Can one mock his or her own ethnic backround? Unfortunately yes, especially a few self-righteous leftists, or "progressives" as they have termed themselves who spread ethnic hatered for a people who simply have a passion for their country.
Nikos Dimou is a Greek writer who studied at the the University of Munich in Germany. He has publishes tens of books, most of which are dedicated at "analyzing" Greek people and the Greek way of life such as: The misfortune of being Greek (Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Έλληνας), The New Greeks (Οι Νέοι Έλληνες), The Lost Social Class (Η Χαμένη Τάξη), Apology of an Anti-Hellene (Απολογία ενός Ανθέλληνα), etc.
In the 80s, and following the rise of PASOK, he worked for left-wing newspapers such as To Vima, Kathimerini, and the Sunday editions of Eleftherotypia and Ethnos. He also hosted his own talk show on Greek television, and was part of the team that founded Athens 98.4 FM. And finally during the European Parliament election in 2009, he even attempted to run with Stefano Manos' DRASI party but luckily he was an unsuccessful candidate.
The foreign community praises him, leftists adore him and most Greeks simply detest his views, and this for good reason because he has said that although he is a Greek citizen he does not really consider himself ethnically Greek (defining his ethnic identity differently than majority of the Greek population) and he has been widely accused in Greece of intolerance towards Greek citizens that do see their identity as related to Greeks.
The following exerpts are from a text with the Greek title "Apologia Enos Anthellina", is the introductory essay of the eponymous collection (1997, Opera Publishers) as translated by the staff of Odyssey magazine.
Let me say up front that I feel no guilt, and that I use the term "Apology" ironically-with Socratic irony, if you will. And I deliberately omit placing quotation marks around the word anti-Hellene. They are unnecessary. I consider the term an honorable title, won by many worthy Greeks. As Nietzsche once wrote (I don't remember where and haven't been able to find it again), it was the anti-Germans who proved to be the best Germans.The goal of this article is to alert our readers about the rise in anti-hellenism, both inside and outside of Greece. Getting slapped in the face, with a harsh text such as the above is the most effective way to come to the realization that we all need to unite now in order to defend ourselves against this hateful trend.
Not a day goes by without the papers ranting about some anti-Hellenic threat. The Turk coughed, the American scratched himself-woe to us! Since my childhood, Greece's history has seemed like a (cheap) Western movie, one in which the Greeks were, always and unequivocally, the Good Guys. The Bad Guys were always changing. There was "the threat from the North," then from the East, then it was the North again, and back to the East. When I was a child, the word "Bulgarian" was a curse, more so than "Turk." It was forbidden for Greeks in northern Greece to design themselves as "Macedonian." "Albanian" then had a neutral tone; today it's become a threat.
I don't consider the Aegean or the Macedonian issues "national issues." Nor even the economy and public administration problems.
Beyond the overhaul of the economy, I preach the revamping of our attitudes. Am I really an anti-Hellene? Or do I love Greece? The future will decide.
The leftists in Greece or progressives have worked hard to kill our knowledge of all that is Greek, especially what the term democracy means. The purpose was to dominate the political system and spread "Αντιπαλογνωσία" or the knowledge of things that are anti-Greek, and they were very successful in doing so following the fall of the Junta in the mid seventies.
The views of Mr. Dimos who is from this very generation -or the generation of the Polytechnic- and who is praised by all Leftists is one such example. His ideas, and interpretation of history in many of his books are seen as being a bible or the A and Z about Greek society, but what some fail to overlook is that hard facts, and as we all know facts need to be based on evidence and not of one's opinion.
But this is the society we live in, and this is what has split Greece in half.
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