RICK STEVES

FROM
seattlepi.com

The following is an excerpt from Rick Steves review on the PI online.
This is the second time in a month that I have published Rick's anti Roma comments. So what is his story?

"...We drove by a Gypsy camp switchbacking from the Mediterranean coast up into the interior of Montenegro. Our guide explained the local Gypsies don't want to go to school and don't want to work. I commented that they don't want their children to be taught lifestyles that threaten their nomadic ways. The camp was absolutely filthy. Our guide said, "That's their aesthetic." I couldn't really imagine a society with an aesthetic to be sloppy...as if moms bark at her kids, "You can't go out to play until you mess up your room."

All over our world, nomadic cultures like the Roma (or Gypsy) culture are struggling ' I think because they're at odds with societies that require fences, conventional ownership, and non-nomadic ways. I wonder how many nomadic cultures (American Indians, Eskimos, Kurds, Gypsies) will be here in the next generation.

Cresting the mountain into the Montenegrin heartland, we came to a village that looked like it had no economy. Then a man took us into a big, blocky, white building that looked like a giant monopoly house. He opened the door and we stepped inside, under tons of golden ham peacefully aging. It was a smokehouse ' jammed with five layers of hanging hamhocks. Our Montenegrin friend stoked up his fire, filled the place with smoke, and we filmed. More industry than you realize hides out in sleepy villages...."
Rick Steves 17 June 2009