The photo of Mykonos in 1956 I posted a couple of weeks or so ago made my ex-Klan reader Gianni reappear. I’ve approved his comment and posted it in whole below.
To G: actually when I posted the photo, for a split half-second in the back of my mind, I thought of you and your Neo-Nazi bro Hristo, and thought that you would immediately take it as a representation of something liltingly lovely and Cycladic that contrasts with the ponderous Balkano-Anatolianess that Greeks like me come out of. And, ἰδού, your epistle arrives!
And I’ll be perfectly honest. When I first found the photograph I did ask myself what element of Grace it contained, the absence of which would make it impossible to take the same photo on the other side of the Aegean at the same time, and the answer was simple: Women. Just look up at the apse next time you’re in an Orthodox church. But even that’s not so simple.
Beyond that you seem to have put some water in your wine ideologically which I guess is progress but I will have to get into that at another time. :) You’ve already overwhelmed me with “material” — but thanks for the response.
The pic:
Giannis’ response:
“[…. ] this society, and civilization, has nothing to do with Northern Europe, or most of Central Europe etc.. but equally has nothing to do with all of West or Southern Asia.. This civilization is the Euro-mediterranean civilization, the civilization of Southern Europe.. It has nothing to do with Germany, but equally nothing to do with Iraq.. but this picture could be from anywhere in South Italy or Sicily of 1956, or even many parts of Spain.. That’s what I was talking about when I said all these things I said a few months back dude.. That’s why I strongly disagree with specific views of this blog.. Because if there is any world where Greece belongs to, this would be either Southern Europe (especially Southern mainland and the islands) or Balkans (especially Northern Greece, but saying balkans, I associate the region with eastern Europe, to be honest). And there’s nothing racistic about it.. It simply is about what I/we see as more familiar. [my emphasis]
“And with that saying, I would never be so ignorant to say that we have no west Asian influences.. Of course we have, just like all of southern Europe (and yes, even southern France, especially the mediterranean part) does…”
–
Jadde: from Bosnia to Bengal 
Not only women, but also men, architecture (the latest one has nothing to do with turkey belonging to the middle east, i am talking about the Turkish/ottoman vernacular house, which is the dominant type on the other side of the Aegean but completely absent in mykonos and most of south and islandic Greece, just like Aegean architecture is absent even in Turkish parts that Greeks used to live), and many, many other enormous differences that can’t fit in one small picture (and these differences would be even more numerous if ONE MAN wasn’t obsessed with making turkey something that it can’t be: European, and i am obviously talking about mustafa kemal)
There was technically little (or not at all) resemblance between the two sides of the Aegean when it comes for both Balkan and Mediterranean parts of Greeks and Turks. And again, i am not only talking about arts where the differences already are enormous (in spite of some undeniable similarities of course). The two societies were so fundamentally different that even today endogamy is 30% common in turkey, something that in Greece wouldn’t just be forbidden, people would feel discussed in such a case :D
Ps you don’t need to repeat every time that “i am a neonazi strofmronter” just because i used to post until 2014 in sf dude! :D
I am just speaking the truth, if i was a stormfronter i would tell you that what you see is viking descendants in the Mediterranean , something that you can see i never do.
Marry Christmas Nikolas, and a happy new year :)