh yes. mr. sullivan points out that romania is having a hard time figuring out how to deal with roma. the video clip – the primar in targu frumos blames all the pandele family’s problems on ALL roma. yep. sure. because everyone in the country - from president to primar to ordinary profesor – teaches and lives such tolerance. right. ms. macovei even says it, “In the real life, the majority, the Romanians, do still treat the Roma people as different and not their equals.”

and luiza – is romania not under pressure from the eu? is the country not trying to get past its half century of communism? i’m just asking.

i can only conclude that maybe not everyone read this article in its entirety. mr. sullivan didn’t play on every stereotype – he gave a pretty straightforward, maybe a little shallow, view of the situation. what? you want him to explain every nuance that is romania? come on, this is the washington post – not an academic journal. it seems he gave a fair assessment of a country that so many of the post’s readers likely know nothing about. well, nothing beyond dracula and orphans. (he didn’t mention either!)

romania, despite every possibly horrible and hard and mean thing i have said, is an amazing country with an amazing heart and unbelievable people. it is a country overloaded with warmth and passion and brains and desire – but it reminds one of a promising teenager. it is full of power but completely unsure where to go or what to do or how to do it and it is full of bluster. it refuses to admit its mistakes and would rather die a thousand deaths than ask for help. i love you romania, but please grow up!

I suppose it is terribly easy to immediatley focus on the negative differences of another culture. Look how quickly the French are relegated to being arrogant or Iranians being wild-eyed jihadists. So, too, Romania is given the gloss-over.

It sounds as though Mr. Sullivan knows his audience. Washington DC elitists who are completely out of touch with humanity and like to fancy themselves as heroes of the third world. Now, if he were to paint Romania as tantamount to being a peer, he might lose his job as the audience perceived him to be incompetent. But show some kindly villagers practicing a long tradition of eating (killing a pig) as this savage imagery is gobbled up. That kind of writing may be one way to keep your job.

I sometimes find myself engaging in some sharing negative glimpses of Romania with friends and family, but normally remember (albeit, at the end) to remind them I think it is a wonderful country with an amazing culture/people. I generally recognize that my negative insights are merely a reaction to my norms and not an indictment of Romania as such. Sometimes, after a spell, I even end up enjoying the differences.

Take the pig slaughtering and blood spurting. In a way, it is almost sad that this aspect of rural Romanian culture is scheduled for termination. Granted, the overwhelming vast majority of people I know here do not kill pigs. Some of them have never even witnessed it. But a handful of folks in the countryside have and it’s just a part of their way of life. They won’t immediately stop the practice because the EU demands it. No, I suspect it will die out, of course, but slowly. In fact, it is my hope to attend such an event around Christmas 2006 (since I foolishly squandered an opportunity a few months ago).

People are often fascinated by how others live differently. Especially when you can deride them and feel superior in some way.

Like how Romanians love to Americans are all fat. Of course, we are… but that’s beside the point.

Seriously, this is a touchy subject for me; has been, for a long time. When I was in the US, I was terrified of giving US stories a wrong feel, because I knew what international reporting has done to my country imagewise.

Now how do I explain to my foreign friends that although some of us kill pigs, we ARE NOT a land of backwards primitives? It is going to be very hard to erase the Post article from their memories. So unfair.