What is the difference between a "gypsy" and someone who likes to travel for a living?

Question

And why is there so much hatred towards this ethnicity, as they have produced some of the greatest muscicians dancers etc, how can you generalize a population and yet cry out against the same generalizations when they are applied to you?

Answer 1

:)

Thankyou for the question.

Gypsy is a blanket term that covers many distinct ethnicities. Rromani is the big one. There are also Irish Travellers, Sinti (actually part of the Rroma I believe), Black Dutch, and the list goes on under the umbrella term. It is not a culture... it is genetic code. You cannot up and say "Oh looky here, I am a free spirit, I am a Gypsy!" and *poof!* miraculously you are one.

Someone who likes to travel for a living is just that... someone who likes to travel for a living. They can be any ethnicity or race.

For sake of argument, I shall use Rromani in place of Gypsy because we are the largest of the ethnicities under the term. Part of why we are hated is because we have been isolationists for so long and have been nomadic. We are the "exotics" and "unkown element". Much misinformation has spread and lies have been perpetrated for centuries. The stereotypes are so ridiculous as to be laughable, from children stealing (to put on our stewpots or sell) to being unable to control our urges to steal, to.. to..

Today, Rromani are so badly persecuted in parts of Eastern Europe that a decent education is denied us as is any gainful employement. Rromani children are forced into classes for the mentally disabled, regardless of the child's intelligence resulting in nothing higher than an 8th grade education at best, and, as I said, nobody will hire a Rromani. You can imagine the ramifications. Think about feeding your children under such a situation.

Also, there is no real political action in our favor in any country and Rromani activism is in its infancy. We also face forced sterilization in some nations: if you want doctor's care, you accept sterilization or you are sterilized without even being notified.

The most damaging stereotype is that we all steal. Bullshit. There is no higher instance of Rromani crime, other than in the ghettos of Eastern Europe where they are starving (see above), than Gadje crime. I defy anyone to provide any statistics of ethnic Gypsy crime. There is a reason they cannot be provided: they do not exist. We are not on the census or recorded in any official way. Part of our problem is a new trend of a class of roaming criminals who call themselves "gypsies" and are mostly Gadje (non-Rromani). They are not helping us any.

I shall provide a link with famous Rromani, including Charlie Chaplin and Mother Theresa:

http://www.imninalu.net/famousGypsies.htm

This is not including those in our own community.

I ask people something:

If anyone said about Blacks, or Mexicans, or any other race or ethnicity the same things they say about us, would not the outcry be much louder? Think of it for a minute. The organizations to protect the larger and better known ethnicities would swoop down and create hades. We do not have those organizations.

That is why people get away with it.

Have I said "ethnic Gypsies are determined by genetics not lifestyle" yet?

Thankyou for the question.