As teenagers in Pescara we often used to joke about the sexual habits and extra-conjugal activities of each other’s mums. Not very mature, I know, but no one ever took any offenve. It was all fair game.
Slightly more worrying, childish banter (of some form or another) also takes place among some of my colleagues, who don’t have the alibi of youth. However, being the recipient of such banter should be welcomed, in a way. It’s a sign of friendship.
If one of my colleagues makes a joke about the alleged cowardice of Italian soldiers during WW2 (something I couldn’t possibly care less, what’s their point?), he’s trying to reach out to me. When people don’t like you, they won’t talk to you in the first place.
As shown in the example above, in a multi-national environment, perceived clichés and stereotypes about each other’s nationality will often be a recurring topic of banter.
Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek tells us that, when he was in the Yugoslav army, the relationship between Serbians, Slovenes, Bosnians, Croats and Montenegrins was very amicable. So amicable that they used to make fun of each other all the time.
Apparently, the stereotype about Montenegrins is that they’re all lazy. Given that earthquakes are frequent in Montenegro, according to Žižek the classic joke was that if a Montenegrin man wants to masturbate, he digs a little hole in the ground, lies down with his penis in it, and then waits for the next earthquake.
While that sounds like a clever idea to me, personally I have no time for national stereotypes. Yes, there are cultural traits, which differ from place to place, but these are rather superficial, in my opinion. What really counts is the personality, and I like to believe that each human being is utterly unique in his or her own way.
I always try not to generalize about whole groups of people, although sometimes the temptation is strong, and we all do it occasionally. It's true that some generalizations are flattering or good natured, but I still think they're flawed.
(Sometimes I wonder whether generalizations are not some sort of self-fulfilling prophecies. For example, if a German person is being told, over and over again, that, as a German, he must be very organized, does he then go home and decide to rearrange the books on his bookshelves in alphabetical order?)
Most people share my views about national stereotypes. However, there’s another way of thinking which is just as irrational and yet a lot more widespread. I’m talking about taking pride in the artistic or scientific achievements of someone whose nationality we share (not to mention sporting or military achievements).
When you’re in elementary school in Italy, eventually you’re bound to be told that, lo and behold, it was an Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the radio. Yay!
But, hold on a minute. Doesn’t that mean, by default, that no Italian whatsoever had anything to do with the invention of the steam engine, the hydraulic press, the internal combustion engine, the stainless steel, the telephone, the light bulb, the quartz clock, the microscope, the transistor, the television, the integrated circuit, the computer, the internet and so on? Not that clever, are we? And besides, even if all those inventions came from the same place, what would that prove?
(It should be noted that, within each country, it then comes down to individual cities. At school in Pescara you will also be reminded that the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio was born there. Well, whoopee-fucking-do. So what? The guy was a pervert, everyone knows that.)
Should an Italian be prouder of Dante than Shakespeare? Should a Chinese be prouder of Confucius than Socrates? Should a German be prouder of Beethoven than Tchaikovsky? Should a Russian be prouder of Dostoyevsky than Proust? Should a Dutch be prouder of Van Gogh than Picasso? Why?
The way I see it, we’re faced with two choices. We can either take no pride at all in the achievements of someone else, no matter where they’re from, for the simple reason that they are someone else’s achievements, not ours, or, if we prefer, we can all take pride in those achievements, no matter where they came from, as a triumph of the human intelligence, creativity and ingenuity.
(Personally, being a bitter and resentful bastard, I choose the first one, but it’s up to you, really.)
