What underlies the divergent history of two languages: Catalan and Piedmontese.

By Toislex, adding information to the map of F. Rubat Borel - "Il piemontese in tasca" , 2006, Edizioni Assimil, Chivasso, modified, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Answer to a Quora question

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I am a Spanish speaker, with Piedmontese and Catalan ancestry currently living in Barcelona, and our opinion reflects exactly the facts about Catalan and Piemontèis. But behind this phenomenon there is a problem that has to do with nationalism. In Catalonia, the language is driven - in addition to the interest of maintaining the language itself - for political reasons: separatism. Catalonia has a long history of conflicts with Castile, while Piedmont had exactly the opposite role: to unify Italy. The Piemontèis is becoming the language of the elderly; the new generations speak basically in Italian, while in Catalonia one can see the new generations of African or Latin American immigrants speaking Catalan everyday.

Both Catalan and Piedmontese reflect the great power that schools have; in Piedmont, children have been italianized and in Catalonia they have been catalanized.

In addition to the above, due to the European Union and the global weight of the English-speaking countries, all of them are also beginning a process of integrating English gradually more and more, which causes an "internationalization" that has the potential to sweep away regional and national identities (luckily !!! This continent is characterized by causing some major nationalist wars)

Then there are very different attitudes among the young Piedmontese and Catalans: the former are imbued with the spirit of unification, while the latter (always speaking only of the hard Catalan speaking sector) have a segregationist spirit against Spain and everything Spanish… and also - although it is difficult for the Catalans to recognize this - by definition this nationalist spirit is also anti-European.

The experience I had in Piedmont and Catalonia is colored by this fact. To speak Piedmontese in Piedmont is greeted with surprise and joy, but not as necessary; while speaking Catalan in Catalonia has become quite a political statement and is forced by public institutions.

Old Roman Empire, New American Empire, and a story about mixing races

Part of a discussion in Quora with Patrick, an american citizen

Well, I'm still improving my English. Seems that there are chances that you also will have to improve your Spanish very soon XD

Too many concurrent themes to deal with at once.
Well, let's go, anyway.

Throughout the Roman empire the nordic people were admired by the color of their eyes and hair, and were considered good warriors, but in all cases they were also considered as barbarians. At the same time, Germans always admired Rome. Proof of it were the attempts they made to join Rome through the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, etc. Hitler himself was an admirer of Mussolini, from whom he drew many ideas.
But... during those thousands of years the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians (from India) considered ALL Europeans as backward in many ways, mainly in the religious-philosophical fields. The stories of Marco Polo can attest to the enormous difference that existed between them and us even in the Renaissance. Marco Polo did not hesitate to say that the Chinese were the most intelligent people in the world. A similar impact had Alexander the Great when he invaded India and knew a little bit of Hindu philosophy.

Speaking of the Renaissance, the Italian of that time was even more admirable than his Roman ancestors. And this was because Rome took the best gladiators from Africa and Northern Europe, the best Greek philosophers, the best artists from all over the Mediterranean, and so on. And concentrated them in Italy, where they left their genes. Of course, they also took the most beautiful women around. The best dancers, actresses, singers..
Once the ingredients were concentrated the resulting cocktail is Italy and its descendants, France, Spain, Portugal, etc. and all the culture they have created.

The Romans also took the Jews, by the way. One of the ethnicities with the highest IQ in the world. 1/5 of Spaniards have Jewish genes. 

Of course, the genetic mix is not always positive. It is like the famous story of the conversation between Isadore Duncan and Anatole France, who were discussing eugenics, came to a sudden stop when Isadore said: 
“Imagine a child with my beauty and your brains!” 
and Anatole responded: 
“Yes, but imagine a child with my beauty and your brains!”

As proof of that, there is Michelangelo on the one hand, and Al Capone on the other.

After the various genetic ingredients have accumulated in an area begins a process of natural social selection, where certain genes will go to the upper classes and others go to the lower classes.

In short, what I say is that the genetic mix is favorable in the long run, although at the beginning it causes many problems. We are very conditioned by our genes, our past. You are probably an almost pure blond, and therefore a descendant of a long selection of ancestors who liked blondes, so for you, blondes are demigoddesses. But the same goes for the Asians: many, many of them do not like whites at all. For example, because our "dog noses" seem grotesque to them. You'd be surprised by how many Latinos (and mediterranean) do not like too-white skin, because it looks like "sick". And it is known how the Italians, but particularly the French, think that the rest of the world seems that "lacks something", some kind of charm or good taste.
But if you have two or more genetic pools in your blood, your tastes will diversify a lot. Personally I find Asians very attractive. Maybe I have some aboriginal American gene, then that is expressed in that way.

I have a great respect for the Nordic civilization. Scandinavians are great examples in many ways. USA is on its way to being a new Rome. I think it is no coincidence that the Capitol is inspired by the Roman architectural style (another example of Germanic admiration for Greco-Latin culture)

Part of the future greatness of the American global empire will be how it handles the difficult subject of racial and cultural mix. It would be good, in this sense, to learn what happened in Italy and France, the process of "aristocratic mixture" that took place through the centuries.
 
Ave Patricius!
XD

Defending animals

Why do some people criticize those who oppose, say, the Toro de la Vega, arguing that there are animals that suffer much more throughout their lives?
In this they are quite right: the treatment of pigs in cages where they can barely move, or the treatment of dogs in Asia, etc can not be compared with the treatment given to the bulls.

But there are several errors of judgment here, the most important being ... how do these critics know that people who are concerned with the Toro de la Vega is not also concerned with the welfare of other animals? And with that way of seeing things, one should not help a poor Spaniard anymore, just because there are poors in much worse conditions in Somalia

The truly sensitive people seek to end all kinds of harm to animals, never mind whether the damage is little, or too much, and regardless of the numbers either.

One acts to end animal suffering in all its forms, in all times and in all places and that's it.

Let's see if they end with that mantra once !!!



Original post: http://galaxio.blogspot.com/2015/07/defender-los-animales.html

I hug you but I want you away

Listening to the Spanish anthem whistling at the final of the Copa del Rey ... ok, historical reasons that led to that are understandable, but there is something very strange that often go unnoticed.

Catalonian and Basque nationalists get along very well, hug each other, sing together, are twinned in the desire to separate from Spain, but they seem not to realize that, in seeking independence, not only want independence from Spain but also from each other.

That is, now the Basque Country and Catalonia are one country and speak a common language ... if they become independent of Spain, Euskadi also will become independent of Catalunya and vice versa. This implies that in the latter, there is also a rejection of the "comrade independentist"

Then indeed there is a friendly spirit of "I want to see you farther and farther away."

This is also problematic, because suppose that after the mutual independence both Basque and Catalan forget the Spanish language .... mmm ... will be good to see with what language they will communicate with each other as in practice they are currently promoting a monolinguistic education in their regions. As a result, today many more schoolchildren and young people are seen talking in Catalan and Basque than 10 years ago, although this increase is being discussed.

If they become monolingual (this is one of the possibilities if nationalist movements succeed), future generations of young Basques and Catalans will be at the same distance from one another than both are now from a young German, because of their mutually unintelligible languages.

So they are friends hugging each other in an intimate desire to be away from each other .... this is very strange.
Links (spanish):
Aumento del uso del catalán
Disminución del uso del catalán
Estado actual del uso del euskera

Economic corruption is just a reflection of something deeper

If I could vote today in Spain, I would vote PACMA. 

It is more important for this country, morally speaking, to stop hanging 30,000 greyhounds every year, to stop organizing "traditional fiestas" where teens kill calves in front of children and drunken parents, to stop spearing bulls, to stop throwing goats from bell towers, to stop tormenting donkeys... and the long list of cruelty to animals for which Spain is sadly notorious. It is more important that than ending economic corruption - even considering that the issue of corruption is really screwed here.

I think you can hit deeper in the Spanish group mind ending the mistreatment of animals than jailing 400 corrupts that sooner or later will receive what they deserve, anyway. 

Logically, if both things happen, well ... how wonderful! But if I were forced to choose, I'd rather start with the deep healing of the spirit, because the economic corruption is only a superficial manifestation of a deeper corruption: the corruption of the relationship with nature.

And that healing begins exactly like this: preventing cruelty, extending compassion.