La selección de diseños para la cara nacional de las monedas no ha gustado mucho a este bloguero eslovenio. Estas monedas serán puestas en circulación el próximo enero, pues Eslovenia se va a unir a la Unión Monetaria Europea.
Estoy de acuerdo en que los motivos de las monedas son muy disímiles, incluso que van manga por hombro. También con que la piedra mítica de la foto (algo así como el árbol de Guernica, pero del reino mineral) parece una magdalena. Pero estas majaderías muestran que el chico carece de criterio, incluso que realmente se le va la olla:
My main complaint is about the overall selection of motives, which reflects a horribly stolid, conservative, dull spirit of 19th-century patriotism without the slightest ounce of creativity, originality, modernity, or indeed anything that would suggest that the people who selected the motives are in any way reconciled with the modern world. (…) surely motives like these are the only thing one can reasonably expect from the assembly of conservative 19th-century Neanderthals that is our current government.
Sure, our present coin designs may have their faults, but you have to admit that they are decent, humane, modest, you could even say that they have a certain progressive and environmentalist undertone. By emphasizing our wildlife, these designs concede that the state is fundamentally just a geographical entity, not some blut-und-boden wetdream from the heady days of the 19th century. They concede, as it were, that this is a territory inhabited just as much by the other species as it is by people, and indeed that insofar as these other species by and large inhabited it much before us, it belongs much more to them than it does to us.
Así que “el estado es fundamentalmente solo una entidad geográfica”, que pertenece a los pájaros, por razones de antigüedad. No es de extrañar la idea que tiene de su paisito, “a small and decent country”. Así que “pequeño y decente”. Más pequeñoburgués no puede ser este progre hombre. ¡Qué pena me da esta Europa!
I noticed that you link to my post about the Slovenian euro coin designs, so I can’t help trying to write a few sentences in response. Unfortunately I don’t understand Spanish, so my reply will have to be based on a Babelfish translation (which, as usually, is partly hilarious and partly incomprehensible) of your post.
It seems that you refer to me as a Slovakian blogger — well, for the record, I’m Slovenian rather than Slovakian. I wouldn’t get this riled up about another country’s currency. As for the Slovaks, I can only hope that, if/when they adopt the euro, they will choose better designs than we did…
Also for the record, some readers may misunderstand your description of the stone as mythical. It’s a real stone in a museum somewhere in Austria (if I remember correctly). But it’s true that some people like to mythologize its importance a bit too much.
It seems that you take issue with my aspiration towards Slovenia being «a small and decent country». Well, I don’t see what is problematic about this. The fact that it’s small is simply a matter of fact, and there’s not much we can do about it. We might just as well be decent people then, rather than aggressive chest-thumping assholes. The sort of outdated patriotism that I denounce in my post has brought death to countless millions of people over the past centuries. It’s high time that humanity gets rid of it.
Besides which — the sort of puffed-up national pride that you seem to advocate may be understandable (although not really excusable) in a large and strong country. But in a small and weak one, it is merely ridiculous.
Right, I have changed it to Slovenian.
Second parragrah: I agree the motives do not fit together, but the main point against the designs is progressive crap (much ruder in Spanish).
Last parragraph makes fun of the sentence in red. I think you actually need to revise your notions on political theory. The claim that the land belongs to the spieces living before humans is also anthological.
Concerning the expresion «small and decent» you may be aware that it is a pathetic petit bourgeois one. I think Slovenia is better defined as a petty opereta country that gained independence becuase in the early 90´s Germany felt a great nation again for a few years and wanted to create some satelites around.
I would suggest you try to get and give better advice.
Right, I have changed it to Slovenian.
Thanks 🙂
main point against the designs is progressive crap
I certainly agree that my main point against the designs is progressive. Whether it’s crap or not depends entirely on one’s political orientation 🙂
Last parragraph makes fun of the sentence in red. I think you actually need to revise your notions on political theory. The claim that the land belongs to the spieces living before humans is also anthological.
I’m afraid I don’t have very much use for political theory. In my opinion it’s appropriate and desirable that we should be aware that other species besides us also inhabit this planet and have their place in it. I would certainly prefer to use coins that celebrate our endemic wildlife rather than coins that celebrate crusty old national symbols from bygone days.
Concerning the expresion “small and decent” you may be aware that it is a pathetic petit bourgeois one. I think Slovenia is better defined as a petty opereta country that gained independence becuase in the early 90´s Germany felt a great nation again for a few years and wanted to create some satelites around.
Well, I’m not quite sure what you are trying to say here.
(1) Why do you feel that «small and decent» is petit-bourgeois?
(2) Even if it is petit-bourgeois, why do you feel that this is somehow problematic or pathetic?
(3) What makes you feel that Slovenia is an «operet[t]a country»? In my experience, while it certainly has its share of problems, it has been able to avoid the worst aspects of operetta reasonably well so far. Our politicans have, for the most part, not been altogether unsuccessful at avoiding the extremes of melodrama, pathos, glitz and kitsch that are so typical of operetta. In fact it would seem to me that adopting such coin designs as we did now (and which you seem to approve of, at least as far as the motives are concerned) is pushing us closer towards operetta rather than away from it. But maybe these things look different from a foreigner’s perspective, so I’d be interested to hear your impressions.
(4) If you feel that Slovenia is a «petty operetta country», why do you complain that my phrase is petit-bourgeois? Surely the operetta is an eminently petit-bourgeois genre. How do you expect people from an «operetta country» to act if not like petits bourgeois?
(5) If you feel that aspiring towards being a «small and decent» country is not good, what alternative do you propose? Remember that territorial enlargement is probably impossible for us, so any realistic alternative will still have to include «small». The only question is what do you suggest in place of «decent».
Frankly, I find your position a little inconsistent here. On the one hand you seem to be in favour of more nationalism and more reverence of traditional national symbols, but on the other hand you seem to complain about Slovenia’s efforts to gain independence. I don’t understand — how does this fit together?
I would suggest you try to get and give better advice.
Good suggestion, but not from web sites like yours 🙂