Can’t have it both ways: the ‘Cataloonies’

I don’t have much of a problem with the term ‘Cataloony’. But it does seem to be something of a handy shortcut past debating an issue which concerns a large minority of people here. John at Iberian Notes, ‘expat wanker’ according to a fan, loves using ‘Cataloony’ to describe any Catalan who dislikes the king of Spain or wants more independence for Catalonia. Statistically, some of those people probably are lunatics, so he probably scores a couple of hits with his scattershot.

The problem is, if I use the terms ‘dumb Yanks’ or ‘stupid Americans’* to describe American citizens who still support Georgey boy and his gang of no-good rats, then I’m being anti-American. Moi? But calling Catalan nationalists ‘loonies’ ain’t the same thing. See, I get more than a little whiff of hypocrisy from this. So my proposition is simple: either quit using the ‘Cataloonies’ tag or quit whining when someone has the temerity to insult one of your stupid countrymen (like your stupid president). Name calling is just as clever/silly, whatever side you’re on. It’s exactly the same thing and you can’t have it both ways.

Personally, as someone who believes in freedom of expression, I reckon that John should be able to call Catalan nationalists whatever he likes.

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*sorry, these names don’t quite have the same ring to them as Cataloonies. I’m not a very experienced name caller. It’s a short cut to thinking, really, isn’t it?

8 thoughts on “Can’t have it both ways: the ‘Cataloonies’

  1. Tom,

    I think it is better if they keep using the term “Cataloony”. That shows everyone with some common sense that they are nothing more than clueless expats who use an abusive term to describe the native people who live in their country of adoption.

    By their refusal to accept the reality (cultural, political and economic) of the country they have chosen to live in, and insulting its people, they portray themselves for what they are: a bunch of losers with no grasp of reality and absolutely ignorant about Catalonia. According to their own definition, 90% of the elected representatives in the Catalan parliament are some sort of crazy people.

    What saddens me the most is the fact that some hapless visitor to their sites will think that these two accurately report the political reality of something as complex as Catalonia/Spain. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  2. Carl – I said I would. By the way, it’s nice to hear that the quality of prostitute has improved in your barrio.

    Rab – yes, but it’s no so much the word itself that gets me. What I don’t like is the utter hypocrisy of saying something like “…gratituously insulting Bush is anti-American” but not apply the same logic to nationalist Catalans.

    Two episodes of name-calling, exactly the same but regarded differently. That’s pure hypocrisy.

    The stupidity of the name is, to my mind a separate issue.

  3. Carl – actually I lost my website and had to rebuild it. The blogroll came last and I decided not to put Iberian Notes back on there. I don’t read it and I don’t know why anyone else would want to.

  4. Carl,

    There is nothing informative about Iberian Notes.
    It is full of lies, manipulation and hatred against anything and anyone who does not support the Spanish Nationalists of Libertad Digital, Ciudadanos, PP, etc.

    Frankly, it is more informative to read The Onion.

  5. Carl, Rab sums it up pretty well. John at Iberian Notes doesn’t really have a ‘viewpoint’ as you say. What he has is a blog which persistently pursues a contrarian position. He is not alone in this fixation: several other English-language bloggers in Spain feel compelled to espouse anti-Spanish but more regularly anti-Catalan soundbites.

    These are the same people who have moved from belittling Franco’s repression of Catalan to attempting blatant Franco-apologism.

    I don’t see that reading utter tosh could in any way benefit myself or my outlook on life. My life is replete with poetry, lyrics and wisdom from writers I admire and respect… why ruin it with ill-considered bile, racism, misogynism and warmongering?

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