I haven't been to Serbia in like 15 years but it is my experience that this particular behaviour is reserved strictly for the biggest, most obnoxious degenerates our Balkan societies have to offer. Balkan rednecks, if you will.
It's beyond me why this sort of person has to be celebrated even more.
Also I hold no grudge against Serbian people in general - had some great Serbian friends in the US, they made fantastic barbecue. I'd sooner blame the general state of the country.
What's happening is what's happening everywhere else: there are different Serbians, some are great, some are nice, some are not so nice and some are terrible.
I was born 34 years ago in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In the 20 years I lived there, I never met anyone who killed a bear with their bare hands, but I've met plenty of people with the same brutish, thuggish humor, who thought that kind of stuff was hilarious.
If there's one thing I would like to say to Tomislav, it's this: I'm proud of our nations' history and cultural heritage -- some shared, some not -- but this kind of negative publicity you're generating is part of the reason why there's a word "balkanized" in English language. I understand you're pissed they copied your hard work and your anger is justified. But please, don't do this.
I've posted hundreds of comments here on HN but I believe this is the first time I have voluntarily proclaimed my "Serb-ness" so perhaps I am not the typical Serb that is always pointing out their nationality (and I only did it this time because it was the reason I know about Mileva Maric). But I have a few theories as to why you may think we are always pointing our nationality or at least seem to:
1) It is a immigrant thing. When you feel that you are being identified as the "other" you get the urge to preemptively "come out of the closet" as an immigrant in a show of good will towards your native hosts and try to fit in. It's a way of saying "Hey guys, I know I am this scary foreigner, but really I'm just like you so can we be friends?" I've experienced this with people of many other nationalities and ethnicities where the conversation will inevitably turn into them telling me about their country of origin.. which I don't mind since I enjoy learning about different cultures.
2) Maybe you encounter a disproportionate number of Serbian people in your daily life so point #1 is magnified, or perhaps because of your own background or personal reasons you are overly sensitive to the idea of Serbian identity.
3) Serbs do tend to be sensitive about their ethnic identity because many of us feel that we have been misrepresented and not entirely fairly villainized in the media, while at the same time also being victims of long standing ethnic hatred in our native countries, so insecurity borne out of that treatment motivates an exaggerated sense of nationalism in some of us.
Hopefully one of those, or a combination of them, explains why "Serbs are always pointing out their nationality".
I only have some annecdotal stories, from a friend who grew up in Croatia and then had to flee during the Yugoslavia war, where one of the parents is Serbian and the other is Albanian. The stories are both from his childhood (being pushed into the sea as a kid, because they noticed he's from a certain group, not being sold bread as a kid because he used the wrong word when ordering) and from recent years (e.g. getting beaten up at a bar by a group of people, because from his accent it was clear he wasn't from that area).
I'm not trying to say that Serbia sucks, or that Serbs suck, or that all Serbs are like that, or anything in that direction. Almost all people I personally know from ex-Yugoslavia (including Serbia) are great people. But – especially given the conflict-rich history of that area – there are still a lot of conflicts and animosities between ethnic groups, and Serbia also has its fair share of xenophobia (in contrast to what GP suggested in their comment).
You seem to always pop up when there's a thread about Serbia and you always post about Serbs and Serbia in a negative context no matter what it's about. I lived in Serbia for 6 years and no, they are overall not xenophobic people.
I lived in the Balkans for 30 years. Serbs have great culture and kafanas, but they are extremely political. It’s so hard to hold a normal conversation without them mentioning Russia, Yugoslavia, Kosovo/Albanians, NATO la-la-la. Especially in kafanas, I can confidently say that a majority of them still live in the past and can’t move on and it’s really sad.
It's beyond me why this sort of person has to be celebrated even more.
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