Friday, 11 September 2009

Is my blog nationalist? Should I change its name?

Can anybody who looks at my blog really say that my blog in any way supports nationalism, let alone advocates a particular form of nationalism?

I, Alan Jakšić, have edited this blog for just over two years now. I have explained many times that I am a Croatian Serb who lives in the UK who has left-wing liberal tendencies - and such inclinations I have shown in my writing on countless blog posts - and I wish to use my blog to talk my people, the Serbian minority of Croatia, especially about our lives, our history, our culture and our present situation in our homeland; and I also want to write about Diaspora Serbs, like myself, where we are in the world, what we're doing with our lives, etc.

However, it has come to my attention that one of my relatives thinks I advocate on my blog a "pro-nationalist opinion". That was the biggest insult I could ever receive. It's like, because I'm a Serb and I write about Serbs, my blog must be nationalist, and therefore, I must be inclined towards nationalism in some way myself! Imagine how much of a blow it is to receive such an ignorant comment like that, and worst of all, from one's own close relative.

That is worse than judging a book by its cover; that's misreading its cover altogether!

And to another issue: should I change the name of my blog?

Why do I ask that? Well, the problem is, just like with the misunderstanding related above, calling myself an Anarchist might give people a sense of uncertainty about me and what I might be! Because a lot of people don't really know what Anarchist ideology is actually about, they often wonder why I gave my own blog such a name in the first place.

So just like openly calling myself a Serb might arouse suspiscion in other people, I suppose calling myself an Anarchist might make me look like even more of an odd person!

So my two questions to anyone who visits my blog are as follows:

1. Is my blog a nationalist blog, that advocates nationalism because I'm a Serb?

And…

2. Should I change the name of my blog from "Balkan Anarchist" into "Alan Jakšić" perhaps?


Please, please, please, write down your comments under this post! I don't usually do this kind of thing, but because I'm doing this now, I really really need to know what you think about my blog and what you think I should do about the name of it. Thank you!

7 comments:

Viktor said...

1. No
2. No

Keep up the good work :)

Kirk Johnson said...

I agree with Viktor--I see no problem with your blog or its title. Leave it all as it is.

It's nice to see you blogging more frequently!

Balkan Ⓐnarchist said...

Thank you Viktor and Kirk for your comments. It really means a lot to me that people actually read my blog's content instead of assuming things about it and not checking it out, which is very short-sighted and superficial, not to mention prejudiced.

And hopefully I'll be publishing more often and more regularly!

Anonymous said...

Alan, the dogs bark, the caravan moves on.

Balkan Ⓐnarchist said...

Owen, what would my blog be like without your clever and considerate comments?! :-)

Anonymous said...

Well actually Alan, I had second thoughts, thinking maybe your relative might think I was being offensive rather than considerate in the way I expressed myself, but anyway it sounds like you got my message properly, carry on doing your own thing and don't worry what anyone else says. You know what you're doing.

Anonymous said...

And you've already got two people who know what they're talking about to back you up.