From 480c1af9d52387e646295d4738a3323c6bdf7132 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 22:40:44 +0300 Subject: [PATCH] posts: 00f --- posts/y00/00f-a-change-of-mentality.markdown | 98 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 98 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/y00/00f-a-change-of-mentality.markdown diff --git a/posts/y00/00f-a-change-of-mentality.markdown b/posts/y00/00f-a-change-of-mentality.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17525b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y00/00f-a-change-of-mentality.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,98 @@ +--- +postid: 00f +title: A change of mentality +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +excerpt: Romanian mentality is changing, only not in the way we expect it to. +date: September 18, 2013 +tags: asphalt +--- + +In the last five years or more, I keep hearing of such a thing as the need for +"a change of mentality", in connection with all sorts of post-1989 Romanian +stuff. Since we're here, I'll have to digress a bit. + +Romania is a fairly young country. We've been attempting (with more or less +success) to remain cohesive since the 1800s and have been growing in the early +1900s, only remaining stable from the points of view of territory and +population after the Second World War. There have been said, more or less +crackpot-theoretical attempts of "some powers" to destroy this cohesion in 1989 +and the first few years after, without any clear success, so Romania looks +pretty much like a unitary state at the moment. + +Anyway, after almost fifty years of comunism, a lot of the post-89 events came +like major blows to the head of the masses. For example, we saw that once +markets opened, most local industries proved to be uncompetitive, so they +became extinct[^1]. Similarly, many banks were nothing more than Ponzi schemes +run by crooks who became rich in a really short period of time, and other +businesses were started by ex-secret services guys that well, had the info, +while the stupid masses did not. Long story short, the last twenty-four years +or so of "Romanian democracy" have been some kind of bizarre circus, and now +things don't seem to head in any clear direction. + +So, as I was saying, in this context people start suggesting changes, most +notably "a change of mentality". It certainly sounds good to people who've +never been abroad but somehow seem to think that the countries to the West are +more "civilized", and everything is just great there and dogs are running with +pretzels on their tails[^2]. People there seem to have so much better +mentalities, at which point Romanians start believing that trying to mimic them +would be a pretty good idea. As a matter of fact, it's a really bad idea. The +why behind it might not be obvious, so I'll have to explain. + +Changing a collective mentality as a whole would be a good idea if it didn't +destroy the subjects, at least from a cultural point of view. It's similar to +what Orwell was describing in 1984: modify concepts, news and everything else +so that people start having a new conception of life. It's the exact opposite +of what nationalists aim to do, replacing the Romanian person with its German +or Swedish or Whateverish equivalent. The thing is, mentalities *do* change in +time, only they do it really slowly, so we rarely take the time to notice how +much the mentality of your average Romanian has changed since 1989. +Supermarkets, television, Internet, all the "un-Romanian" things changed +Romanians' mentalities more than one would expect. Yesterday's Cartoon Network +kids are today's English-speaking (almost-)adults who pay taxes. Eighty-year +old grandmas spend a couple of hours a week on Skype, chatting with their +nephews in Spain, which, I'll tell you, was *unimaginable* twenty-five years +ago. And I could go on and on with the examples, but I'll stop here. + +The thing is that absolutely no one wants to completely destroy Romanians' +national identity, not even anarchistoid youngers who deserve a good beating +for being such hipsters. Surely, the state is bad, politicians are bad, but do +we like Romanian food, nature, pussy and other stuff that them westerners only +wish they had[^3]. + +Besides that, after working for some time with technology, I've learned that +paradigm shifts almost never lead people where they expected. What I mean is, +back in the '70s computers were used mainly for maths and no one could have +conceived then that pockets could fit a machine capable of games, music, movies +and instantaneous communication forty years later. I'll consider this example +relevant, however unrelated it might seem. + +In Romania's case, the sudden shift from communism to democracy was exactly +that, a major paradigm shift. As I was saying, we still have problems dealing +with it. So there you have it, our dearly beloved paradigm shift, that's +changing our mentalities whether we like it or not. Is that any good? We seem +to think not, but we're forgetting that in '88-'89 people were sitting all day +long at queues fighting over two kilos of expired meat. Is that any bad? Maybe, +but once again, we're forgetting that Romanian education kept the bar high in +mathematics, engineering, gymnastics and a few others, which is a great +performance for a country of twenty million people. + +My opinion and mine only, and you can do with it whatever you wish, fellow +Romanians, is that you can stick your "change of mentality" in places that +hurt. It's ceased to have any relevant meaning, all we need now is to focus and +*maybe* get out of this mess we're in. + +[^1]: The same crackpot theorists believe that "some powers" from the West +systematically sabotaged Romanian industry, agriculture and pretty much +everything that was productive in the country. I, for one, believe that we +sabotaged ourselves, mostly due to the fact that we had, and still have, no +idea in the world of how the so-called "Romanian democracy" is supposed to +work. + +[^2]: The saying is a rough translation of a Romanian expression, "fug câinii +cu covrigi în coadă". You might have an idea of what that means if you've ever +been to Bucharest: it's one of the cities that are choc-full of dogs; now, if +only they had pretzels on their tails, every lazy ass could get a piece to eat. +Basically, it's a popular representation of socialist utopia. + +[^3]: Yes, these are mostly fallacies. It's not like Romania is the only +country in the world where they serve good food. -- 1.7.10.4