(Above: gypsies)
My grandmother once told me of how, circa 1900, White parents used to shut their children indoors if gypsies were camped nearby. The children were cautioned that under no circumstances should gypsies be approached, or be allowed onto the property of a White person. Gypsies were thought of as liars, thieves and swindlers – like Jews, but poorer and less successful.
How times have changed. Now gypsies are “cool” and “sexy.”
Did you know that the glorification of the gypsy began quite early in the West? I already knew that gypsies (a.k.a. the Roma people) were romanticized in movies, books and songs, but I didn’t know how early the romanticism began until rather recently. For example, Emily Bronte’s “hero” in the book “Wuthering Heights” is a gypsy man named Heathcliff. (In the book, a White woman, named Catherine, dies while pining for her lover Heathcliff). Bronte’s book was published in 1847.
Lots of songs feature positive mentions of gypsies, including modern ones such as “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac and “Gypsy Queen” by Van Morrison.
Of course, the Jewish pop culture is responsible for most of the glorification of the gypsy. But sadly, White people seem to love glorifying The Outsider/The Other. And the White people who don’t glorify gypsies themselves never seem to complain about such glorification. Odd.
Here’s a book about the gypsies.